In the beginning of June, I got an invite to head up to Maine and check out Old Town’s plant. While I was there, I also got to see the over-125-year-old brand’s latest offering: a new kayak that builds on the company’s legacy while simultaneously offering a cutting-edge design outfitted with today’s latest technology. The new Sportsman 120 Pro model is built for those who want to get the most from an electric setup, hardcore tournament anglers, or anyone who wants a highly customizable kayak you can set up however you want. Plus, with a price tag of only $1,999, it comes in much lower than previous Sportsman models, leaving you with more money to spend on motors and electronics.
I was lucky enough to drive away from the Old Town plant with one of these thrown on my roof — and I’ve been fishing from it ever since. Here’s what I’ve come to love about this brand-new vessel over the past month.
Initial Impressions
I’ve been fishing out of canoes, kayaks, and other small boats since before “kayak fishing” was a thing. One of my first, and still one of my favorites, was a sit-in rec boat that Old Town called the “Loon.” I had a tandem model, and I pulled out the front seat to make more room for gear. It was stable enough to stand and fish, and I could fit a cooler for an all-day float. In the colder months, I used the boat to chase ducks, pulling it up in the marsh and laying out in it.
It’s hard to admit that was already (or more than) 20 years ago, but fishing kayaks have come a long way since then. Today’s vessels are tailored-made for anglers, with features that were unheard of even a short while ago. Fishing kayaks have gone from primarily sit-in to sit-on-top models. Propulsion has also changed significantly, with paddles giving way to pedals and even electric power.
I had previously been fishing out of an Old Town Sportsman 120 PDL Pro, pedaling my way across New York’s Finger Lakes in pursuit of bass, lake trout, and anything else that would bite. I really came to like that boat, and the new Sportsman 120 Pro builds off that hull with some important changes. The biggest of which is the use of an electric motor, bow- or stern-mounted, for propulsion, taking a cue from all the kayak tournament anglers out there.
At 102 pounds, it’s not the lightest kayak I’ve ever owned. But it’s still a bit lighter than the pedal model I’ve been fishing from to this point. It’s light enough that I can get the Sportsman 120 Pro on the roof of my truck by myself, though throwing it in the bed or on a trailer is obviously much simpler. But rest assured, you could car-top it if you had to, especially in a vehicle with a lower roofline than my air-spring equipped Tacoma with a commercial topper.
Though I haven’t rigged it out fully yet, there’s plenty of room to add accessories. The bow sports 140 inches of aluminum accessory rails spread out port and starboard, letting you slide in whatever electronics you want. At the demo, one of the models was equipped with a MEGA Live 2 forward-facing sonar unit on an easy-to-rotate mount. If jigging a minnow is your thing, you can do it in the Sportsman 120 Pro. Basically, this thing is tailor-made for kayak tournament anglers, as well as anyone looking to heavily customize their ‘yak.
In addition to the rail space on the bow, the stern sports dual aluminum accessory rails, surrounding a large tankwell. This is a great place to store a battery, with plenty of room to spare. The water-resistant bow hatch is also pretty cavernous: There, you’ll find enough space to hold a battery to power a fishfinder and plenty of tackle. Plus, a storage caddy below the seat lets you stash a bunch of tackle there. Three rod holders, two angled backwards and one forward to facilitate knot-tying and the like, are built-in.
The bow has threaded inserts spaced to accept a universal trolling motor mount, and the stern has provisions to mount a motor or shallow-water anchor pin. It’s also equipped with a universal transducer mount for easy fish finder installation, while built-in cable routing for steering and electronic cables makes adding compatible steering accessories simple.
Specs
- Length: 12 Feet
- Width: 36 Inches
- Hull Weight: 96 Pounds
- Assembled Boat Weight: 102 Pounds
- Total Weight Capacity: 540 Pounds
- Usable Weight Capacity: 438 Pounds
- Seat Weight: 6 Pounds
On The Water
My Sportsman 120 Pro wears a Minn Kota Riptide Kayak Terrova, which is controlled by a remote that changes course and speed with the push of a button. To get from Point A to Point B, you can turn the motor so it’s pointing forward and use the rudder for gentle course correction, letting you cruise hands-free. I’ve also found that I can use the Terrova’s AutoPilot feature to cover ground, pointing it where I want to go and cruising there with little to no extra input to maintain course. Just note that if you change directions abruptly while running flat out, it can jive the kayak quite a bit. In testing, the 55 pounds of thrust provided a top speed of around 4.5 miles-per-hour.
AutoPilot also lets you move along a course at a snail’s pace, casting to likely cover as you go. I used this to locate fsh that had scattered after the spawn. Once I found a receptive fish, I pushed the button and engaged spot-lock, effectively keeping me anchored over productive water. This really changes the kayak fishing game.
On a recent trip, I found some pretty difficult conditions. The spawn had wrapped up, and air temperatures went from highs of 65 to triple digits overnight. As it was early in the season, the lake’s vegetation had yet to emerge, with partially formed lily pads visible a few feet under the surface. Locating bass was tough, but I did find both smallmouth and largemouth picking off crippled bait on the edges of blitzing schools of white perch.
The motor let me run-and-gun, staying on top of the schools when they surfaced. Once in position, I would hit the spot-lock button and fire casts into the fray. This was some of the most fun I’ve had fishing in quite some time, and reminded me of chasing striped bass in the salt. Without the hands-free boat control, I wouldn’t have been able to hook up as often as I did.
Because the new Sportsman 120 Pro lacks a pedal drive, there’s much more room in the footwell. I can stand and cast in just about every direction without having to move around the pedals. It also creates a nice, clean floor that lets me drape my fly line without tangling, making fly fishing easier.
It also paddles better than you’d expect for such a wide boat, but propulsion is better left to the motor. I could easily paddle my way to shore when I had to lift the motor up, though. If you have to cover more than a few dozen yards to beach yours, consider getting an extra-wide paddle.
The Old Town Factory
For more than a century, the Old Town Canoe factory in Old Town, Maine, has been providing anglers and other paddlesports aficionados some of the best canoes and kayaks in North America. Founded in 1898 on the banks of the Penobscot River, the company began building handcrafted wood-and-canvas canoes that quickly earned a reputation for exceptional quality and durability. The factory became one of the world’s most respected canoe-building facilities, producing boats that carried generations of anglers, hunters, guides, and outdoor enthusiasts onto the water.
As materials and technology evolved, Old Town transitioned from traditional wooden canoes to fiberglass, Royalex, and modern polyethylene construction while maintaining its commitment to Maine craftsmanship. Although the company’s original factory was replaced by a modern manufacturing facility in 2009, Old Town continues to build most of its canoes and fishing kayaks in Old Town, Maine — including some pretty impressive research and development and prototyping equipment.
I’ve always been intrigued by how things are built, and the tour of the Old Town factory certainly scratched that itch. The product specialists at Old Town really seem to have it dialed in, with giant ovens heating the molds to produce the fishing and recreational kayaks they produce. You can tell they build those boats with care, and even have records of just about every boat they ever built, with the earliest records kept stored in a card catalog somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 years old.
Riptide Kayak Terrova Bow-Mounted Trolling Motor
The Riptide Kayak Terrova is a 55-pound thrust saltwater-ready, bow-mounted trolling motor built with a 36-inch indestructible composite shaft specifically for kayaks. Like its larger brethren, it features an advanced GPS system with Spot-Lock to keep your kayak pinned on productive fishing spots. It also features AutoPilot for hands-free propulsion over productive territory. Input is controlled by a wireless micro remote control which you can wear over your neck with the included lanyard.
The motor easily integrates with other Minn Kota electronics, and anything on the One-Boat Network, letting you set a full system just like you would on a bass boat. It has what Minn Kota calls “Digital Maximizer” technology for extended battery life. In practice, I’ve gotten a full day out of a 12-volt 100-amp hour battery with plenty of juice to spare. It comes fitted with a Weedless Wedge 2 prop, which seems to do a great job cutting through even thick coon tail. Last week, I fished hard for a few hours when the sun rose, and again, when it dipped. The 100-amp hour MillerTech battery I was using never dipped below 50% capacity after two days of use.
Multi-Species Sled
While I have only used the new Sportsman 120 Pro for sweetwater quarry so far, I’m looking forward to getting it on the salt this fall. Of course, the kayak is perfect for throwing plugs and flies in the salt marsh for striped bass and bluefish, but the spot-lock abilities of the Terrova Riptide make it perfect for dissecting small pieces of structure, such as wrecks or reefs, for bottom fish. There are a few really small pieces that I know hold plenty of blackfish during the right time of year. I’d previously targeted these spots from a garvey and some questionable anchoring techniques, but now I can get right over the sweet spot.
Final Thoughts
Anglers looking for a versatile kayak that works as well as a tournament vessel as it does for a leisurely afternoon of fishing, take a good look at Old Town’s Sportsman 120 Pro. It offers exceptional stability, generous capacity, and a wide, open cockpit with room to rig the boat their way. Power-ready by design, it features clean bow and stern motor mounting options, steering-ready cable routing, and thru-hull wiring ports that make it easy to add motors, electronics, and accessories over time. And at $1,999, it’s a bargain in the field.
