YakOff Awards II: Cameron Smith, Hobie Pro Angler 14 360XR | Walkthrough

Cameron Smith (https://www.youtube.com/@RealCamSmith) takes us for a tour of his Hobie Pro Angler 14 360XR in Round One of YakOff Awards, Season II.

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*About the YakOff Awards*
An NCAA bracket-style tournament—the YakOffs pit the rigged-out kayak builds of professional anglers against one another en route to becoming the YakOff Champion. The winner earns:

• A spotlight in Kayak Angler’s 2026 Spring Print Issue
• A branded spotlight page on kayakanglermag.com
• The YakOff Championship Belt and bragging rights
• $2,500.00 USD cash prize!

Vote weekly to decide who moves forward in the competition to be crowned champion. Plus, voting puts you in the running for a chance to win one of three grand prize packages from our sponsors—and, new this season, Battle Prizes to be given away during weekly matchups!

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[Music] Hey guys, my name is Cameron Smith and today I’m going walk you through my 2025 Hopie ProAngler 14360 XR. Let’s get into it. So, before I walk you through my kayak, I want to share with you how I fish and why I selected the Hobie ProAngler. So, I primarily fish shallow water. I’m really beating the banks. Um, that’s just the type of fishing that I do and I enjoy. Uh, so I want to get as many casts as possible when I’m out on the water, whether I’m tournament fishing or I’m just fun fishing. And on top of that, having a platform like the ProAngler allows me to do that with the 360 drive and the motor that I’ll show you and how I use it, uh, it gets me to my spots quickly and also be able to hit a lot of structure and cover uh, while I’m out on the water. So, no matter what type of kayak you use, try to select the kayak that’s best for your fishing style. And for me, again, the ProAngler fits that. The stability, the storage, the platform, just in general. I don’t really have to explain it too much, but it’s the ultimate fishing machine. And there’s no doubt about that in my mind. Let me show you this. So, what this ProAngler is sitting on is a 2025 Snake River Lockers trailer. In my opinion, it’s one of the best trailers out on the market. Coming all the way from Idaho, made and manufactured here in the United States, uh, with Steve Carroll and Jeff Little. Uh, in my opinion, this is the best functioning kayak trailer out on the market. It’s the best engineered kayak trailer on the market with its rust resistance, rock and roller kits that allow four additional points on the hole of the kayak, walking wings that don’t rust, um the ability to have an extended tongue so you have a lot more better turning radius when you back it up to the water, the ability to have a half rack so you’re not hitting your head when you launch uh the kayak, and you still be able to put your rods out on there uh in the black pack. Additionally, having enduro spare tire mount and a full hub assembly on the spare tire. I can go on and on about this trailer. It’s the best looking. It’s the best engineered kayak trailer. It’s one of this overall the best trailer that you can ever get. So, this is the 2025 Snick River Lockers kayak trailer. And again, you got to pick a good kayak trailer. It’s almost like having a good life jacket. Um, this kayak’s gonna be sitting on this trailer more than me sitting on the kayak trailer. So, um, this is why, uh, it’s part of this review and why it’s so important to me. All right, guys. So, let’s start with the bow. So, on top of the bow right now, I have my EGO fishing net. I typically have it right here. I just have a small little uh, makeshift Yak attack mount where I have a Yak Yak attack um, uh, paddle holder here. I keep on my left side since I’m primarily right-handed so I can quickly grab the net and scoop up those fish. On top of the bow or at the very tip of the bow, I have some Supernova navigation lights. I really do enjoy these lights. They don’t require any twisting, so the wires are very straight inside. Um, and plus they’re much lighter weight um than typical navigation lights. inside the hatch. Um, this is where I store my PFD when I’m in when it’s in transport. Inside I also have dock line. It’s about 10 ft long. Also have just a sponge just in case and a nature calls some wipes. Uh, but inside Hobie for the 2025 model the year uh installed air or is giving you a computer plate. On that computer plate, I have a FPV power distribution hub. U, what’s nice about that is it’s remote controlled, so you don’t have to drill or uh sticky tape any of your electronics controllers. But that distribution hub allows for six ports or six uh unique uh uh connections to your electronics on the kayak. Two of which are always on. Uh, one of those is powering my action camera and the USB port. uh but really gives a lot of good power and clean power too uh to my uh fish finder. I also have an NEA 2000 connection uh inside the kayak. Uh that allows me to connect my uh Laurance.1 so I have really good clean directions when I’m out in the water. Let’s see what else is on the kayak. All right, guys. On the port side of my kayak, I have one of the most important pieces of equipment, uh, which is my paddle. Even though I have a pro angler, even though I have a motor, you got to have a really good paddle. So, I have a Bending Branches Angler Pro paddle. I love this thing. Um, I always use it every single time that I go out fishing, and this is why it is always deployed and not in the rear of the kayak. This season I’m running a Laurance HDS9 Pro unit. Uh the reason why I switched from an Elite FS9 to an HDS Pro 9 is because of the display and so I get a lot better images when I’m using this unit. Um and so far I’ve enjoyed it. Um also have just a cup holder on this side. Um but we’ll get to the motor in a bit. But let’s walk on to the starboard side and show you what’s over there. All right. So, on the starboard side, I’m gonna sit down for a bit. But on the starboard side, I have a mini bin from Hobie. This allows me to put just, you know, scissors and also my uh pliers. Really e quick easy access. I also have I usually store my touchboard here. I just have a Rogue leash on it. The reason why I go with the plastic carbon one is just a lot less noise uh than a heavy metal one, but I still have both just in case. Um, I have a quad lock uh phone holder. I usually use that so I can quickly take pictures and images while in the water, but also be able to see time. And then under the seat here, I have a decked 60. This is just a decked box uh that typically are made for or not typically but they are made for the decked system. Uh but I use it uh for putting all my soft plastics in there. And so I really do enjoy this. It’s doesn’t impede me sitting. Um and uh now with the 2025 Hobie Pro English where the bottom of this is completely flat, I’m able to use this. So definitely do enjoy that. Um the seat um you know I know we’re walking you through just why I have the things why I have them. Um but the kayak cushion’s great but what’s even better is really this uh this proingler uh seat. I have a pinch nerve but the adjustability um that this seat offers I mean is bar none. It’s it’s the main reason I would say one of the main reasons why I have a pro angler. Inside the center hatch, which is another reason why I have this kayak, is the center hatch. Um, so I just store lots of odds and ends like a buff, some u my gloves, I have a scale, and then also I have, which I’ll show you, uh, the FPV uh, distribution hub. Also has a remote. So this is the remote control. I just have that on a zinger. I have my uh uh Oklahoma and Texas licenses in there, spare leader and line and whole bunch of odds and ends in here. But uh man, there’s obviously obvious there’s obviously um options out there if you don’t have have this on your kayak, but man, it is such a nice to have where it’s clear and out of the way and water doesn’t get in it either. So, I love it. So, I was also talking to you guys about why this center hatch is so cool. So, I can able to take out this, then put my 50 amp hour Newport battery in here. Uh, this allows me to control and power all my electronics inside. All right, so let’s get to the, uh, main thing that you guys want to see, which is the motor, right? So, I have my ENK 300 on this kayak. Again, this is a first I have uh for the 2025 season. Last year, I had a MK180 on a 2023 Pro Angler, and that got me everywhere. It changed the way I fished, but this year, this really did. Not only the 300, which allows me to get uh to point A to B much faster and a lot quieter than the 180, um but also added foot control steering. So, I have the Wizard foot control steering on this kayak. This really allows me to be hands-free. Again, I’m a shallow water guy and I’m trying to beat the bank or even just structure and cover as much as possible. Um, and this allows me to do that. So, it is totally awesome. I have the controller for the ENK300 mounted on a RAM ball. It’s a uh B size. I forget the actual size, I think, but I think it’s B size. Uh, but the reason why I have it again on the port side is because I cast right-handed and so this allows me not to really hit the the throttle control which is pretty sensitive. Um, but also I have it as low as possible. With polarized glasses it’s kind of hard to see the display and so this is why I have it on a ram ball so I have the ability to adjust it towards my face. Um, and so anyway, let’s head on a little bit further back uh in the stern and show you some more. The battery that’s powering my Newport Vessels ENK300 is a Newport Vessels 40 amp hour battery. I just have that inside my black pack and I just put a Yak attack through hole kit on the back with a 50 amp or 50 50 amp fuse on it to allow me to have some safety out on the water if something goes ary. All right, so kind of starting into stern. I have a um boom stick from Yak Attack. This allows me to get those over the head shots um for me fishing and how I power that. Let me take the uh my cup holder off real quick so y’all can see. But new for 2025, and I’ll kind of take this paddle off, too. But new for 2025 is these H plates. Um, this allows you to basically drill into your kayak into sacrificial plates, uh, without the worry of, you know, you need to do any plastic welding. Um, so I have a through hole port kit, uh, for the, uh, controller. So, it’s just a clean install. And then also, I have a USB port. It’s a, um, 30 watt powered USB port, so it can control the action camera that I use. Um, the action camera mount. The the uh boomstick is just using a uh Mighty Mount Duo. It’s just sit as far back as possible. So, I really do love these H plates. There’s five in the kayak. There’s port and starboard size in the front and the rear in the cabin, and there’s one in the back, which I’ll show you in a bit. So, like I was saying, having a having a good trailer is really important. As you can see, I have the black pack. It’s a 16×6 with all six rods that I carry. I typically carry six. Um, and the rack is not in the way. And so, again, choosing the right trailer is kind of part of this whole process of having the right kayak, too. And it’s part of the rigging process, too. And, uh, that was really important to me. But anyway, I have a 16×6 black pack uh, in the rear tank weld of the ProAngler. Um, you can see there I have a Laurance 0.1 in the rear. Now, the 0.1 is not GPS enabled. It’s just a pure heading sensor. So, it doesn’t matter where you put it. Um, but I put rod delete plates on both sides, which I’ll show you where what I did with the other side. Um, and I’m able to have a really clean install. I don’t have to drill into the kayak where I typically did last time when I had a my first broinger. Um, but really clean and elegant look in my opinion on where I put that. I thought it was really worth showing you guys. um my lever system here. So, what I did is I took um a Hobie pull handle and I put that with a Harkin pulley on a M mighty Mount Duo. So, it’s very clean and flush. I don’t have to mount it to, you know, up front or anything like that, but I’m able to put it on the H rail, which I really do like. Plus, this is rubberized, so when I drop it, it doesn’t make a lot of noise. I I bet you probably didn’t hear that. or if you did hear it, you didn’t hear it as much. Uh, this Harkin pulley is really nice because it’s very simple to, you know, this is a bad angle, but it’s very simple to, you know, put it into the cleat and when you want to deploy again, it’s very easy to snap off. So, um, thanks Christine Fisher for that idea that I saw a couple years ago and I took it from my own and did that did the same exact thing, uh, for the reverse line, too. So, I have the same exact pull cable or um pull cable from Hobie. And again, it’s very easy and ergonomic. And again, if you’re not looking good, you’re not fishing good. All right, guys. So, I showed you my trailer. I showed you why I place the things I place and why I have them. And so, I really do appreciate you guys sticking around to watch the full length video of just me reviewing a walkthrough of my kayak. I really do appreciate it. And so anyway, hope to see you guys out on the water. If you have any questions, please ask me. Um, I’m on Instagram and Facebook. You can find me at Cameron Smith Fishing or just Cameron Smith. And on Instagram, I am Real Cam Smith. So anyway, appreciate y’all’s time and have a blessed one. Peace. [Music]