I am wearing a wetsuit under my tuxedo. When no one is looking, I sneak away from the Ambassador’s reception ball, climb down a 50-foot cliff and scurry across the rocky beach. From behind a boulder, I pull out a large duffel bag. Inside is an inflatable kayak, electric motor, GPS/sonar and lithium battery. A few minutes later, I’m silently motoring the boat towards a huge motor yacht where Pussy Galore waits.

Advanced Elements StraitEdge Angler Pro Specs
Length: 10’6”
Width: 35”
Weight: 45 lbs
Capacity: 400 lbs
Price: Base model: $999 with ElectraFin: $2,624
www.advancedelements.com

Wake up! I’m not a special agent on a secret mission; I’m a fisherman with Advanced Elements’ latest StraitEdge Angler Pro inflatable kayak.

For years, Advanced Elements has been making serious inflatables that are capable of touring to the ends of the earth or secret spy missions. Their bright yellow Angler carried the tradition to fishing kayaks. Now, they’ve introduced an updated version in a new color.

The StraitEdge Angler Pro (in low-visibility sage and grey) takes inflatable design to the secret agent stage. First, to solve the problem of flex in inflatable hulls, they added a frame to the bow and stern that improves entry and exit. Then stabilizing bars on the fore and aft deck increase rigidity and provide an easy point to connect accessories via one-inch bar mounts. A separate drop-stitch floor further improves handling and provides a solid platform to stand and fish.

To further erase the void between inflatable and rigid kayaks, the StraightEdge Angler Pro is outfitted with a frame seat that provides a solid foundation for powerful paddling and all-day comfort.

Somehow they fit all of these features on a sub-11-foot boat. The rigid bow and stern keep the boat on course, while the short waterline allows it to spin like a top. Like all inflatables, the Angler Pro sits high on the water, but low- profile gunwales cheat the wind. An available skeg fin further improves tracking.

Photo: Kevin Whitley

Our test boat came equipped with a Current Drives’ ElectraFin motor. The propeller unit fits into a standard finbox and runs off a lithium-ion battery housed in a drycase. Forward, reverse and speed are controlled by wireless remote. Change direction by dipping the paddle blade in the water. This is the simplest, lightest and most compact system we’ve tested. It’s powerful enough to push the boat faster than I could paddle. I wasn’t able to exhaust the battery and the specs say the prop will run up to 20 miles on low speed.

The motor is perfect for pushing the inflatable to distant fishing grounds. On the scene, the motorworks and prop actually improve stability and tracking, even if it does cut draft to two feet deep. To fish the skinny stuff, just disconnect the lower unit and throw it in the back of the boat until it’s time to motor home.

The StraitEdge Angler Pro is one of the most innovative packables that we’ve tested. Adding a motor to this inflatable makes it a serious fishing kayak that isn’t limited by the poor performance that sometimes haunts blow-up boats. It’s a perfect boat for anglers with limited storage and transportation options. Or secret agents.

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Ric Burnley
Kayak Angler editor Ric Burnley has been kayak fishing since the dawn of the sport. In 2007, Burnley wrote The Complete Kayak Fisherman, with chapters on how-to make a PVC rod holder and glue a fish finder transducer to the hull. In 2013, he landed his dream job as editor of Kayak Angler magazine. Burnley is a regular contributor to Salt Water Sportsman, Sport Fishing, Outdoor Life, In the Bite and other print and online publications. Burnley lives in Virginia Beach with his wife, adult daughter, daughter’s boyfriend and daughter’s two cats. Experience In 2004, Ric Burnley stole his first milk crate from behind a 7-Eleven and fashioned it into a gear crate for his Ocean Kayak Prowler 15. Many years and many milk crates later, Burnley has witnessed the rise of kayak fishing from a bastardized fringe element to a legitimate industry with millions of devotees. The journey to becoming an angler started early in Burnley’s life. His father, Eric Burnley, is a renowned outdoor writer and former fishing guide, so the boy grew up in the cockpit of a charter boat and in the pages of national magazines. After college, Burnley lost easy access to his father’s boat, but not his passion for fishing. Once he had exhausted the limits of land-based angling, Burnley decided to try out a new thing called kayak fishing. About the same time, Burnley was looking for extra work to pay for his expensive addiction. His father, editor of the Mid-Atlantic Fisherman Magazine, offered him freelance assignments for the weekly publication. That led to a position as regional editor at Salt Water Sportsman, publication of The Complete Kayak Fisherman and editorship of Kayak Angler. Meanwhile, Burnley and his partner-in-crime, “Kayak Kevin” Whitley were exploring the boundaries of kayak fishing. With the bountiful Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean as their playground, the two anglers were the first to target big red drum, cobia, trophy striped bass, monster black drum, sheepshead and many other species. Once inshore species were exhausted, Burnley loaded his kayak onto motorboats and fished for bluefin tuna, blackfin tuna, king mackerel and amberjack. All the while, Burnley shared his experiences and knowledge with anglers through print, photos, video, radio, seminars and online. Almost 20 years later, Burnley continues to fish obsessively and share the stories. His recent projects for Kayak Angler cover the latest trends in forward-facing sonar and remote-controlled electric motors. Over the past two decades, kayak fishing and Ric Burnley have come a long way from PVC rod holders and stolen milkcrates. Education ● Radford University: BA English; Virginia Teacher’s License. Highlights ● Other Interests: Mountain biking, traveling, hiking, surfing and skateboarding ● Day Job: High School English teacher at an alternative school for at-risk students Fun Fact Ric’s name is a contraction of Eric. Ric is named after his father, Eric Sr. To differentiate between the two Erics, Mrs. Burnley removed her son’s E. To this day, she writes the boy’s name ‘Ric, with an apostrophe replacing the E.

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1 COMMENT

  1. I’ve owned this kayak for a couple of years and I’ve had it in the water less than 20 times. It paddles as you would expect for a blow up kayak, and going more than a couple of miles would be a chore. I use it for fishing and drift with current and wind and it works pretty well.

    Just recently I inflated the floor and found a leak near a seam. I patched it. I inflated it again and found another leak in a different spot. It turns out that the glue in the seams are failing and there is no way to fix it. I’ve reached out to Advanced Elements ( Bought out by Pelican) and after several days they finally answered by email. No one answered the phone. So far they are telling me that I have to buy a new floor for $200. Please take this into account when considering this kayak.

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