lmao we have twins now i just picked mine up from T G canoe and kayak only one in the photic color i could find in texas. you are going to love the scupper holes, no more bilge pump.
@@BlueEffigy that’s so awesome! Not having to bilge was one of the biggest reasons to going for a sit on top. The TG guys are awesome, their review of the boat helped me to pull the trigger
this kayak is soo stable i made it 5 days down the devils river without falling out once, i need to find someone to edit all this video, sooo much any who, ps the 105L druffle and cooler will fit in the back worked perfect
I knew it!! I have the same Kayak in Ember..I love it. The seat is comfortable and I added a thermarest lumbar support (the same that’s used with Jackson Kayaks) One item I would recommend is the Yak Gear Yak Sack. Fits perfectly on the seat under your legs and offers water resistant protection for wallet keys cell phone etc. Congratulations on the new Kayak! Can’t wait to see the upcoming videos!
Vibe Sea Ghost 130 here. One bit of advice for dealing with a big SOT fishing kayak. Get a nice paddle. Makes a world of difference. I've got a Bending Branches Angler Pro and it paddles like a dream.
Vibe makes a good boat! I’ve got some aquabound paddles that’ll be good for swift water. Also, my bending branches angler navigator will be awesome for calm water
Don't see a pinned comment on price but got an ad from Austin Kayak this morning and believe this model starts at $899 and goes up with longer lengths and accessories, etc...
@@GatewoodBrown thanks -- I had just come back to correct my comment that was actually based on a Sportsman 106.... BTW you really have me inspired to check out the Frio.... Cheers from NC!!
Oh cool! I want to try a big water sometime. Does it feel too big at times? Thinking about storage and loading it up for trips. The 120 is already plenty
Lol just as I'm moving toward kayaks your headed toward canoes . Just kidding but I did buy my first kayak . Its a Lifetime Cruze 100 . I looked at a lot of kayaks in the $200 range because , being my first I don't know if I will really like them more than my canoes . I lived 6 years on one of my sailboats and ended up building my dinghy because I couldn't find one that was perfect for me . One thing I did learn was that a skeg was a must for tracking , and that was a big influence on my decision on buying the Lifetime Cruze 100 . I have only been out on Toledo Bend Lake but it seems easy to paddle and it doesn't duck waddle as I was afraid it would when paddling . I loaded some of our ( my friend Tim saw mine and bought one also) first trip out on the lake . Wind was pretty bad but the little boats did ok . Drone comes later. Want to get used to kayaks first . ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hvBSdMUXm54.html
Love it Gatewood, Welcome to the club.I just picked up an Old Town Loon 126, quality boats. Just be weary of taking it with Pete on flooded rivers in North Carolina
Perception Pescador 12 ft. is what I got and I love it, Plenty of storage and tracks great great, Been a kayak fanatic for 8 years now. Can't wait to get out there !!!
Haha that’s the ultimate compliment! I will say this is sort of the sweet spot for having a rad community and being able to interact with everyone. A lot of the big channels miss being where I am right now
@@GatewoodBrown yeah man I feel you. You’re at the point where it’s no rush and kudos to you. And your content is like that of some documentaries. You can tell much time is spent editing and making sure you get the right shots. Ride on brotha I’ll see you when you’re big☝🏼
Preesh my man! It’s so fun making these videos, honestly I watch them back as much as a viewer haha. I appreciate your support and look forward to interacting in the comments!
We love Old Town! Me and my buddyJosh and his daughter all have Old Town Nexts, my wife has an Old Town Castille, and I have my trusty Old Town Discovery 158 that I have paddled for YEARS! Hope that you like this one as much as we like our's!
That's awesome congratulations on your new kayak man. That was a nice choice you made. I cannot wait to see your first trip on the kayak. I know you going to have a lot of fun on it. I know you going to introduce it to the family very well.
Love your new Old Town kayak. I just added a Liquid Logic XP10 to the fleet. Looking forward to your upcoming adventure videos. You do great work Gatewood...I thoroughly enjoy your channel.
I have an old town topwater 106 which is the shorter version of this. While it is very stable and extremely durable it is the slowest thing on water. I have since upgraded to a Jackson Coosa HD and will be breaking it in this weekend. Congrats on the new boat
Congrats GW! I was in ACK a few weeks ago looking around and kept coming back to that some boat. Great choice for a well designed high quality kayak. Have fun on your maiden voyage trip!
as the owner of a 2019 topwater 120 pedal ......thumbs up!!!!!!! pedal because I primarily fish.....the front handle is a little uncomfortable from different angles ... so I made a handle attached to a rope attached to the handle so my hand grip could swivel......also don't have to been down and lift ...just slightly lift and pull....did the same on the rear handle....
Bought one last night for me and my wife got the 10 footer they will be our first boats ever but I’m glad to see u get one makes me think we laid a good choice
I just bought the 106 version! Found your channel a few months ago after I got a Lifetime Dalite from Wal-Mart just to fish because I’ve never had any type of boat even though I’ve always wanted one. I live about 15 minutes from the Sulphur River in NE Texas and am planning on doing my first kayak camping trip with some friends this coming week, granted flow rates are high enough. 🤞 Always enjoy seeing new great content, keep it coming!
Enjoy your 106! As you've noticed I'm sure, it is a massive step up in quality over the lifetime. The Sulphur should be fun! I'd bet all this rain will have it running high making camp spots a little tough to find. But hey, no dragging! Looks like it isn't flood stage, just slightly above normal based on the Cooper gauge.
When you first announced you were getting a new Kayak I was totally putting my money on you getting a Jackson Coosa. I still think you made a great choice. The Sportsman is an awesome kayak!
The coosa was definitely a contender! I know many of the hill country anglers use it and really enjoy it. Looking forward to pushing the old town to its limits!
@@GatewoodBrown That's awesome to hear it was a contender! I use a 2012 Jackson Cuda 12 on my river trips and I love it, but there has been so much progress and features added to these boats since I bought my first fishing kayak 10 years ago. I'm excited to see your adventures with the new vessel!
Started out with an old town vaper and ended up with an aspire 105. Sold the vaper to my bud and he still uses till this day! Very awesome starter kayak. Nice video man, Hope ya end up loving this new kayak. Can't wait to see more adventures from ya.
Just got a Vapor 10 on craigslist, kayaks are sold out everywhere, it's kinda crazy. Slim pickins on CL. $350 with a paddle. San Marcos last weekend. Lake Georgetown this weekend.
Looks like the old town will be a great choice. I picked up the Crescent Lite tackle last summer and have loved it. Defiantly a paddler minded boat. Looking at upgrading my wife pretty soon the old town my be for her. Keep up the great videos!!!
Congrats man! Welcome to the Sportsman Paddle 120 Cool Kids Club! We love ours! Your videos got us into kayak camping! We've got a photic and ember, his and hers. The back well is great for our dogs, german shepherd s and border collies! Hope to see you around the Houston or Texas area sometime!
Thank you! I’m excited to actually paddle the thing. Ember looks like a great color, might have to request one of those down the road haha. That well is huge! I was thinking it would be perfect for a dog to join
i have a feelfree lure 11.5 she is a huge heavy beast. but i have a really nice wheeled c-tug cart for it. fantastic removable seat. lots of space. but she is not going to paddle as easy as your old town sporty. i chose the lure because i take her off shore a lot as well as rivers and streams. great choice for you on the old town.
I almost bought an Old Towne Sportsman peddle kayak but decide against it really wanting a motorized platform. Based on our mentors RX and Mark they are solid boats but not sure about Hill Country rivers. The carrying capacity should be good for longer treks. My Pungo, a 29” wide 12 foot sit-in paddles well (pretty fast). My Tarpon, 31” wide 12 foot sit on top is quite a bit more stable but is slower due to the wide flat bottom. The Pungo has a more efficient arched profile. I’ll be watching you put it through it’s paces. Maybe you’ll start doing fishing videos. 🎣
I watched TG Canoes and Kayaks review of the old town paddle versions and they had great things to say. They're very experienced paddlers too. The pungo is an awesome boat so you should be totally fine there! I'll keep taking a pole and honing in the fishing skills haha
Moving up with the Old Town sponsorship! As someone who has had a fair bit of experience kayak camping on SOT's I think it's a great choice but just be wary of not packing to heavily in the front storage as I found this is counterproductive to easy paddling.
Thank you Matt! I appreciate the kind words and it’s cool to have brands send over kayaks to test out. Ultimately reviews are what help me buy a product so I’m happy to keep that going!
That’s a sweet boat. I almost pulled the trigger on it recently as I wanted to upgrade from my Ascend 12T. I ended up going with a Vibe Yellowfin 120. Very comparable specs. The Vibe is lighter but can has a 400lb max capacity instead of 500. The weight reduction was important as I mostly travel solo and the Vibe was still within my budget. But damn that’s a nice boat. Looking forward to the trips to come.
Hey Gatewood, congrats on the new kayak. You've worked hard for it man! Always love you're videos and that awesome cinematography!!!! I've been looking at the same kayak myself. Can't wait to see it in use in the future!!!
I agree, even though my sit in is faster and easier to paddle, everytime I go on a river trip I end up reaching for my sit on top fishing kayak. It serves me well. You cant go wrong with Old Town, you made an excellent choice. Oh yea and I know you dont fish much but get a milk crate to put back there lol
Looks like a great choice. SOT will definitely be a game changer, both pros and cons. I miss the speed of my WS Pungo, but can turn my Coosa on a dime. That 500 pound capacity sounds awesome too, for a guy my size that enjoys long camping trips.
@@GatewoodBrown yeah i want to be able to take our dog with us was why i was looking at them and hauling gear for longer trips . The next has less freeboard which means less windage . They both weigh less than most of the kayak's I've looked at so I'm ok with either . The angler kayaks definitely have more initial stability which i would like just havent found one that i would want to portage due tot the weight . So is it a no on the kokepelli packrafts and why ? i haven't had the pleasurer of seeing on in person let alone take one on the water .
@@mcsailor67 I’ve only used alpacka and it was fun for swift water but I wouldn’t take it on a river trip in Texas. They have terrible tracking and aren’t really meant for much other than steering. Plus your dog could tear it up
Looks like a solid boat! That removable seat is money. My Native Ultimate has a similar seat and if feels like I'm paddling in a lounge chair. Looking forward to the trip video👍
Looks like you made a good choice! You have to try the cooler on at least on one of your trips lol! You'll have the room and stability might as well splurge. Thanks for sharing GB can't wait to see it on the water!
How do you like this now for longer trips now that it's been a while? I started kayak camping 2 years ago after kayaking basically for 20 years. (from a little kid until now at 30) and I have absolutely fallen in love with it. Up until this point I have only used Loon 138 kayaks. The ones we have are pushing 20 years old and are absolute tanks. Truthfully, I wish they still made those, but I am absolutely sold on old towns for life. The main thing I don't like is that in order to get gear in the front and back you are pretty much forced to take several smaller dry bags so that they fit. And although this isn't the end of the world I would love to change things up a bit and get something like a sportsman 120 to utilize the rear tankwell and the front dry storage hatch. Btw I am almost definitely going to buy the 60L if I get this boat and I am already 99% sure I'm going to get the boat, just was curious on your thoughts now. One last question, Will you ever bring back the zipper style dry backpack in this video as opposed to the roll top style you sell now? That thing is so freaking sweet.
Greetings! I really enjoyed my time on the Sportsman 120 and the only bad thing I have to say about it is that it is heavy. I load my kayaks on my Jeep's roof so that's a pain but otherwise it was a great kayak camper. However, I now use Crescent CK1 and Lite Tackle II and would recommend those over the Old Town because of the improved handling (but less stability) and being lightweight. The old town sportsmans are barges and the crescents are more paddler focused. You'll be happy with either! Regarding the backpack, it is retired for good in favor of the roll top style I currently have. Plus I'm looking to add the hip pack and sling back into the lineup which is super exciting. The duffel is my flagship item and it performs like a boss for kayak camping, thank you for considering it!
@@GatewoodBrown Thanks for the honesty. I can see that about being like a barge (although I've never used a sportsman personally) I found a local distributor for crescent kayaks. 99% sure I'm going to get a lite tackle II. That thing looks sweet! Never even heard of crescent before. Once I get the boat I am definitely going to get a bag or 2 from you! Thanks again!
Looking forward to watching more river adventures! I don't kayak, but I'm researching inflatable stand up boards right now. I'm gonna film those trips once I find the right board. I'm here in the San Antonio area specifically Helotes. Maybe one day we'll cross paths on the river. Keep up the good work!
Very interesting choice! Looking forward to hearing how it handles rapids or if there’s any special considerations for scouting etc. SOT kayaks aren’t for me, but I totally get the draw and lots of people in my area love them.
Thanks Ben! I’m excited to try it out on swift water and compare it to my sit ins. One of the driving factors was scupper holes and not needing to bilge a SOT. We will see if those benefits outweigh the paddling ability with a sit in
Haha he tells me that often! Unfortunately our rivers fall in a weird range. Not enough water to warrant a proper white water boat (too shallow to roll), but enough swift water to quickly fill up a boat with water and drown it. So SOT it is haha
This is an interesting perspective. I've been in my SOT pelican and it is great for adventuring and camping but when surrounded by sit ins you can get left in the dust. Ive gotten it up to 5 mph which is decent for what it is but I've considered going sit in angling kayak as a blend of the two. Thanks for the video
Totally agree. Just watched James launch video on it and it’s super appealing. Old Town and Crescent were the brands I was most interested in this go round. Crescent keeps the paddler in mind which is really cool to see
I just had the ck1 out on the river yesterday. It's really stable, turns on a dime, lightweight, tracks very well, Stays very dry. It is not the fastest boat though. My opinion is it's a great river boat but I would choose something else for open water thats a little faster.
Nice review. The kayak looks gorgeous. You got warmer weather down South. For now we are still in early spring. Winter camping was a blast ( for real). Check it out!
Great video man! I love my feel free sit on top for stability and storage, but it tracks like a garden tub lol... The old town is a great choice for a sit on top kayak. I recently got the old town loon 120, I'm excited to see how well it tracks and how much less effort it'll take to navigate the local nc rivers!
Haha that was definitely a concern with the sit on top style! My H10 was basically a bath tub for paddling haha. We will see how the 120 does on flatwater next weekend. The moon is very appealing. Let me know how it ends up!
I had the 120 Loon for many years but sold when I got my Pungo 120 -- seat comfort edged out the Loon but man that Loon was like a Cadillac out on the water!! NC Native as well!
@@jamesd7527 you should check out the A2 seat in the new loon! I hope she does drive like a cadillac haha.. that's what I'm after; a little bit of comfort and a whole lot of tracking and stability👍
Awesome stuff Gate! Wish I would take the time to make quality videos like you do..... Lol Oh well, maybe one day. You probably know, but that "dry storage" you mentioned isn't always dry ;)
Thanks trip! Man it’s a big effort to keep that quality up but it’s the type of video I like to do. Make sure to toss me an invite when you get the C Dory outfitted and sea worth! That is going to make for some amazing videos...so stoked for you. Yep, dry storage still requires dry bags! Hah
Sweet Kayak but I gotta say, I am really surprised with your choice after watching all your videos. Especially the weight, that's a fairly heavy boat for the type of trips you take. I think I would have issues with a sit on because of my build, I need a lower center of gravity. Next weekend, I'll be heading down the Delaware River at the Delaware Water Gap National Recreational area for 3 days on my Pungo 125, possible snow that weekend but hey, we've done that section of the river dodging icebergs. Anyway, Good luck on the new Kayak and I hope its everything you want it to be.
I had to get away from the sit in boats. Bilging was getting exhausting and with the boats getting swamped out constantly I was really eager to try a sit on top.
Dear Gatewood: Yesterday I bought a Sportsman 120. I figured it would be great if you liked yours so much!! But I do have one dumb question: The cavity under the boat where the "fishfinder" goes seems like a point that would create some DRAG with that sharp rear looking flat face... Have you thought about that? Has it been a noticeable issue in any real way? Wouldn't the boat glide over the water better if it didn't have that? Just wondered what your thoughts and experiences were on that. Thanks.
Nice kayak ! Old town paddles flat...lol. To bad you didn’t look at or maybe you did LOL. The Crescent Litetackle durable and light great storage. Also made in Georgia.I know I know there’s always somebody out there always going to say other kayaks are better LOL but whatever works for you👍🏼sorry to be the Karen downer LOL. Have a great and safe summer and we look forward to watching some of those new videos.
Haha I guess I’ll find out next weekend! I had seen the hull shape and lots of footage. Compare that with the specs and I had an estimate of how it’ll paddle. The real test is once I’m in the water. Crescent makes an awesome line up of kayaks for sure
Wow i am shocked. I thought after hooking up with Pete and the River Kings you were jumping to a Dagger Katana or found an old Prijon Expedition. The fishing kayak is probably your best choice being in Houston. I am in the same position. 2 day round trip just to get to decent class III. But OKC did build a man made white water park in Down Town . Just doesnt work so well to have your hammock tied off to street signs. Guess i could make a sign and say i am a Kayaking panhandler taking donations for my self supported down town white water addiction . Still would be nice to have a white water kayak in the quiver tho.
Hey Gatewood. Thanks for the kickass inspirational videos! My wife and I are getting a lot out of them. We are new to the sport, loving it, and looking to upgrade in the future. The Old Town Sportsman series is our current focus because we fish and want to also be able to run Texas rivers, kayak camp, etc. Seems like a fantastic boat at a great price point for those applications! We're trying to decide between the 105 and the 120. My question to you is, after you've had it a while now, how maneuverable is the 120 in fast moving current? Obviously, it will paddle better in a straight line, but we want boats that are able to run swift water as well.
Wow thank you so much for the kind words!! Means a lot to hear that. Get a 120 for you and a 106 for your wife! Honestly the best thing to do would be to test them out. I know TG canoes has a 106 and 120 available to demo. I love the 120 but would have to paddle the 106 to honestly answer how it performa
Hey there. Just started seeing your videos yesterday. I have had a kayak (5 or more) since 1999. So do you have an information source for camping on central Texas rivers 2 nights or so. Love your commentary and congratulations to Lisa your new wife! I live in Pflugerville, 68 years old. Thank you.
Watching your vids, I was wondering if you were going with a wilderness systems or old town sportsman. I have had wilderness, then vibe and just bought 2 sportsman's before watching your video for alot of the same reasons. I did choose the 10ft 1s myself but 12s nice also. I'm 6'9 260 and its comfy and compact and holds the weight and gear for camping. Love it so far! I also enjoy ur videos and knowledge on camping gear etc. Thanks!
Popcorn time! Great content. What's the farthest north river video you've done? I'm from Kansas and our rivers are dirty. I've been debating between a float in Texas or the Ozarks. Travel time being the biggest hold up.
Sportsman 120 all day every day without question. Even the 106 is a good option. For what I like doing the ascend is decent, but not even half as good as the sit on tops
@@GatewoodBrown ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wc2f7xglcEI.html this video is what set me towards my decision. I ended up getting the ex123. I think its perfect for going down the river but also wanting to fish in a light package. I have taken it down the Guadalupe multiple times and your videos convinced me to take the family kayak camping with it. You basically have to intentionally flip it. Only time It ever really took on water (very shallow layer) was the first time I put it on the river.