elhoward622
Senior Member
Check out my blog for pictures and full story:
http://kayakanglersoutheast.blogspot.com/2012/10/day-on-water-with-cuda-12.html
My Cuda 12 arrived on Friday, so I promptly hauled it to our lake house to squeeze in a proper "baptism" while visiting with family. This is truly an amazing boat. Aside from the crazy, black on granite color scheme, it is loaded with accessories. Here are some of my initial impressions. Jackson engineering is beyond spot-on here as everything is precisely laid out and so well executed. Jackson continues to push the envelope by teaming up with diverse companies; bringing more value and enrichment to the customer's dollar. The Ram tubes, and Ram balls more importantly, offer anglers a ton of options for accessories from Ram and fab companies like Yakattack. The GoPro mount is great for hero shots and is pretty handy when you want to run some film, but don't want to set up a boom. Even teaming up with Nalgene represents some cool, forward thinking. The more ergonomically designed Hi/Lo seat is a no brianer. The front paddle stager works really, really well and will hold a 240 paddle in during transit; a major annoyance in shorter boats. With all the shock cord straps and molded-in grooves, there are truly countless options for securing rods.
On the water, it is a dream. It quickly gets up to top speed and tracks well , yet offers very respectable maneuverability and balance. A very different animal than the Coosa. It gets to speed very quickly and maintains momentum. So much so, that I initially had trouble with overrunning my targets. Tracking, although not on rails, is very respectable with a fairly tight nose wobble at each paddle stroke. Maneuverability is not on par with the Coosa, but a wide scoop turns the boat in place quite well. If you, like me, have been paddling a Coosa, you will be quite happy with the Cuda 12. It truly is a "best of both worlds."
My first session began in the main lake with stout winds and a heavy chop. The nose catches wind, but the boat does not "wind vane" like the Coosa and spin. It simply turns and pushes with the wind making it feasible to fish a controlled drift. Leaving the wind, I found a sheltered river mouth and pushed through some slack water. This boat will cover some flat water and I think I am in love with my new Bending Branches Angler Ace; swag won at the SKA Championship at Lake Chatuge. I fished a flat paralleling a deep bluff wall and quickly got into a mess of striped bass using my umbrella rigs. I think the new Netbait BK Swimmers are going to be a staple this winter accounting for multiple 2-3 pounders including two over ten that actually tail-walked and threw the rig and one that hit at the bow of my boat; think I may have some ligament damage after that one. Leaving the stripes, I plied some laydowns with a shakey head and ended up hitting on three spots and a nice, nice large mouth around 22" and maybe five pounds.
Verdict: I love this boat and it has immediately phased out my Coosa. I am one of those fisherman who employ the one-boat approach and this vessel is a jack of all trades. I feel that this boat will develop a huge following as many kayak anglers look for the most versatile craft for their dollar.
Thumbs up for: tracking, speed, stability, storage and rod holders, typical Jackson comfort, and wind management.
http://kayakanglersoutheast.blogspot.com/2012/10/day-on-water-with-cuda-12.html
My Cuda 12 arrived on Friday, so I promptly hauled it to our lake house to squeeze in a proper "baptism" while visiting with family. This is truly an amazing boat. Aside from the crazy, black on granite color scheme, it is loaded with accessories. Here are some of my initial impressions. Jackson engineering is beyond spot-on here as everything is precisely laid out and so well executed. Jackson continues to push the envelope by teaming up with diverse companies; bringing more value and enrichment to the customer's dollar. The Ram tubes, and Ram balls more importantly, offer anglers a ton of options for accessories from Ram and fab companies like Yakattack. The GoPro mount is great for hero shots and is pretty handy when you want to run some film, but don't want to set up a boom. Even teaming up with Nalgene represents some cool, forward thinking. The more ergonomically designed Hi/Lo seat is a no brianer. The front paddle stager works really, really well and will hold a 240 paddle in during transit; a major annoyance in shorter boats. With all the shock cord straps and molded-in grooves, there are truly countless options for securing rods.
On the water, it is a dream. It quickly gets up to top speed and tracks well , yet offers very respectable maneuverability and balance. A very different animal than the Coosa. It gets to speed very quickly and maintains momentum. So much so, that I initially had trouble with overrunning my targets. Tracking, although not on rails, is very respectable with a fairly tight nose wobble at each paddle stroke. Maneuverability is not on par with the Coosa, but a wide scoop turns the boat in place quite well. If you, like me, have been paddling a Coosa, you will be quite happy with the Cuda 12. It truly is a "best of both worlds."
My first session began in the main lake with stout winds and a heavy chop. The nose catches wind, but the boat does not "wind vane" like the Coosa and spin. It simply turns and pushes with the wind making it feasible to fish a controlled drift. Leaving the wind, I found a sheltered river mouth and pushed through some slack water. This boat will cover some flat water and I think I am in love with my new Bending Branches Angler Ace; swag won at the SKA Championship at Lake Chatuge. I fished a flat paralleling a deep bluff wall and quickly got into a mess of striped bass using my umbrella rigs. I think the new Netbait BK Swimmers are going to be a staple this winter accounting for multiple 2-3 pounders including two over ten that actually tail-walked and threw the rig and one that hit at the bow of my boat; think I may have some ligament damage after that one. Leaving the stripes, I plied some laydowns with a shakey head and ended up hitting on three spots and a nice, nice large mouth around 22" and maybe five pounds.
Verdict: I love this boat and it has immediately phased out my Coosa. I am one of those fisherman who employ the one-boat approach and this vessel is a jack of all trades. I feel that this boat will develop a huge following as many kayak anglers look for the most versatile craft for their dollar.
Thumbs up for: tracking, speed, stability, storage and rod holders, typical Jackson comfort, and wind management.
