Sit-in vs. sit-on: The Great Debate

They both work and each has its advantages. I don't necessarily agree with your premiss that SOTs are short and stubby and SIK (sit in kayaks) are long and narrow. The Cobra Expedition is 18' and 23.5" wide. Its a very fast SOT. The WS Critter is under 10' and 30" wide. The very popular WS Tarpon is a fast, wide SOT at 16' and 30". There are so many kayaks around now that its really hard to generalize.

On the whole I prefer SOTs. I'm primarily a fisherman who took up the kayak to fish. I enjoy kayaking but you won't find me on the water without a fishing rod. The SOT is more versatile and will go anywhere a SIK can go. In many fishing situations I find that I'm getting in and out alot like on the flats or going up a shallow river, etc. A SIK gets old. Also when the temps are real warm so is the kayak. I can dress for the conditions but I can't get more air into a tight ****pit. Lastly SOTs are much better for launching through the surf. If you dump you fall off. You're not a part of the kayak so to speak.

As I said above they both allow us to catch fish.

Hey Adam....let me take a shot...I bet you were just a kayaker before you fished out of one. though I do agree with the speed thing for the most part, I remember the first time I realized this when I was fishing this back bay spot in R.I we were fishing one night and met a guy with a sink and it was the same dimensions as my SOT and he sorta got tired of waiting for us and he went ahead by the time we got there he had a 25 pound fish bungeed to his kayak. I dont really know that much about hull dynamics but I think you can say that Sit-ins because the of where you sit lower than the water line makes it faster, maybe somebody can explain more about this.
I still think for the all around fishing I do you can beat a sit on top. I was at a kayak fishing fling a couple weeks ago and out of say 30 fishing kayaks there 26 were sit on tops, what does that mean? nothing at all, alot has to do with the type of fishing you do.

Triax

When I first got into kayak fishing one of the kayaks I looked at was the Triax. I even brought the inof to Ramsey Outdoors and this resulted in them becoming a dealer. I did a bunch of research and spoke with a number of people and guides who were using them.
Here's what I learned. The Triax is a calm water flats kayak essentially. Good for flat protected water. It would be a nice kayak to have in the quiver but as a primary kayak it would see little use in the NY metro area.

You're much better off with a versatile recreationaly kayak that fishes well. There are several models that offer very stable platforms for fishing. Take a look at the Cobra Fish in Dive and Ocean Kayak Drifter in SOTs and the Pungo in the Sit In variety. All are very stable.

As to stability, the choice is to either get a stable kayak, and its all relative, or add something like Sea Sponsons and increase the stabilty.