I’ve talked about kayaking here in the past and I’ve had my eyes on a fishing kayak for a long time. My oldest son has also expressed interest in kayaking, but not so much in fishing from a kayak. He’s not opposed to the idea, but he prefers to fish from the bank for now. I’m not one to force that, but I think fishing from a boat is much better.

However, I was grateful that his interest allowed us to get our first kayak. You know, one of those birthday tradeoff things where gift cards magically show up and your child has more than enough to get something that the family will enjoy? Yeah, one of those parenting tricks!

I know this is the first time adventuring out, but let’s get into our first kayak purchase. As the name implies, the Old Town Vapor 10′ Angler kayak is 10 feet long and pitched as fishing kayak. As you can see here, this is a sit-in kayak:

The Old Town Vapor 10ft. Angler Kayak

This photo was actually from the first day I took it out. I can say that there is ample room in this kayak and overall it was a very comfortable experience. I think that a seat cushion will be in our future, but all in all it’s a great boat! That’s more than I can say for the fishing that day, but hey people don’t call Lake Maumelle “The Dead Sea” for nothing!

My first 30 minutes we’re a little rocky, but that has more to do with me having never kayaked and thinking that I needed to somehow keep the boat balanced and upright. After 30 minutes I was worn out from trying to balance, so I just relaxed from exhaustion. That’s when I realized that I was just working too hard at something the kayak did on it’s own. From that point on the kayak was a blast to paddle around in, despite the paddle I used at the time being far too short.

Here is what this 10 ft. fishing kayak has going for it:

• Light and easy to get on and off a car, truck, or SUV and hang in the garage
• Easy to maneuver in the water
• Spacious hull area and decent storage in the back
• Good location for paddle holder and cup holders

Old Town Vapor 10ft. Angler Kayak hanging in the garage

The only real gripe I have is that I want a little more out of a fishing platform, but I knew that going into this. When you want to do family adventures then you know you are going to have to buy multipurpose gear. My family really wants to kayak, but I’m really the only one who wants to go fishing. This 10 ft. Old Town meets the requirements for everyone being able to use the kayak and I technically can fish from it. The boat is worth every dollar and since buying it I’ve seen a lot more of these kayaks out in the wild. It’s a solid vessel and everyone I talk to loves it.

In my mind this would be the “Zebco 33” of the kayak world. Not a lot of bells and whistles, but it works all the time and every time.The Old Town 10′ is easy enough for one person to manage and I could see me taking this out at the last second for a quick fishing trip.