A Shearwater 125 Goes to ICAST - A YakOff Teaser Build by Jake Suvak

After fighting through 15 weeks of fierce competition, my Vibe Shearwater 125 and I came out the champion of the first ever Kayak Angler Magazine Yak Off Awards. It was an amazing competition that was an interesting opportunity to find some new unique ways to set up a kayak. 

Vibe had partnered with LineCutterz to give away a Shearwater 125 at ICAST this year, and I was inspired to take the giveaway to a whole other level. By working with some incredible companies from around ICAST, I wanted to build this kayak into something ready to compete in the Fall Yak Off Awards. 

The build ended up being a huge success after a lot of companies came through and donated way more than I expected to put together an awesome rig. Before going into the details of the build, I want to give a huge thank you to Yak-Power, Linecutterz, Lowrance, Bixpy, Yak Attack, Nocqua, and Guardian Angel for helping us make such an incredible build. 

The Yak-Power system might be one of the lesser noticed parts of the build, but I believe it’s what really brought all of the components of the build together. The Yak-power system is what connected the Lowrance FS9, navigation lights, wireless phone charger, USB port, and hull lights. It’s not just the connection of these pieces that made it so important, it was also the ease of setting it up and keeping the nonessential components hidden in the hull leaving us with a clean look in our well powered kayak. 

The Lowrance FS9 was a huge addition to our build to begin with, but the cherry on top was what the 25.2 update could do for our rig. With the new update from Lowrance, we were able to connect the fish finder to our Yak-Power system and control all of the electronic components directly from the FS9. So, not only do we have a clean look, we also made controlling all of the components as easy as tapping on the Graph. I haven’t had the opportunity to utilize this update yet, but you better believe you’re going to see it in the Fall edition of the Yak Off Awards. 

After talking about all these electronics, we must have had a big battery powering everything, right? Wrong. Thanks to Nocqua, we were able to have an incredibly small 20AH battery fit right in the electronics pod of the Vibe Shearwater 125. The battery kept the electronics running all day at the show and took up no space at all. The battery is easily the best option I have seen for keeping the weight of the kayak low while packing a huge punch.

We couldn’t possibly call this a Yak Off ready build without a motor, and Bixpy came through big time when they set us up with one of their K1 Outboard Kits. I have always loved how well the K1 motor and the Shearwater 125 work together. You can use the stock rudder that comes on the Shearwater, but we opted to upgrade to the Bixpy Universal Versa Rudder. The switch was easy and set’s up just like the Vibe rudder so you can have all the same control. The biggest reason I love a Bixpy K1 on a Shearwater is how you can choose to control it with the steering handle, or for someone fishing up a bank, you can control it with the foot pedals. The foot pedal steering has always been the biggest advantage of running the Bixpy K1 motor on the Shearwater 125 in my opinion.

I don’t remember the last time I saw a kayak that wasn’t loaded up bow to stern with YakAttack products and they came through for us in a huge way. Of course they set us up with the infamous Blackpak, but that was just the beginning. We also had the smaller storage option with their stackable Tracpak which I have loved for keeping my go to terminal tackle for a day on the water. A kayak wouldn’t be complete without an Omega rod holder and they set us up with one of those as well. We all love the flashy stuff, but this build could not have happened if they hadn’t come through with some of the less noticeable items like their through hull wiring kits. 

The final piece of the build came from Guardian Angel who provided us with their kayak light kit which is one of the best navigation light systems you can have for a kayak. If you are someone how doesn’t want to run a battery or maybe jumps back and forth from one kayak to another, there is no better option than these navigation lights. I use them on my own kayak, and I have yet to find a better option for a kayak!

At the end of the show, this was one of the most memorable experiences I have had at an ICAST event. It was awesome being able to show off what goes into a build, the time it takes, and how rewarding it is to see progress. When it was all said and done, we had worked hard and succeeded in putting together an incredible build with a clean look not only ready for the water, but ready for an entry in the next round of the Kayak Angler Magazine Yak Off Awards starting September 1st.