Sit in vs. sit on kayak

[bass.slayer69]

My family currently has an Old Town Dirigo that I occasionally use for fishing, but I have an old 14 foot canoe that I use most of the time. The Dirigo is most definitely more of a recreational kayak, and I have tried by best to fit it with rod holders and a storage crate, but it doesn’t help much. I love the canoe once I'm out there, but I don’t love the transport and needing another person aspect of it. Thus, I’m wondering if I should look into a used sit on top kayak or if there are any modification to the Dirigo I could make to make it more of a fishing kayak. Thanks.

[schplurg]

I'd be interested in seeing how you set up the Dirigo to fish from if you have any photos. Curious.

 

If you are okay with fishing out of that (you already like kayak fishing) then a sit on top sounds like a good move. My first yak was a used WS Ride 115 with a paddle. Was $500.

 

Of course soon after that I learned that I don't like using a paddle much and bought a pedal drive yak. I'd buy used if I could.

[bass.slayer69]

15 hours ago, schplurg said:

I'd be interested in seeing how you set up the Dirigo to fish from if you have any photos. Curious.

All I have now is a rod holder in the front so I can leave it there when I paddle. Only other issues are lack of other rod holders and no good spot to put tackle boxes - was thinking of putting a crate somewhere but don't know where

[Bankc]

Sounds like a SOT (sit on top) kayak is the way to go.  

 

But be warned.  An SOT kayak is a lot heavier than a sit in kayak.  And good ones tend to be pretty large, and paddle like a barge.  So it may not be that much easier to transport than your canoe.  Plus, lots of people fish by themselves out a canoe, and don't have issues with that.  So I'm not saying don't get one.  But don't expect it to be the perfect marriage of the two you already have.  

[casts_by_fly]

My first kayak fishing came in a 12 whitewater kayak.  I was in the paddling club at university and they would let us borrow boats for the weekend. This was a full neoprene spray skirt.  I tucked a two piece rod into the boat, a small bag of hooks and bread tied to a loop inside, and made for the river where people fed carp from the deck of a restaurant. Had a lot of fun, caught a few fish. I’d never bass fish from one. Not enough mobility, limited usability for gear, and they move through the water really easily so when you hook one you’re on top of it in a second. 

[JackstrawIII]

I have a sit on kayak (Jackson Big Rig). It's definitely heavy (around 100 pounds) but it moves pretty good through the water and I can actually stand on it and fish. I am super tall and don't have great balance, but the thing is so stable I feel totally comfortable fishing standing up and haven't fallen (yet). 

I would highly recommend a sit-on kayak vs a sit-in or a canoe. It's night and day. 

[GTN-NY]

I have a Jackson Big Rig also. It’s like a barge but once you get moving it’s no problem paddling. I stand a fish all day in mine. It’s like a mini-bassboat. I wanted to find out just how stable it was. I had to stand on the side to get it to flip over

[CountryboyinDC]

There's a guy in my fishing club that uses a 14' canoe that he paddles and sometimes stands up and paddles as you would a stand-up paddleboard (with a SUP paddle).  It's a fairly wide canoe, and so it's stable, but still weighs in around 60 lbs (it's Royalex).  He uses both spin and fly tackle from this set up, and the lack of creases, crevices, and other things to get wrapped around when stripping line make the canoe superior to a kayak for his purposes.  If you're determined to bring a bunch of tackle, want something easier to maneuver with a 2-bladed paddle, pedals, or motor, then a sit on top kayak definitely has lot of advantages.  The downsides are that it will be heavy relatively to a sit-in kayak or canoe and it will likely be lower performing.  I have fished from canoes, but now I pretty well fish from sit on tops exclusively, and rely either on the river for propulsion or use my pedal drive if there's no current.  It's certainly much easier, but it definitely adds to the logistics.  I wouldn't want to load either kayak (Old Town Predator PDL or Jackson Coosa HD) on top of a car very often.  But my whitewater kayaks are easily carried cartop, and a 60 lb canoe could be even easier.

 

[bulldog1935]

My lightest SOT is 39 lbs Kevlar Kestrel, and while it's the fastest taxi to wade-fishing you'll find, it's not normally stable enough for most fishing. 

 

This is only slightly slower, seems infinitely more stable, and I've been in beam-reach 28-kt gusts with no steering problems, and riding a 36-kt gale with my drift sock deployed at the stern, and it was just plain fun. 

 

 

There are many good light, stable, fast/efficient SOT kayaks out there, such as this 44-lb Redfish 10.

PE kayaks are here to stay, and it's worth searching craigslist for what's out there. 

 

If you check out our long trails last week, we still like narrow efficient distance SOT kayaks

Speaking of my buddy Josh, here's his updated spreadsheet on kayak models, set up to help narrow your choices. 

And a tutorial on now to use the spreadsheet. 

He knows his stuff, worked at Jerry B's in Corpus while attending TAMU, and has kept up with the industry more than anyone else I know.  . 

[Jamo]

I used to own both a sit in and sit on. Started with a 10' sit inside Ascend from BPS. Drove me nuts bc I can't fish sitting down so I acquired a Feel Free Moken that was stable enough to stand up in. Believe it or not, I never fell out. Kinda depends on your waters though, when we took them to the river my pregnant wife could out maneuver me while she was running the Ascend (sit inside) while I couldn't even fish in the barge that was the super wide Moken.