Bonafide Arrives Today!!!

My fresh new SS127 arrives today! Can't wait to get off of work and check it out. If all goes well the boss might let me take it out Saturday lol.

Awesome news!

It has arrived! HOOOOOOO Dawgy!!!

I can feel your enthusiasm from here. Makes me smile. Looks like a very nice boat. I stood in one at a trade show, but haven't paddled one yet. Remind me what color did you get?

What I am really interested in hearing is about the shallow water capabilities of the boat. How skinny of water can you get in? Those pontoon looking sides look crazy stable, but wondering how much water it drafts.

cool boat.

"Cool Hand Blue". I'm pretty enthused haha! I'm thinking that it should be able to go over pretty shallow water from the design of the hull. But will know after some time is spent in it.

Not so good news. Kayak arrived not so fresh. Must have been damaged during shipping. Gouges and scrapes in multiple areas. Few bad ones on the forward part of the keel. Have a email in to customer relations. Waiting for a response.

Disappointing, yes. But the other "good" bad news....it will look like that anyway after a while. if they don't leak, I would not sweat it.
Your officially in the Kayak club now

and don't hold off from fishing out of it!! Heck i'd ask for a price adjustment, take that $$ towards fishing and camping!

I'm not sure what I'd do. I would lean toward sending it back unless at least some cash concession is made. Not sure.

I know some of the shippers are totally insensitive to cartons and boxes labeled very clearly with all sorts of warnings. I have bad dreams any time I have picked up or shipped via YRC. Dear Lord!

Funny story about my leaking Cuda LT. Just before I dropped it off at YRC (where Jackson told me to take it), I thought, hmm?, I think I will take some photos of the condition I shipped it in. Glad I did. When it arrived at Jackson, it had a significant gouge in the side where someone had apparently jammed a forklift blade into it.

It made sending it back for "testing" moot for both me and Jackson. My guess is YRC's insurance paid Jackson and this is how I ended up with a Big Rig.

And, yes, I "sweated" getting my Big Rig shipped to me via YRC. But, it showed up without a scratch on it.

Pic below that Jackson sent to me.

Brad

All the damage is purely cosmetic as far as I can tell. ACK gave me $150 in store credit so they are good by me. Timbertoes, I wasnt going to let a couple of scars on it keep me from getting out. Just kinda sad that I wasn't the one to put those battle scars on it! So i think an anchor wizard is coming my way lol. Brad, that's insane. Jacob, the customer relations guy I spoke to, said that he sees at least 1 kayak a day that's had forks through them. Absolutely ridiculous.

Glad that they did something to make you happier. Have fun in the boat.

I am so disappointed with the shipping you got. I got my native kayak directly from the manufacturer and the packing was so good. I didn't even get a scratch.

But anyway, you will get a lot of scratch after using it.

so, what are your weekend 64 degrees and windy fishing plans ?
we can blame the weather on you, you know that right? .. that's what happens when ya get a new outdoors toy!

I've been blamed for worse haha! I'm going to try and go float this bad girl Sunday. Was hoping for tomorrow but my brother in law turned 15 so we are getting together for that instead. Hopefully for some reason this Texas weather decides to turn to prime fishing conditions.

anybody have any experience with crosswinds in the bonafide? it looks like it has a bit of a high profile

Skipper pupper has taken up his position and we are ready to go lol!

Nice crew

Mofishin1990 will have a personal answer soon, but one of the things that the boat has to offer is the low profile side height. It was designed not to have the huge sail area of other kayaks. Remember that Chad Hoover was involved with this design and he was also involved with the designs of the ATAK series by Wilderness and they also boasted low profile, less wind effect designs. The guys that fish other kayaks with high profile sides have to constantly battle the wind.

Mofishin1990, is that a long haired Yorkie? Looks ready to hit the seas. The young one is also ready to go. My oldest was on the water with the wife and I in a Coleman Scanoe at 6 days old. Have the little one grow up on the water and enjoy every minute of it. They grown up quick.

The winds should be managable late this afternoon!

Even the low seat is pretty high on the Bonafide. On every kayak with high/low seat position options I have sat in, it makes a demonstrable difference in the "balance" feel, this even for a super stable Big Rig. My previous Cuda LT was stable in the low position, felt toppy just a few inches higher in the high position.

So true about the low side profile of Wilderness and now Bonafide kayaks. Chad Hoover is a big guy and his tankwells always look about 1" from taking on water to me. Hoover is almost always seen in videos fishing back in coves it seems, not out in more active water, say middle of lakes. The low profile definitely has its merits in certain circumstances.

Speaking generally about circumstances, Aliex on YouTube went out with a friend and tried to launch a Bonafide into a fairly heavy surf and they gave it two tries with no luck. On the first shot at getting out beyond the breakers, the kayak flipped and it tore the seat loose on one side from the hull. The second try broke the seat loose altogether, both sides. He mentioned that the vessel doesn't "cut through" the waves as needed to get out on rougher days. So, where the Bonafide would excel would be fishing flats, not so much taking it out through rough waves. The kayaks that do that best would not be as well-suited to flats fishing either.

Brad

He is a yorkie! Named him Ajax. Have an appointment this morning to get him a hair cut, so he won't be long haired for very much longer! When I finally get out there to fishing I'll be able to let yall know how it handles the wind. Also how it handles in general. I don't have any sort of anchoring on it yet so we will see if I end up getting pushed around a little bit.

Whelp. No fishing today. Has those darn responsibilities creep up on me! Maybe next weekend I'll get lucky.

it was waaayyyy to windy anyhow!

That's what I figured. While I was out in Sherman running errands it was dang near blowing me over at points.

Ajax and the rest of the family look very good on that boat. I know that everyone dreams of the powerpole Micro on these rigs, but have you seen the new low profile anchor wizard? They are about a hundred bucks.

In current, I'm running a system like this:
Anchoring in current

Currently thinking about incorporating an anchor trolley and an anchor wizard - something like this: Anchor Wizard with Anchor trolley

Anchoring is an interesting topic. Note: just don't mount it in the middle of the boat. Very bad if the wind comes up, you could take a swim whether you want to or not.

Thanks! I think Ajax might not be as ok as he is in the pic on the water lol. The little one on the other hand, I'm praying that she will grow up enjoying to fish. We will see.

I would love to get a micro power pole but they might be just a tad too expensive for me to justify to the wife getting one, and to myself frankly. I was going to get a low pro anchor wizard but am holding off right now just to make sure it something that I really want on there. Both those anchoring setups look like they would be really handy. The anchor wizard and trolley was what I was going to go with when I was thinking about getting one. I saw another method of taking a 8" piece of Yackattack gear track, the heavy duty one with two rows of screws, and mounting it to the rear of the boat on one of the flat areas for the chute to mount to. Then taking the wizard and mounting it to the track just behind the seat. That way I could just reach behind me and drop the anchor right off the back of the boat.

How do you like the kayak?

I've only been on it once for about 30 minutes because the wind was crazy when I took it out. But I really like it. It was my first time on a kayak but, I never felt like I was going to tip over, it felt really stable. The wind was pushing me around everywhere so I never stood up in it but I'm thinking there won't be any problems when i do. It paddled really well. The whole time I was paddling into the wind but it still felt really easy to paddle.

Mofishin1990/All,

Check out the video on kayak fishing on Naconiche up in the "video" section here on TFF.

Three anglers and the man with the camera shooting the coverage of them that day is fishing out of a Bonafide.

Pretty cool video, great lake, nice kayaks they are all using, three different makes.

Brad

I watched it. It was pretty cool!

More reports needed !

Unfortunately I have nothing to report. I've only been able to take it out once so far, and the wind was so bad, I was only out there for about 30 minutes. I'm hoping that I will be able to take it out this Saturday, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

It's killing me lol.

The time I have spent with it has been really good though. The boat is super stable. The first time I've ever been in a kayak and it was easy to stand in, even with high wind, and I never felt like It was going to tip over. Paddled well, and I found the seat to be really comfortable.

ok doke!

Finally have the time to post an update.

Fished on the Sunday before Memorial day.The Bonafide performed great. Was out pretty much all day, forgot my sun screen so now my legs have turned a shade of reddish purple and burn like the Dickens haha. It paddled well, getting it moving took a little effort in the first few paddle strokes. But once I got it going, I felt like it was pretty fast. It carried momentum way more than I figured it would; caused me to overshoot some spots a bit lol. For the total time I was out there, I probably stood up for a total of an hour. Standing was not a problem in the slightest. Missed a jig fish, so the hookset was big and caused me to look kind of goofy trying to regain my balance; but never felt like I was going to end up overboard. The only negative I have is that , and it might just be my inexperience, it didn't like the wind in the least. The slightest bit of a breeze was causing me to turn and drift pretty substantially. Causing me some pain trying to do some drop shotting.

All in all I am very pleased with it, and reccomend the Bonafide SS 127 for anybody thinking about getting one.

A good follow-up review, thanks!

Some ideas to share.

The first is to make spraying down with sunscreen a priority and best if you can do it before you get on the water. I hate getting that smell all over my line and gear. Add it to your check list as a priority.

In most paddle yaks, when you are at a standstill and decide to move, you'll encounter more inertia than at any other time. For the first 3 or so paddle strokes on each side, no "Tarzan" strokes (you'll just create cavitation), just make them rather longish and light strokes to build some momentum, then shift to your preferred paddling pattern for the speed you want.

You'll get better and better with practice at not over-shooting an area. If you see it happening, drop your paddle into your crotch and a make few really fast dips, right and left, with your blades.

When you are standing, you should never really lock your knees, not totally, just keeping the tiniest of bends in your legs. What this will teach you to do is think "squat" if you get out of balance or, say, bang into something you can't see below the water line. The safest remedy to getting out of balance is dropping your center of mass.

Wind. Wind. Wind. All kayakers' nightmare. For paddlers, I really like the ease of operating a chain anchor. And, an Anchor Wizard might work for you, the newer small profile one. Nothing worse than having a hank of anchor line knotting up in your cockpit. And, carry a brush clip and fastening it to things including even grabbing a handful of grass or a lily pad stem. These things work great and are quick to release. Finally, since most kayak fishing is done in shallow water, a stake-out pole is a Godsend. I use this more than the others as it fits in more situations I find myself in.

Just regarding places you can be in the wind. If the wind is blowing over a dam, there'll usually be a quite spot in the rip rap area underneath it, coves are good if the wind is blowing left-right, rivers too. And, you can pull up into vegetation mats and it'll arrest wave action and then fish through it or along its edge. Getting on the leeward side of an island works great, I have done this many times on windy Wheeler Branch, as the current and wind will be diverted left and right and you can sit in dead water in very high wind conditions.

One of my favorite orientations in wind is to find a point, there'll almost always be a less windy side, and back my kayak up to the shoreline, bow facing out and fish "out" just like a bank fisherman. Or, stake your kayak after finding places like this not accessible by foot traffic, so no bank fisherman to compete with, and stand and fish. Stretch those legs!

Others, here, will be able to add more tips.

Hope to see you on the water one day soon!

Brad

I'm with Brad on many of his points. Implementing a stake out pole and an Anchor Wizard have been a good investment for me. Stake out pole with anchor trolley and the new smaller Anchor Wizard make a grand combo for this cheap guy who would love a more expensive option of a power pole in the rear and an Anchor Wizard off the front like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK53Vwr4bBo

Brad, thanks for the pointers, will definitely keep them in mind. I'll definitely keep in mind to put on sun screen now; my legs kinda hurt lol. I'm in the process of getting an anchor and stake out pole for sure. Never thought about brush clips, will need to get one. Clay, that's a pretty sweet set up.for me at this point, it is a distant dream hahaha.