I decided to re-edit and republish this blog that was initially posted over a year ago because it’s both important and interesting: A big and powerful fish may be smaller and altogether weaker than you, but being in its natural element while you’re not gives it an advantage that may compromise your kayak’s stability and make you tip over, or get you somewhere that you don’t necessarily want to go to in a long ’sleigh ride’, or simply make you lose the fish because you’re too busy controlling your kayak. 
This is about a maneuver that Jeff McGovern and myself developed while brainstorming together. It’s called the ‘Combat Position’, and it’s possible to execute only when you’re fishing from a W-kayak. It goes like this: As soon as you realize that you’ve hooked a big fish you need to swiftly reposition yourself along the saddle as forward in the cockpit as possible and most importantly -in the riding position (’Mounted’), with your knees tucked into the front-hull tip openings, as you can see in ‘1′ in this illustration. As a result of your forward move your W kayak’s bow will dip in the water (see ‘2′) while the stern will come out of the water (see ‘3′). In this position your W kayak will be ‘planted’ in the water, and offer maximal resistance to unwanted change that big fish may generate, whether such change is tilting sideways or going forward. In this position you won’t have to worry about balancing your W fishing kayak, and you’ll be able to focus on your fish while its own capacity to outmaneuver or destabilize you is reduced to nearly zero. All that fish could do now is swim forward or sideways, and since your W kayak will generate a lot of drag in this position the fish will get tired much sooner, and become less of a problem for you when it comes to reeling or pulling it in.
Photo of Brandon Cutter with a striper he caught off Cape Cod, MA
For this reason it’s better not to have flush mounted rod holders in the front, but rather to install one or two deck mounted rod holders there.
Blue
Good idea to bring this up again Yoav. It works very well and the W is the only boat that has this advantage.
Great tips of fighting a Big Fish!
I can only Dream about the fight until spring.
But, I’ll be ready to battle those Spring Run Stripers,
with the knowlege now, to postion myself for the fight.
Tight lines all
Rox
Rox,
There are many of us who are waiting for your next movie, hopefully one where you’ll show how you’re dragging a fish out of a difficult spot while driving your electric fishing machine backwards!
That would show that electric motors aren’t just for trolling, but for real action as well
Yoav
Wow, this is great info!! Can’t wait to hook my first fish from my new W Kayak. The trucking firm called to let me know it’s supposed to be delivered tomorrow.