LIP GRIPPER [S P LAS H] HOT BAIT
PUT FEELFREE’S LURE IN YOUR TACKLE BOX BY RIC BURNLEY
Feelfree Lure 11.5 FISH-FRIENDLY FEATURES
F
or the most part, performance and stability don’t coexist in the kayak world. Either a kayak is fast or it is stable. So, when Feelfree’s presi- dent, Jim Hager, showed me pictures of the Lure prototype at last sum- mer’s ICAST tackle show, I was anxious to take it for a ride. The boat looked low and flat with a channeled hull that promised solid
• Gravity Seat adjusts in one-inch increments
• Wheel in the Keel • Padded standing platform • Two flush-mount rod holders • Front and rear Uni-Track rails
46…KAYAK ANGLER
• Hinged front hatch with quarter-turn latches
• Camo and solid color schemes • Scupper drain plugs • Molded in handles
tracking. Each photo showed the new kayak in a different stage of de- velopment, testing and refining. “We went back to the drawing board on this one,” Hager told me. As soon as the first models hit the street, I picked up a test boat at Appomattox River Company (
www.paddleva.com) in Hampton, Virginia. At first inspection, I was impressed with the flat deck and low gunwales. Looking below the waterline, I noted the channeled hull and hard chine. The most striking feature is the commando color scheme; the test boat was a mottled blue, black and grey that looked like it came off the set of The A-Team. A few days later, I launched the Lure at Owl Creek in Virginia Beach right in the middle of a hot winter run of trout and drum. As I paddled towards the first flat, I checked out the boat’s accoutrements. The Lure has a padded deck, molded handles and a low-profile hatch in front of the cockpit. The hinged bow hatch is large enough to accommodate a paddle or extra rods and sealed with three quarter-turn latches. Two flush-mount rod holders are installed behind the seat. Before I hit the wa- ter, I tossed my BlackPak crate in the stern and lashed it to the Uni-Track. The boat paddled easy enough. As expected with a 12-foot boat,
tracking was a little squirrely, but at cruising speed the kayak straight- ened out and behaved well.
Before I pulled onto the flat, I took a second to adjust the Gravity Seat.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80