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.

Why The Flycraft Stealth Inflatable Drift Boat Is A Favorite With Fishing Pros

Fly Fishing Pro George Daniel always enjoyed drift boat trips at popular fishing destinations. Being a pro, he wanted his own craft. But he was't happy with the options available on the market. Although drift boats are comfortable, they’re also expensive and a huge hassle to transport and launch … Then he noticed the Flycraft Stealth Inflatable Drift Boat at a trade show.

The Stealth was a game changer for George, who can fish both small and large rivers around his home in central PA, and western rivers he loves to haunt.

What George really digs about his Stealth is he can throw it on top of his Subaru or in his truck, no problem. The Stealth allows him to access more water than a drift boat, whether he’s on a larger river, or one of PA’s many creeks. 

He travels all over the country and can bring the boat anywhere, which is much easier than lugging a drift boat and trailer around.

He liked his Flycraft Stealth so much, he now has two. George and his wife Amidea (who is an amazing fly fisher as well) enjoy regularly taking both boats out with their two kids.

A Day on the Water with Flycraft Pros George Daniel and Lance Egan

Watch as Flycraft Pro's Lance Egan, George Daniel and George's 6-year-old son Logan float and fish a western trout stream. Lance lives in Utah where Flycraft is based, but George and his son live in Pennsylvania so it was a real treat for us and Lance to show them one of our Rocky Mountain trout streams.

Check out Logan using Flycraft's new 3rd seat option! 3rd seat is perfect for that fishing buddy 100 lbs or less!

Special thanks to local companies Drop Jaw Flies​ for designing those deadly streamers and Rising Fish​ for that hog scooping net and quality tools!

Find Out How Flycraft Stealth Inflatable Raft Is Better Than A Drift Boat For Fishing...

Ben Scribner, founder of Flycraft, is a hardcore fisherman. He spends his weekends out on the water (and weekdays too if he can find an excuse). But for years he tried out different drift boats, pontoons, and inflatable rafts on a quest for the “perfect fishing boat”. None of them were quite right. You either can’t stand to cast while floating, the craft can only handle one person, or it required a truck and trailer to transport.

So he knuckled down and got serious about designing the best inflatable raft for fishing, rving and adventuring, even if he had to make it himself …

...and it would have every detail pored over to achieve ultimate performance, based on years of experience fishing out of a boat. This is how the most versatile boat in the world was born.

If you’re wondering specifically what are the differences between a drift boat and the Stealth...

Here’s 6 Ways The Flycraft Stealth Inflatable Raft Is Better Than A Drift Boat For Fishing:  

#1. The Stealth gives you unlimited access to hard-to-get-to fishing spots because of it’s light-weight (98 lbs) and motoring capabilities.

You can launch the Stealth from just about anywhere, which gives you access to new, untouched fishing holes (where the monsters tend to hang out). You can also explore the side channels and narrow passageways of your favorite rivers, avoiding crowded, over-fished areas altogether because the Stealth floats high in the water like a lightweight pontoon, for you to easily navigate shallow waters or lift it over logs or fences. And the layout inside the boat has been carefully designed to not snag your fly line as well as offer ultimate fishability.

This opens up endless possibilities for fishing exploration and truly getting away from everyone.

#2. You get the advantages of a drift boat but with much, much more versatility.

You can use the Stealth as a comfortable two-man craft (plus a kid or dog) or a solo-boat, no problem. And with a double-reinforced, super stable floor, you're able to cast easily while standing, just like in a drift boat. With two swivel seats, you can quickly switch off rowing and fishing with your buddy.  For novice rowmen, the Stealth doesn’t get any easier to handle. And it's perfect for running any river you’d take your drift boat down, but a lot more. People are often worried that the boat is only for smaller waters.

The Stealth’s small size, combined with it’s rigid sealed floor gives you even better performance than a drift boat. It’s rigid floor gives it a drift-boat-like solid floor feeling. The floor being sealed and not a self bailer causes less drag in the water while rowing for cleaner drifts, easier anchoring, and more efficient motoring and a stiff floor that will still morph over rocks in the shallows.

#3. No Boat Ramps Needed. No Trailer Necessary. 

With the Stealth, there’s no trailer or launching hassles. Which means you can launch your boat on rivers that don’t even have boat ramps, which opens up more water. You can float rivers people with drift boats cannot access. Go ahead and launch it at your favorite boat ramp with the drift boats, or launch it off the bank on your favorite small walk and wade stream.

 If you need to shuttle vehicles up and down rivers or lakes, it’s painless, given the Stealth fits in or on top of a car, truck or RV.

Use a trailer if you want to, but the Stealth is just as easy to transport on the roof or a car, the bed of a truck, or even your trunk. And unloading and loading out of a truck is the slickest thing since sliced bread

#4. You can sneak up on fish better.

With an uber stable, double reinforced floor and reverse-lean technology, the Stealth helps you cast perfectly while standing. Without the hard bottom of a drift boat, the Stealth is … well stealthy & quiet. And the shallow 3” draft definitely helps you sneak up on fish. 

The Stealth also offers better fishability with more room to cast, fight a fish, and less of a chance of line catch. 

#5. A Flycraft Stealth is considerably cheaper than a drift boat.

You’ll pay about $4,000-$7,000 more for a drift boat than a Flycraft Stealth… plus trailer maintenance/registration.

Storage can also be an issue with a drift boat. With the Stealth, storage is minimal. The whole set up fits in the trunk of your car. Plus no truck or trailer is needed to transport it. It can even be checked on a plane and travel anywhere in the world.

Given its versatility, the Stealth also replaces a pontoon, tender, raft, kayak, canoe, and motorboat so you can explore way more water without shelling out a lot of coin. 

#6. Little to no rowing experience needed.

The Stealth is more forgiving for running difficult rivers. Inexperienced rowers can row a Stealth without worrying about ruining the fiberglass or sinking the boat. With it's lightweight, the Stealth is super maneuverable. Plus it can scrape over shallow bottoms or bounce off rocks in rough rivers that could otherwise cause a lot of damage to a drift boat. The insane tracking makes it even easy for small children to row.

And if you're an experienced rower, you will love the performance of this lightweight boat and the new places this boat will take you.

If you’re debating between a drift boat or something else … well, we’re biased … but the Stealth is hands down the best all-in-one craft for serious fishing. It can float every river a drift boat will and a whole lot more. A Stealth Flycraft offers all the benefits of both a raft and drift boat without the negatives of either, the perfect hybrid.

See for yourself. Here’s what Stealth owners are saying: