I'll second what Jim said. My first kayak was the Hobie Passport 12. The reason I chose that was because I was looking at a used Malibu that OEX in Sunset Beach was selling. Once there though, I was able to compare a few different options. Once I sat in the Passport and gave it a test spin on the water in the harbor, that sold me on it. So I would highly recommend doing the same!
Here are some of the pros and cons of the Passport 12. Again, like Jim said, this is just my personal opinion from my experiences with that kayak, so it's certainly not the final word by any stretch.
Pros:
-Affordability: You get a lot of boat for your buck
-Mirage drive: Easy to operate and clean. Doesn't tangle up as easily as a prop and is easier to free up if it does
-Comfortable: Would do 8+ hour days offshore and cover 10+ miles on it and didn't murder my back
-Maneuverable: Easy to operate on the water and when fighting a fish
-Lighter than most other pedal kayaks and easier to load and manage on land.
-Compatible with lots of Hobie add-ons, most importantly the livewell. Also easily customizable to fit your specific needs.
Cons:
-Limited storage: I added the rectangle storage hatch to mine and moved the round hatch to the bow. Even still, the hull is shallow and there's not a ton of room down there. This was never a HUGE issue for me since you only bring what you need and you work with it! More crap = More hassle anyway...
-Rides a little low on the water. If you're a heaver person, this could be an issue in uglier conditions. I'm 6'3" and 180lbs and never had a problem.
-Hull feels a little cheaper. Was not a big issue either and the kayak performed just fine, but the thermoformed hull does feel a little thinner and less sturdy that the Outback or higher-end models. If that's important to you.
-Lowrance Ready mount was too small for my Garmin transducer! I had to use a side-arm mount to mount my transducer which was annoying, but still functional. Less than ideal, but if you get a transducer to fit, then it won't be an issue!
-Rudder has to be deployed manually(no deployment line like on the Outback, etc.). This is really only an issue if you are beach-launching and want the rudder up for the launch, then deployed once offshore. It's manageable still, it's was just annoying to have to try to use the paddle to deploy it once past the surf, or try to climb over my livewell. Usually had a buddy with me to just drop it down for me though any time I was beach launching. (don't know if this has changed with the newer models, mine was the very first Passport model a few years ago, so I'm not positive what changes they may have made since!)
-Harder to stow rods horizontally for beach launching. I had to get creative with bungies and a pool noodle to launch through bigger surf, but that's also not too big a deal and very situational depending on how and where you plan to fish.
Hope this gives you a little more insight on the Passport! In general, I was very happy with my Passport and the Pros always outweighed the Cons. Is it the perfect kayak for every offshore fishing scenario? No, but for the price, it certainly checks off a lot of the most important boxes and is a great vessel to get someone offshore and onto some fish! And the most important question I think is answered by the pictures I added: Yes, it can catch fish
