Outfitting: When it comes to the new playboats these days, it seems that they want to fall apart after only paddling them for a year. (Well, some of them any how.) This boat, from the first glance, you can tell that this thing is solid. The outfitting is never going to go anywhere. The seat is solid and all the adjusting devices are solid and nothing is going to just fall out of this boat.

Hip pads: A lot of boat manufactures are supplying hip pads for the boats they are selling these days. They make it quick and easy for other people to fit into, when you're on the river and some one wants to try your boat. Or for demo boats. Never the less people seem to like it. Dragorossi boats do not come with any hip pads.

Thigh Braces:These thigh braces were kind of tough to get used to. I felt like Ii was a little too big for these thigh braces. My knees really didn't seem to fit too well up inside. With a little foam and some glue they were fitting a little better and were comfy.

The Inner Thigh Braces: Some people didn't like these and some people did. I did. I thought they offered a new type of support that has never been offered before in a kayak. It really felt like your butt was glued to the seat.

Back Band: The back band in this boat is never going to brake on you. It is about as stout as it comes. Fastened to the seat just below your knees makes it easy to access the adjustment. The piece that holds the back band up and down is very stout as well. The only hard part about this back band, is the sticky rubber it is made out of. It make's it a little hard to get into the boat with a lot of gear on.

Seat: The seat really has it's work cut out for it. All the adjustments are fastened to it. The foot adjustment and the back band both are fastened to it. So it is made of very sturdy plastic and is built tough.

Foot Room: Brian and I can seem to fit into just about any boat with some pain. This boat caused no pain. The foot position in this boat was similar to all the Riot boats. Heals on the foot block and toes pointed forwards. I spent a good amount of time in this boat and never had a problem with my feet. I have a size 10 foot.

Performance: Well, let's get to the goods. The plastic that this boat is made of is very stiff. I don't think this thing will ever oil can. Stiff hull, fast boat.Super sharp edges and loose but controllable hull. A very well constructed boat.

Basic:1=poor - 3=ok - 5=best

Loose: The Fish is about as loose as it gets for a boat without losing control. Clean spins all day, 360's, 720's... what ever you want.

General speed: You can just tell when you get in this boat and start paddling up the eddy or ferrying out across the river, that this boat has great all around speed. It is nice and wide and is very well balanced.

Speed on a wave: The fish has a lot of speed on a wave. The more transition the wave has, the faster the boat is. On small waves with not a lot of transition, it really didn't stand above the crowd too much, but was faster. On edge this thing screams. Cutting across the wave without having to worry about falling off of it. Very cool. In the ocean, same thing but with the fins. The boat is a wave machine.

Slicey: In the hole it was nice and slicey. Both bow and stern were well balanced.

Steady on end: Bow stalls well and stern stalls well. All the flat water tricks seemed to go off without a problem.

Bounce: No front bounce, but huge back bounce. This boat is not a front bouncer. If your going to get air it is going to be from using your edges or a back bounce.

The Helix: Air Helix? Oh yeah! On a dime. On some waves it seemed easer to helix than to do a blunt. On a nice big wave this boat has super sideways grind speed. Throwing the helix in this boat was not a problem.

The loop: Lift is a big part of getting the loop and the flat water loop. This boat is kind if thin at the ends, so the lift needed to get this 190lb guy out of the water to throw the loop wasn't there. Tthen there is the bump on the back deck that kind of get's in the way when you are finishing the move.

Forgiving: This boat is a high performance wave machine. In order to get the high performance, you need to give up something and that is the forgiveness. It rolls easy and paddles easy it is just a little edgy on a wave or in a hole.

All And All: I liked this boat for the most part. Very well built, light and going to last you a long time. Great wave machine. Very fast and something that feels new. The performance aspect of this boat is not like all the other boats out today. It doesn't do one thing that a lot of other boats do today, and that's "Front Bounce". But it does everything else well (if not better). It is not one of those boats that you get into and start killing it. You need a hour or two to find the grove this boat is in. We took this boat every where; all of our local spots and then we went to skook for a couple days.We all seemed to get a great feel for this boat. The only thing is, I don't understand why there are no grab holds on the deck. And why does it have a small hole cockpit? No grab holds means it is hard to lock up and you can't pull swimmers out. The small cockpit means you need to buy a new skirt to paddle this boat.

Check out more on the fish at Dragorossi.com

Or At NRS.com

See You On The Wave ....................................Ken Pitta

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