Hey Hall of Fame family,
Paul and I recently got back from an 8 day fishing trip on the Tennessee River in Alabama, spending time in Tennessee as well. It was awesome!! I'll recap the trip in my next blog post. A few days before the trip, I purchased a new kayak, the Ascend 128x (shout out to my wife, Lauren, as she went with me to buy it on our 1 year wedding anniversary). Not that I needed a new one, as I still have and love my other Ascend 12t kayak. It's just nice to upgrade, and now I have two. This kayak is gray in color, and is 12 ft. 8 inches long (8 inches longer and probably 25 or 30 pounds heavier than my 12t). It does not have pedal drive, as I am on the fence about the whole pedal drive system idea. Rivers around here get rocky and shallow quick! Anyway, the 128x has ample storage and lots of modification capabilities. I can run electronics through this boat easily, and it even has a spot to mount a trolling motor. It also has a much larger dry storage system in the center of the boat. The main reason I purchased it was due to how high the seat sits up in the boat. I feel like I am at least a foot taller in the 128x, which allows me to see the water better and make more accurate casts. I was expecting this boat to be heavier due to the size difference, but initially, I wasn't expecting it to be as heavy as it is...
The next day, I was texting a friend of mine who works at Bass Pro Shops, where I bought the kayak. He mentioned that he was glad I bought the 128x, as it's not a popular model and it will help his invoice numbers... Not what I wanted to hear. Another drawback I noticed immediately - there is nowhere to put your paddle. In the 12t, it attaches to the side of the boat. In the 128x, you either have to buy an attachment to place your paddle on the kayak, or just keep it in your lap. Despite not the greatest of first impressions, I was still optimistic and didn't want to judge this kayak before using it.
Early that morning, we got the kayaks strapped onto our trailer and hit the road. I was stoked to explore new water in a new boat! Our first stop on day 1 of our trip was Wheeler Lake, near our campground. We fished the back of a shallow creek and some main lake rocks close to the ramp, and then made a 1 mile paddle up the lake to fish some docks. I noticed this new kayak is significantly slower that the 12t in the water, heavier to paddle too. We didn't catch anything on Wheeler that morning, so we put in on the Elk River. The kayak's first river mission! Again, we probably went up the river a mile or so without catching a fish. The Elk River didn't have much current at all, so it didn't feel like a river test. After the first day, I did like how the kayak tracked through water, and it was quite easy to steer in slow moving and still water. Sitting up high in the boat was also a plus. The boat was just heavy and slow. I also struggled finding a place to keep my paddle as I fished.
The next day in the 128x was on fabled Guntersville Lake. We were on the water by 9 am and decided to take a journey. We went 6 miles one way up Town Creek from the Guntersville boat ramp, and my kayak was loaded down since I knew we'd be out all day. I ended up catching my first few fish from the 128x back up in Guntersville's Town Creek! By the end of the day, my shoulders were cooked. The 128x, especially loaded down with rods, gear, food, and water, is heavy to paddle over 12 miles on a lake! I distinctly remember wishing I had a smaller, lighter kayak for this long trek, along with a place to keep my paddle out of the way.
The next time we kayak was on the Buffalo River in Tennessee. A shallow, rocky river with quick moving water. Paul and I had scheduled an 8 mile float for the day, and this was the kayak's first real river test. It fought against current going upstream surprisingly well for how heavy it is. I was able to paddle upstream and fish a particular section of quick water a couple of times with ease. The Buffalo River has many shallow runs where I bottomed the kayak out. This happened multiple times, and I added the first of many scratches to the bottom of the 128x. I'm thankful for the sacrificial keel guards that the kayak came with! I will say, the kayak was a little cumbersome to steer going downstream in heavy current. I think the weight made it more difficult to guide the back of the boat in the heavy current and shallow water. By the end of the 8 mile float, I caught 13 fish and had a great time. I had put 20 miles on it in 2 days!
We used our kayaks a couple more times after this on the Elk River and Pickwick and Wheeler Lakes, but did not go far from the ramp. All in all, I like the Ascend 128x kayak and I think it will be a good boat and investment in the long run. I really like being able to sit up higher in the boat, it gives me such a good vantage point. I also like the storage options, as I can bring waaayyy too much gear with me now. It does have drawbacks over my 12t, though. It's heavy and cumbersome, and not ideal for long paddling journeys. In the future, I'm considering adding a trolling motor, paddle mount, and probably a graph or electronic of some kind. All in all, I am pleased with my purchase and I am looking forward to making more memories with it.
Thanks for reading,
Erik Hoffman, Hall of Fame Outdoor Co