SINK VS SOT
I live in Northern California and fish all year. I have had SOTS, but felt the early ones were heavy and tough to turn in moving water. I have returned to a SINK outfitted lot like some of the factory angler models. The OT 13.8 is a great boat as are the WS Pungos. They are right when they talk about dressing for the worse case scenario, which you should do for either boat. I fish big, cold bays and Sierra lakes and think the Inuits had it right. I have been pulled by stripers, salmon and steelhead, I wonder what it feels like to be pulled by a walrus. The new SOTS are much improved, but still an open boat without much back support.
I’m a Sink guy
I have a Necky Santa Cruz which I fish out of . When the conditions are rough I wouldn’t want to be in SOT. Each yak has it’s advantages. A lot is to be said for the ease of getting back into the SOT. However, I just plan my exits more carefully than the SOT Guys. Perhaps one should own both typed. FishHawk
wet behind !
i weigh # 310 and even the 14’ sot keep my feet and bottom wet. yes i know about plugs for the holes, but why should i have to ? i really wanted to use a sot for our faster river waters when fishing for easier recovery if capsized ; but for me the sik works better…mikey ps. the only sot that turn fast enough for navigating the rapids and rock ledges seem to be the short boats , and they are just too wet for all day fishing for me.
SIK vs SOT
I have both and I have lived in the PNW, my choice would be a SOT, with proper clothing. While you can put a lot of gear in both, its easier, and possible, to reach alot of it in 50 FOW in the SOT. I have a T120 and can swing my legs over the side and sit comfortably while reaching into the tankwell for bags and coolers.
Of course remounting a SOT vs re-entering a SIK isn’t even a contest.
SOT vs SIK
Fishermen that paddle seem to prefer SOT
Paddlers that fish prefer SIK
RE: Dirty Ed …
That simple observation is dead on the money. 
correction
Actually Bernie, my experience on water and in a few pool classes is to reenter the sink first (after flipping it over over course) and then pump it out while sitting in the flooded cockpit. I’m not sure about pumping out before reentry as you suggested. Either way the SOT is easier to remount and I’ve owned both.
SOT and SIKs
http://kfs.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x/a/tpc/f/1211085601/m/4251029431
This link is about the best all around answer to the question that I’ve seen.
While the article has merit, its pretty
one sided in favor of SOT’s. My sit in is comfortable and does a great job for me. Stays pretty dry too.
Ice water negates the SOT advantage.
– Last Updated: Jun-12-05 12:56 PM EST –
Make that swift ice water. The original question on this thread is from someone in the PNW. I fished salmon day before yesterday on the Fraser River. I got out on mid river gravel bars to fish and on that day never did fish from inside the boat. It is fresh glacial melt with the color, visibility and about the same temperature of a chocolate milkshake. No one has any interest in dangling his or her feet in the water to cool off this time of year. Maybe for a few days in August during the sockeye run. After fishing a bit I added a fleece anorak and a wind shell jacket because I got cold standing in the ice water in my Gore-tex waders over nylon climbing pants. Should have worn long johns. I.e. cold. In mid June.
A SOT would work for such applications, but you'd have to wear a full wet or dry suit to really be safe. If you plan on never capsizing or getting your upper body clothes wet, then waders would work, and I wear them in my SIK. Maybe waders and a rain jacket, because whatever gets wet and absorbs water is going to make you miserably cold, maybe dangerously cold.
The swirling swift currents and whirlpools demand a boat with at least some performance ability. Make that a steelhead river and you are into considerable class II water, some class III, also glacial melt usually. I am a fisherman foremost, who loves to paddle kayaks and has had little storage room in a small apartment. A boat with engine is a more efficient platform to fish such big icy rivers and I will get one sooner or later, saving the kayak for fly fishing isolated lakes off or near logging roads. Meanwhile, it has been superb fun to fish and paddle channels and island shores in the kayak.
These SOT articles remind me of the endless stories about deer and deer hunting where the author assumes that the only deer in the world is whitetail and the only method of hunting is a tree stand. Or the author assumes that bass fishing is the only freshwater fishing there is. It's a bigger world folks, and one size doesn't fit all.
I used to live in Southern California and I suppose in the early 70's was one of the pioneers in developing SOT for diving and fishing reefs way out beyond the surf. I didn't know anyone else who was interested and developed each piece solo. I used a surf board that I modified and was shopping for my first real SOT when I moved north. It's a different world from the Florida flats, mid-west frog water or California surf.
Reality is that like the whitetail and bass, the market is tiny up north compared to the number of people, buyers and practitioners of kayak fishing in warm waters south. Even fishing salt water last summer the water was icy cold, often in fog, and the northern tide currents rip along like a swift river, deep right up to the shoreline cliff face.
For both SOT and SIK fishers, have you ever noticed that a kayak paddles better with a big fish in the hold? I've notced the same phenomenon in a 4x4 Bronco, that it drives and handles better with a five pound fly caught rainbow on board. But I digress.
I'd love to fish a SOT in warm water, like Moses Lake country in Eastern Washington in summer sun. I may yet try Florida this next winter.
SOT and Cold water
– Last Updated: Jun-24-05 7:35 PM EST –
The author of the article fishes primarily in the Northeast. SOTs are catching on quick up there.
I use my SOTs all year long and always dress for possible immersion. You can go in with an SIK too. Don't fool yourself, it could be the last mistake you ever make.
I've rolled into 40 degree water and it would have been a lot worse experience if I had not had a SOT.
Either way always be ready.
Dry SIKs
I’ve rescued SIKs from my SOT and they’re all dry… until they’re not.
?
If you were in a sink, you could have rolled back up in a second or 3. That is, if you knew how.
SOT vs SINK
– Last Updated: Jun-25-05 3:39 PM EST –
The wife and I fished both ways and I have to say that we both like the SOT for fishing much better. I now fish from a Tarpon 140 and she from an Ocean Kayak Mars. We like being able to hop off and wade with the kayak teathered to our pfd when in the freshwater flats, hanging our feet in the cool water when we get hot, and easy access to the gear stored around us in the tankwell or the neat little cubbies front and rear. The accessory seatbacks that are available to attach to my 140 have really eased the strain on this disabled USMC vet and the two flush mount rodholders that are located behind the seat make for a nice location to put my rods as we go from one spot to another. Yes, the SinK is a bit faster if you cover long distances, but when we fish, we fish our way out and back. The ease of reentry is another great point, although with the stability of this boat, I have yet to suffer an upset. I can anchor the yak, turn sideways in my tarpon, and sit with my feet in the water and fish the shoreline. My wife has done the same with her Mars. Even wakes from inconsiderate powerboaters flying past at full throttle haven't done much damage. The spacious tankwell holds the tacklebox, cooler, etc, and I haven't even touched the hatches that give access to the hull storage space. The SOTs have our votes hands down.
jshank
You can’t always roll your way out
I was in a lot of semi-submerged timber. There was nowhere to roll. Sometimes you roll, sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way. I’ll take my chances in an SOT. On top of that, if I were in an open cockpit recreational kayak, there would have been no rolling at all. Those kayaks will get you seriously damaged in cold water.
How abouit a combo SOT/SINK?
– Last Updated: Jul-13-05 12:18 PM EST –
We are due for a new type of kayak, a SOT with some kind of deck hatch that opens wide to get in (or more likely on) and then closes to a SINK cockpit capable of taking a spray skirt. Now THAT would be a fishing machine for cold and river rapids. Fibreglass hatch cover with rubber seals at hinges and seams to keep out water. I envision a SOT with a skirted cockpit rather than a SINK with an expandable cockpit opening.
For most of my kayak fishing, I think someone would be nuts to do it in a SOT, but to each his own. I have all gear lashed with lanyards, plus paddle float, pump and gear needed for re-entry in cold water. I've done it in ice water, in the rain, several times.
SOT/SIS
That would be a great boat. I wish someone would build it.
fishermen that kayak prefer sot???
Where do you get your info from? Do you smoke crack? I have never been out in my SIK without fishing. I have caught about 400 largemouth and a few thousand smallmouth, perch, bluegill, rock bass, whitebass, etc… over the past 3 years in my pungo 120. I rigged it up with my own designs for fishing any time of year. With my spray skirt, I fish all winter long as long as it isn’t iced over. Try to fish in a sot in any season besides summer! It’s almost impossible without being wet, sitting in water the whole time, being cold, or weighted down by wetsuits, etc! I can stay totally dry and warm with minimal clothing all year round.
No matter what anyone tells you, SIK are the much better option if you are a true fisherman that wants to fish year round in all climates and conditions. IMO SOT’s are for the rec user that was told to buy that one by the salesman at walmart…
SOT vs SI for fishing
I fish on the Chesapeake Bay in VA in a sit in. Haven’t tried it on a SOT. Works fine for me.
To create a sit-on/sit-in, just attach
out riggers to a sit-in and sit on the back deck just behind the cockpit. You may have to install a support under the deck to support your weight. Cheap out riggers may be made from boat bumpers. Of course, it may slow the ride down, but it will give you another option for sitting.