Coosa FD

Beautiful fishing kayak. Heavy. Lots of nice features creating a great experience. Comfortable seating. Flex drive is smooth and easy to pedal. I give this a 3 because of the rudder control system. Very stiff and makes turning on a dime more like a quarter. Plastic parts. Better to design with corded system perhaps. You get distracted trying to focus on turning.

Thought this would be a great pedal drive kayak. I watched the videos and read the reviews. I was ready for a pedal drive after several years of using my standard JK Cuda fishing kayak. I made the decision to sell the Cuda before trying this kayak...a huge mistake.
First, as noted in the specs, this kayak is very heavy. It was a chore for 2 people to get it off the delivery truck. It was a huge struggle to heft into onto a Yakima Rock and Roll kayak trailer. It was a struggle to get it onto a kayak cart. I can't imagine anyone trying to lift this thing onto a roof rack.
It is very well designed, well constructed, comfortable, and a lot of thought went into its purpose as a fishing machine. The pedal drive system is great. It propels the kayak effortlessly and smoothly.
What I found so inexplicable, was the rudder system. Every kayak must be guided to the left or right at certain times. It needs to be responsive as well. The rudder system on this kayak is very stiff, sucking all the joy out of the rest of the great features. The JK instructions caution to put silicone on the plastic pulleys if they"stick" but that did not remedy the difficulty of accurately steering this thing. It's hard to focus on anything else while moving through the water with the rudder control as it is. For me at least, it took the joy out of a very nice product otherwise. After 10 minutes on the water, I gave up and made costly arrangements to return it and buy a new non- pedal drive JK. Live and learn. If I lived closer to a store where you could demo it, this would not have been an issue. My bad. My suggestion is to demo it first.

When I was looking for my first fishing kayak, I chose Jackson because of their Mark IV Flex Drive System. I have now been fishing out of a Jackson Coosa FD for the past 2 years and am very pleased with it. The FD system is easy to use, doesn't require maintenance, and I love that if it hits an obstacle, it automatically tucks safely back up into the hull. It is very sturdy and stable for standing up while fishing. It has endless options for rigging and customization with all of the gear track. I have fished in rivers with strong currents, big open water lakes with big waves, and super shallow weedy backwaters and it has performed amazingly in all situations.

I’ve purchased two used “like new” and fully equipped Coosa FDs with double bunk trailer. My first kayak, and after only having a canoe, I’m very satisfied. Have only been out a few times and had a great time. Fishing from a kayak was easer than I was expecting. Overall very happy with my Coosas.

It would be 5 starts if the seat was better. For the almost 4k price tag the seat needs to be redesigned for more comfort.
I would also recommend that Jackson make the seat usable for the older coosa fd models.
The layout, stability, fish ability, storage of this platform is awesome. The seat sucks, 5 to 6 hrs and ur done. Jackson kayak I sure hope y'all make a new seat soon, or I'll have to switch brands. Can't fish with a back ache.