Kit review: Andrew Savs Pisces Predator

A REVIEW

Pem Reyneke, a retired painting contractor from the KZN South Coast, called me up out of the blue to discuss kickboats. Unsolicited phone calls rarely get my attention but when they’re fishing related I’m known to put my feet up on my desk and chat away. He’s an engaging guy and a week or so later I stopped by to meet him and to check out his operation.

First impressions count, and he left a good one. Pem is fixated on quality and reputation. “Oom Pem”, as he’s affectionately known in bass circles somehow still manages to remain excited about pontoon boats even after doing it for so many years. We walked through his workshop where he and one assistant make all of the components of the boats, from start to finish, and I couldn’t help but smile. “We’re like friends who work together”, Pem explained, and I could see that this is something that is deeply important to him.

In Pisces Predator Pem has mastered that difficult trick where you produce an object that is a little better than it needs to be, where it needs to be better. It is short on frills and long on value and quality. “Find a reasonable negative review anywhere”, he told me, “and I’ll discount your purchase”.

These are extremely popular boats among bass anglers, and the fact that the sequentially numbered pontoons in the workshop carried tags somewhere in the low thousands, you’d think you’d find at least one bad review. Save yourself the time, there isn’t one.

Pem makes the pontoons himself to ensure that they meet with his exacting standards.

He told me how he sourced the PVC used and had the manufacturer use a smaller weave, more emulsifiers and higher UV protection additives than the standard product. This all helps to make the material more supple to withstand being repeatedly inflated and deflated and to protect it from the sun. He tells me that he had to bond his house to afford the minimum order run of his first purchase of PVC, but asks that we don’t mention this to his wife.

To give you an idea of the durability of the material being used in the pontoons, Pem has his own boat strapped to the roof of his car and we had a good look at it. It looks as good as the pontoons being prepared for shipping - except that it had been on the roof for a year already. That’s pretty good going. The woven nylon stuff with the internal bladder has nothing close to this sort of durability.

The pontoons carry a one year unconditional replacement guarantee on seam welding and material and a further five year free repair guarantee on seam welding. The boat is supplied with a patch kit, valve connector and four-rod holder.

I borrowed a model and used it extensively a week later on a trip to the Eastern Cape. I got to spend some real time on it and feel that I can give a pretty fair appraisal of it under various conditions.

Let’s get this one out of the way - pontoon boats hate wind. That’s a universal law.

Without your legs dangling below it in the water like a keel, as they would on a conventional trout kickboat, these things tend to drift in the wind. Some manufacturers compensate for this by lowering the seat level to below the height of the top of the pontoons, but it doesn’t

Reassuring Stability

help all that much. The seat on the Pisces Predator is level with the top of the pontoons.

I’ve given this some thought and I’m kinda stumped on which I prefer. On one hand, dropping the seat even a few inches would have been great in the gale force winds that we had to fish in but, on the other, the extra height for casting and spotting fish was fantastic.

You’re high and dry and the boat is so manoeuvrable that you get to feeling that you’ll be happy to put up with the wind for the added advantage of height.

My backcasts usually tend to leave rooster tails across the water behind me but I can’t remember slapping the water once in all the time that I fished from the boat. A proper anchor is however an absolute necessity with any pontoon boat as you will pay the price for your extra height..

The Pisces Predator packs so small that it fits into its own tackle basket. The thing is lightweight and is unbelievably easy to assemble. Pieces clip together and are then “double locked” into place by the bolts that hold the seat down.

The aluminium components are all powder coated and connectors have been selected to withstand extremely low temperatures without becoming brittle. This is not only a consideration for winter fishing in the high 'Berg as these kickboats now have an agent who is selling them in as far afield as Canada.

When you have it assembled it the boat almost looks as though it’s missing something. I like that. I think it’s as zen as hell. I’m reaching that phase where I'm simplifying, and what I can leave out of my fishing gear is almost as important as what I bring along. Having a boat that is compact and light can only make it that much easier to live with.

Despite its intentional simplicity the pontoon boat is remarkably stable.

I initially did not inflate it nearly as hard as I should have, despite being told to, but it still never felt 'wobbly'. Despite having fought or landed several trout in the ten pound range from it at no time did I feel as though I could capsize the craft or slip off of it. With a double, independent pontoon system any mishap that might burst a pontoon still leaves you with one to hold

The boat was developed originally for bass anglers. It has a rear section onto which an electric motor and battery can be mounted. The collapsable crate into which the boat and frame collapses doubles as storage space when it is clipped onto the inflated boat.

On the subject of electric motors, I don't know why trout anglers don't use them more often than they do. We use fins and as a result move backwards up weedbanks or structure; basically fishing into water that we've just paddled through. With an electric 'sneaker' motor behind you the angler can move forwards, fishing into undisturbed water.

Pem specifically asked me for insight into what needs to be changed on the boat to make it more trout friendly. I haven’t come up with much outside of the adding of a stripping / line tray and a platform for an anchor and net where the battery would be.

Ok, so what about the price? I’m going to be straight-up about that: this boat is ridiculously inexpensive. It comes in two models with the larger of the two leaving you with change from five grand. Let’s get some perspective on that - it costs roughly the same as two decent PVC flylines and backing.

In summary, this is a value for money, nononsense, no-frills, high-quality boat that gets the job done. I’ve got one on my letter to Santa this year.

For enquiries contact Pem Reyneke on 083 301 2851 or www.piscespredator.co.za