Flycraft Takes On The Amazon Jungle In Inflatable Raft

If you’re looking for a destination fishing adventure, landing an arapaima in the Amazon is a total next level experience. Arapaima are the largest freshwater, air-breathing fish in the world, getting up to 600 pounds and over 12 feet long. In this feature, Flycraft CEO Ben Scribner, and Sales Manager Brandon Collett travel to the country of Guyana in South America in search of some freshwater jungle fish.

Watch the video below for a montage of the Flycraft Amazon Fishing Adventure:

But on the real, Amazon fishing should be on every serious fisherman’s bucket list. The jungle is a radically different world. The remoteness is out of control. Monkeys running through the trees, jungle noises, wildlife, birds, the stars…

Everyday you’ll be blown away by what’s going on.

And the guides with King William Adventures make you feel totally safe. The guys down there are real men. Even just being able to eat involves hunting and foraging like we’ve never seen … Like they killed, dressed and cooked a wild pig for us one night.

Our mission for braving the wilds of the Amazon this last December? It was two part:

1. To catch a legendary arapaima. This monster is so big you have to get into the water and wrestle it, once hooked and fought out.
2. And to prove the Flycraft Stealth Boat is indeed “jungle-proof”.

Spoiler Alert: The inflatable Stealth craft is in fact perfect for jungle fishing. On the other hand, wrestling in a legendary arapaima? Well, here’s the story…

Why the Amazon for Your Next Fly Fishing Adventure?

The Jungle

First off, jungle life is clearly a radically different lifestyle. Even the way you eat and sleep while out there is unusual. It’s actually a thrill to be in such an alluringly unique environment that’s guaranteed to shake you out of your day-to-day grind.

The Fishing and Eating

…But it’s the exotic fishing that’s the most memorable and worth the trek down to the equator.

To give you an example, a tourist visiting before us had a goal to land an undiscovered species of fish. This guy caught over forty different species during his short stay!

It was a blast to exact our revenge on the piranha for shredding our flies all day, by cooking them up for dinner.

During the days we were catching peacock bass as our bread and butter. Peacock are actually the best fish I’ve ever had. But landing a giant arapaima was the destination objective.

How The Stealth Boat Handled In the Wild

The Guides Loved It

The Stealth Boat did amazing on it’s maiden jungle voyage. It performed so well our guides ordered a bunch to access hard to get to lagoons.

The arapaima typically live in lagoons off the river, so carrying your boat from the Amazon river through the jungle, to an arapaima’s lagoon, proves to be a tough task. The guides loved the Stealth because, weighing in at 98 pounds, you can easily carry the inflatable raft.

Stealth Boat Floating Along Crocodile and Piranhas without a Hitch

The Stealth was officially coined “jungle-proof” with the durability for the jungle, yet still comfortable casting amongst crocodiles and piranha.

So Long to the Arapaima, For Now

Floating out among the arapaima was wild. It’s like a grenade going off under you. When you feel one of those creatures on your line, it’s mind boggling thinking about landing it.

Sadly, despite our best efforts and catching countless exotic fish, we have a little bit of unfinished business with the arapaima. So we’re definitely going back for round two with this underwater beast.

A shout out Umpqua. Their bags were great for keeping our gear dry.

And to King William Adventures for a mind-blowing, life altering adventure. If you’re a freshwater fisherman, be sure to put Amazon extreme fishing at the top of your bucket list.