Review Detail

I have owned a Fisha 470 for several years. This is certainly among the fastest fishing SOTs made, bar none. In my experience, even faster than the Kaskazi Dorado II, although that is probably splitting hairs. When trolling, or paddling alongside typical plastic kayaks you have to remember to slow down to get the right pace. The hull tends to skim along the surface and really rips. It has an extremely low profile, which helps in wind. Average cruising speed for me at an easy paddling pace for me is around 4.3 mph. That’s fast!

This kayak turns slowly. I would say the rudder is barely adequate. The only way to turn quickly when stopped is to kick the rudder all the way over while backing up. When cruising forward it’s going to be a wide circle. The rudder pedals are easily adjustable for length.


Due to the way the hull skims over the water, and because the nose is blunt and the hull is flattened just behind the bow, you get lots of hull slap heading into chop. The front of the kayak is lifted by the chop then slaps down like a hand slapping the water. Not a problem going across the wind or away from it. This was only a real nuisance maybe one in ten times out. But when it happens, it is VERY annoying, at least to me. Surprisingly, I never saw mention of this in any other review.

The actual weight was well over the listed weight. The rudder is fiberglass and the edge is prone to chipping. Stealth suggested I add a bead of mixed fiberglass resin and silica sand to the rudder edge. That helps, but it chips away quickly. The tape seam around the perimeter of the kayak is also prone to chips. I haven’t babied this thing at all and after dragging it over the beach and running it through the surf dozens of times there are 4 or 5 scratches in the hull deep enough that I may want to fill them, and a few small chips in that gelcoat seam. That’s it. The lighter scratches buff out nicely. The gelcoat seems robust.

For surf launching, the biggest problem is the rudder. It is permanently deployed and sits below the rear skeg. If you lift the kayak by the bow handle on the beach, the rudder drags in the sand like an anchor. To launch, you need to lift the kayak by a handle placed about 2/3 up the left side, lifting the rudder clear of the sand by tilting the kayak. Unfortunately, you are then holding the kayak by the side, not the bow. Because of this, when launching in waves it is easy for the rear of the kayak to get dragged around to the right by outgoing surf, toward the water, and the kayak to get positioned so it is between you and the waves. Very dangerous! I can’t stress that enough – be VERY careful. I recently had that happen and a wave slammed the kayak into my legs before I could get out of the way. I have since shaved the rudder down so it doesn’t project below the line of the skeg, and I launch the kayak using the bow handle. It is still a bit difficult, but safer. It did make an inadequate rudder even smaller.