If you are just getting into kayak fishing you are probably not ready to shell out a ton of money.
After all, what if you find that you don’t like it? Though I doubt very much you won’t enjoy catching more fish than you thought possible, you never know until you try one out.
At the same time, you want to make sure you get what you need to make it an enjoyable experience even at that low price.
Check out the Lifetime Tamarack Angler 100 Fishing Kayak review below.
Lifetime Tamarack Angler 100 Fishing Kayak
The Lifetime Tamarack Angler 100 Fishing Kayak is a great kayak for beginners that won’t cost a lot but is really well made.
Let’s take a closer look at all the reasons that this is a great fishing kayak.
Features:
- Made out of high density polyurethane that is also UV protected
- Molded footwells with multiple footrest positions
- Stable flat bottom with chines and rear skeg for straight tracking
- Two flush mount rod holders
- Adjustable support set
- Front and rear 6” storage hatches
- Paddle and paddle keeper included
- Front and rear T handles for easy transport
Let’s go over those features more in depth. As you can see you get quite a bit for a very wallet friendly price to get your started with kayak fishing.
The most important feature is the design. Though it doesn’t look flashy, the design is what makes this a great kayak.
The Design
Underneath you have a flat bottom but with deep channels to allow water to flow through. In front, the hull is sharp to stay steady with oncoming waves. The rear has a tracking skeg. This all adds up to easy paddling and very straight tracking with little effort. A simple flat bottom hull without these features would lead to a lot of effort to keep the kayak in a straight trajectory.
The design makes this fishing kayak ideal for slow flowing rivers, large or small lakes and salt water is no problem. Though, I would say that if you are planning to fish the open ocean and get offshore, you should probably go for the 12 foot version of this also available on Amazon.com.
The Engineering
Made out of a very high density polyurethane, you have a solidly built body. If you often fish around reefs or in mangroves with sharp branches hiding under the surface, then you can rest easy that your hull won’t get punctured.
The entire kayak is coated with a UV resistant material to prevent and weakening or damage to the hull. I still wouldn’t recommend leaving it out in the sun when stored, but at least a full day fishing in the sun won’t damage it.
Easy To Transport
Two T handles at the front and rear of the kayak make it a cinch to grab and go. And the weight is middle of the road when it comes to transporting this by yourself. You may not be picking it up yourself and carrying across the beach to the water, but loading it onto your roof rack by yourself is not a problem.
Comfort
The adjustable seat is a really nice detail. I am often frustrated by the cheap stock seats on some kayaks and many people are advised to buy a new one. You will probably want to keep this one since it is very comfortable since it is also padded.
The cockpit has you sitting close to the water surface so it is easy to paddle without straining yourself.
Scuppers in the cockpit sit low so water drains easily and quickly leaving you with dry pants. This does depend on the weight of the paddler of course. If you are pushing the weight limit of the kayak, then you will find the scuppers letting lots of water in and may end up with a wet bottom. If you are on the lighter side then the water drains quickly. An easy fix for this is to add some scupper plugs, but then if water comes over you have to pull them to let the water escape through the bottom.
Rigging
The Lifetime is more or less a blank slate to be customized the way you like with your favorite fishing kayak accessories. It comes already equipped with a paddle holder, two flush mount rod holders behind the cockpit and a deck mounted rod holder.
This is definitely enough to get you started and fishing, but you’ll want to add more items as you go.
There are two storage hatches with one being in between your legs and the other in the rear well. They both open and close very easily and provide a tight seal so no water leaks in. Here is one negative I can say about the Lifetime. That rear hatch is not very strategically placed as now you can’t put a milk crate or bucket right behind the seat. And the area behind the rear hatch is not big enough for either not to mention that it is a little far away from the cockpit to be easily reached.
Final Thought
To sum up our Lifetime Tamarack Angler 100 Fishing Kayak review, you will be very impressed with the stability and straight tracking you get from this budget fishing kayak.
When you rig it up exactly how you like it then you will end up with an efficient fishing machine!
Any questions about this fishing kayak or others? Drop a line below and I will get back to you ASAP.