Old Town Sportsman AutoPilot 120

If you're serious about kayak fishing - especially on bigger lakes - this is the kayak for you. The Old Town Sportsman 120 Autopilot is both well crafted and well appointed throughout. Unlike many other kayaks, everything looks and feels of high quality.ProsIt starts with little things like storage. There's a dry storage bin on the starboard side of the seat with plenty of room for your cell phone, keys, wallet. the Autopilot remote, kill switch key, and more. On the port side of the seat there's a recessed storage area big enough to hold four Plano stowaways. There are also two cupholders and cutaway storage for drinks, pliers, fish grippers, etc. With this, you can keep important items within easy reach and you don't have to reach to the aft tank well.But if you need the aft tank well for storage, there's plenty of room for large crate, a cooler, and more.There are four rod holders, two front and two rear. What's nice about the front rod holders is that they face forward putting your rod in an ideal position when you need to tie on a new bait or unbutton a fish.The seating is comfortable, although you'll probably want to add a cushion if you're fishing all day. Another nice feature is you have the option of putting the seat in the raised position or closer to the deck. And speaking of the deck, there's plenty of deck space making it easy to stand and fish when the water isn't too choppy. The non-skid deck plate also provides you a good grip when standing.Another nice feature is the rudder stows away neatly and can be tucked under the stern bungee. This is ideal when you have to transport the kayak and you don't have to worry about it coming loose and breaking off.But of course, the highlight of the kayak is the Minkota trolling motor. You're not going to win any races out there on the lake, but it will get you where you need to go. As someone coming from a pedal drive kayak, it's a nice change. With my 100Ah lithium ion battery, I'll run from spot to spot at 60% - 70% throttle and I can fish all day. That puts my speed at 3 - 3.3mph which isn't a whole lot faster than a pedal drive - but of course I can run longer distances at speed and I'm not tired out after the run.The spot lock feature works great IF you understand how spot lock works. First and foremost, spot lock will keep you facing into the wind. So on windy days with the wind changing directions you'll need to learn how to position yourself properly when you approach your fishing spot.Navigation is easy. Yes, you can steer with the Autopilot remote, but that takes away from fishing. That's where the pedals and the rudder come in. For the most part I keep the motor facing straight forward and use the pedals to steer. The rudder is both big and sturdy and turning is effortless. Just remember that when you disengage spot lock you're going to want to face the motor forward again.For now I keep the remote on a lanyard around my neck, but I may end up mounting it to the rail.Installing my electronics (Humminbird Helix 7 DI SI G4) was not a problem. I flipped the transducer bracket so the transducer tucks nicely into the hull and there's no interference with side imaging. For what it's worth, I run my fish finder and my lighting off of a separate 10Ah lithium ion battery and not the trolling motor battery. Eventually I will probably stow and extra 50Ah or 100Ah lithium battery as a backup to extend my range or allow me to run longer at higher speeds and not have to worry about running out of juice.One thing I really love is that with all of this storage, the rails available, and my gear and electronics set up I don't feel crowded like I did on my old pedal kayak. I still have plenty of room, including adding a second head unit and forward facing sonar.ConsThis thing is heavy, even without the battery and trolling motor. Even without the trolling motor and battery it weighs 128 pounds and can be unwieldy for one person to move around. The motor weighs 24 pounds and my LiPo battery weights another 29 pounds. If you get an AGM battery that will weigh 40 - 60 pounds. This is not going to be something easy to throw in the bed of your pickup and unless you're Hercules or have lift assist - and a strong roof - you're not going to want to car top this kayak.I have a Malone trailer with bunks and to make things easier to load and unload I removed the bunks, added a keel roller, and added a Malone MegaWing. I may also add a small winch in the future. That makes it a bit easier to load it on dry land. But for the most part you're going to want to back your trailer down the ramp into the water to launch and recover. On land, transporting with my Railblaza C-Tug cart is just about useless with this kayak and I'll need to find another cart option.That being said, with the battery and trolling motor out I can still launch and recover it over the seawall or dock at my house despite the 2 foot drop. But I will be adding a keel roller to my dock to make that much easier.Because of the weight of the kayak, you're also going to want to get some scupper plugs. I never needed them in my pedal kayak, but with the cold winter water they come in handy with this kayak.It's not really a con but something you should know - because this kayak is motorized you will most likely have to register it as a watercraft in your state. That will cost you a few bucks for registration fees and your ID numbers affixed to your kayak.If you plan to run at night or even at dusk or dawn you will need to install a lighting kit for your starboard and port lights. I also have a YakAttack VisiPole for my stern lighting. This is only area where Old Town missed the mark - navigation lighting should be pre-drilled and included with this kayak.ConclusionI loved my pedal fishing kayak, but the Old Town Sportsman 120 Autopilot blows it away. This is more of a small boat than a kayak. And that's an important point - before you buy it know what you're getting into, especially getting it to and from and into and out of the water. But once you figure that out it will open up a whole new world of kayak fishing for you.If you're a serious kayak angler, the Old Town Sportsman 120 Autopilot is worth every penny.

This is an awesome fishing kayak

I ordered mine 3 years ago and absolutely have zero regrets. It was a game changer. It will point into the wind when spot lock (anchor) is on so sometimes if you wanna hang out and fish a certain spot you may have to fold seat back down and sit on it backwards. Works great and isn’t uncomfortable. Get a good lithium battery. It will stay charged a LONG time.

The media could not be loaded. This is a great kayak I love the features that brings an the space that you have to work with, but the one thing that I did not like is that it came damaged and no one wanted to take responsibility for the damage KAyak, they were minor damage so you can see in the video but when I contacted the seller he basically washed his hands by saying that I should’ve opened it before the driver left, everyone knows a delivery drivers is not gonna wait for you to open a package before they leave 90% of the time they leave before you even have a chance to open it, at the end of the day I had to stay with a kayak that Is damages but at least they gave me a 10% off the purchase which I’d rather not have 10% I rather have a kayak the had no damage to it, specially that is worth so much money so my advice is for anyone that is purchasing a kayak from Amazon or anywhere make sure that you tell the driver not to leave until you Inspect every inch of that kayak other than that it’s great KAyak I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

You will love this.... Great Buy

Very happy with this purchase. Everything about it is high quality and reliable. Been fishing in salty river and having a blast. Highly recommend. Do your homework on battery purchase given performance and weight options.