PiranhaMAX 160 Portable Fishfinder
I've owned my Malibu Stealth long enough now since July 2009 to be able to offer a fair assessment of its performance. I've now fished in freshwater during both hot and cold weather, small backwater areas and ponds, lakes, big water in the Great Lakes, and flowing water from slow moving creeks and tributaries to large fast flowing rivers with rapids. I've hooked and caught several species of sunfish, crappie, round gobie (not happy about this...), carp, rainbow and brown trout, northern pike, pickerel, yellow perch, largemouth bass, and smallmouth bass from the Stealth 14 this season. I've fished alone and in large groups - in just about any freshwater fishing situation that you could think up. Every time out on the water, my Stealth 14 always impressed me with it's handling, stability, comfort, and innovative storage design.
How I rig it:
I typically carry 4-5 fishing rods because I prefer to plan ahead and anticipate what I will need on any given outing. That way, I can quickly switch rods to adjust to different angling situations rather than have to take the time to retie lures. I have the standard milk crate setup with three tube-type rod holders and 4-5 Plano 4700 two-tier stowaway boxes to hold most of my tackle - I like these stowaway boxes because they are opaque, which protects my more expensive lures from UV light degradation. I also have a smaller tackle bag for special stuff and tools that I might need for that particular day which I carry right behind my seat. I have a Humminbird PiranhaMAX 160 Portable Fishfinder and transponder mounted on a pvc frame along with an adjustable camera mount (not pictured - but you can see the white clips that lock it in place). My fishfinder setup places the transponder just off-board directly into the water above my typical "fishing zone" which also provides me accurate temperature readings compared with through the hull setups. I added one adjustable Cannon rod holder, but I'm not happy with its placement. Finally, I have a short and simple homemade anchor trolley from the rear of the cockpit to the stern on the right side to which I attach a custom anchor tether. I've tested this excellent tether system over all of this past season and I will do a separate writeup on it in the near future. Overall, I'm please with the way in which I have my Stealth 14 is rigged, but I am going through bit of a downsizing effort to simplify things.
Handling:
I'm a big heavy guy and the Stealth 14 is a big, capable kayak. I'm embarrassed to admit that I've actually sunk similarly sized sit on tops from other manufacturers. This has not happened in the Stealth 14. There was only one time in very rough water that I became a bit concerned about taking on too much water, but I was also loaded down with about 100lbs of extra equipment (too much). Despite the combined mass of me and this kayak, I have found that the Stealth 14 paddles very nicely with acceptable speed and not to much effort. I was recently able to paddle upstream 3/4 mile on the upper Susquehanna river through rapids and chutes that I never dreamed that I could do. In most situations other than whitecap conditions in lakes, I'm usually able to stay fairly dry. The Stealth 14 tracks very well and is maneuverable in surprisingly tight situations. I couldn't ask for more. I don't believe that there is really a one-size-fits all kayak for any fishing situation, but I've put the Stealth 14 through the paces and have no complaints whether on a tight shallow channel or open water. Of course, it excels on the big open water situations.
Stability:
Wow! What can I say? Even as large as I am, I am able to go from a seated position and stand (it ain't pretty watching me do this...) while on the water - something that I've never been able to do on any other kayak. I believe that the Stealth 14 has a great balance with respect to handling, speed, and stability. On a personal note, I have been losing weight and look forward to the day when I can feel more confident about standing more often for sight fishing!
Comfort:
There's so much room on this fishing platform and even with all of the hatches, the seating area is uncluttered and very comfortable. I've spent several 8-hour+ days on the water without ever standing up in the Stealth 14. On calm and warm days, it is also very comfortable to sit "side-saddle" with my legs dangling over the side. I can even slide forward a bit and lay down comfortably to take a short break when the fishing is slow.
Innovative Storage:
No other sit on top fishing kayak offers what the Stealth 14 does in hull accessibility and innovative storage. The center well is designed as a live-well, but I've never used it as such. It serves me as a superb sealed tackle and equipment storage container as is the smaller compartment where I usually keep my consumable plastic baits on the right side of the cockpit. On the left, is access to the hull compartment were I usually keep my fly rod and ultralight rod and reel and I am able to easily pull these out for use at any time. The front bow hatch into the hull compartment is huge yet secure as is the smaller hatch in the rear tankwell. I've never "lost" equipment to the depths of the inner hull like I have in other sit on tops. This has benefits for other purposes as well. Once while doing some custom rigging by adding a rod holder, I had my 13-year-old son actually crawl into the hull of the Stealth 14 to tighten an out-of-reach nut that was slipping. Because of the storage on this kayak, I am able to get my equipment and tackle pulled out and set up to get on the water faster and I never have to worry because I had to leave something behind due to a lack of storage.
How I carry my Malibu Stealth 14:
Because of its size and the fact that I fish a lot and like to keep ready to go at any time, I decided that carrying the Stealth 14 on the top of my truck was probably not the best plan (although I've done it a few times). So, I purchase a very inexpensive hardware-store 1500lb trailer (on sale at $200) and made a custom kayak hauler. This way, I can keep my equipment stored on the kayak and am ready to slide it off into the water at a moments notice. Taking out after dark is much less daunting of a task now as well. I don't claim to be a master angler, but to see some of my fishing exploits from this season 2009 in my Stealth 14, I've put together a fun collection of still images and video...
In summary, the Malibu Stealth 14 has allowed me to go and fish places where I otherwise would not have had the confidence or ability to go. This kayak is a serious heavy duty fishing platform. I am becoming a better angler because of it!
I believe that the Malibu Stealth 14 is the best in its class. However, like all sit-on-top kayaks of this size, it's on the heavy side which makes it a bit more difficult (not impossible) to drag it into more remote waters. It paddles and tracks great, but again with the extra weight of these kayaks, they aren't speed demons. These are just the tradeoffs with having a very stable and seaworthy fishing platform.