FLYCRAFT BLOG

Fly Fishing Pro Doug McKnight, Endorses The Flycraft Inflatable Fishing Boat
Doug McKnight gives the Flycraft inflatable fishing boat his seal of approval.
Doug McKnight, Fly Fishing Pro, is the next in a long line of existing endorsers for the all-in-one inflatable fishing boat, drift boat, and motor boat: the Flycraft Stealth.
"I saw the Flycraft Stealth a few years ago and it definitely caught my attention with its multiple potential uses for fishing," 20-year fly fishing veteran, McKnight, said of the small fishing boat. "I started wondering about all the fishing options it would open up that I couldn't do with both a drift boat or raft."
About Doug McKnight
A renowned fly fishing guide based out of Livingston, MT, McKnight leads fresh and salt water fishing trips all over the world for Yellow Dog Adventures.
Obsessed with fly fishing from the start, McKnight began the sport at nine years old and hasn't quit since. “I have been a bit of a fishing nut since I could remember," McKnight said. The spark McKnight felt as a child only grew with time. “In my late teens, I pretty much decided that I wanted to make creative fly tying a part of my living," McKnight said.
In the past two decades, McKnight has built a reputation as an expert fly tyer in nearly every facet of the craft. From trout flies, bass, saltwater, big game flies, deer hair flies, realistic flies, and Atlantic Salmon flies, McKnight is a versatile fly tyer who lets his creativity shine through. In 2003, Umpqua Feather Merchants signed him up as a signature fly tyer, and you can buy his unique fly patterns in fly shops around the world. In 2010, Fly Fisherman magazine published a streamer-tying article written by McKnight that was very well received. He continues to write for regional and national publications, and he's excited about all of the opportunities the Flycraft inflatable fishing boat offers to fisherman around the world.
McKnight experiences the Flycraft Stealth
When you pair a pro like McKnight with one of the industry's most versatile and accessible inflatable fishing boats, you're sure to have an unforgettable time. "Not only has it been amazing to fish in but I've had amazing adventures with it, but allows me to access waters other cannot in search of large trout," McKnight said. "I'm looking forward to teaching my son how row in [the Flycraft small fishing boat] because it's so easy." Flycraft is excited to have a fly fisher as respected, renowned, and talented as Doug McKnight as the newest addition to the Flycraft Pro Team. Other Flycraft Pros include George Daniel, Lance Egan, Rich Strolis, and Alex Lafkas.
About Flycraft
Born from a desire to explore more remote and untouched waters, the Flycraft inflatable fishing boat is known around the world as the leader in versatile small fishing boats.
Click Here To See All The Features of the Flycraft Stealth...
Built to suit the needs of fisherman seeking the pleasure of fishing in a boat while seeking more remote locations, this revolutionary new concept in small fishing boats combines the comforts of a drift boat with the accessibility of a lightweight inflatable boat—and is THE choice for both professional fisherman and amateurs alike. And because this small fishing boat is eight boats in one, replacing your drift boat, pontoon, tender, kayak, canoe, motor boat, float tube, and raft, fisherman can now easily access remote, uncrowded fishing holes this and every fishing season.
Learn more about the Flycraft Stealth HERE ...

A Fishing Raft For All Your Travel Adventures
The Stealth Fishing Raft isn't just for your favorite local fishing haunts.
Because of its incredible versatility, the Stealth can go on just about any adventure where there's water.
...Explore new local waters, like small streams and lakes.
...Or pack it up for an exotic trip to the Amazon River, like we did.
The Stealth has been flow in, and backpacked into remote areas of Alaska, it's seen multiple oceans, the Gulf Coast, lakes from coast to coast, and it's been down all the greatest Western, Mid, Central and Eastern rivers.
Our Flycraft fly fishing pros have navigated the best of the U.S. fishing waters. They love that they can explore all new water too, with the versatility of the Stealth.
Because of its packability, the Stealth can fit into 2 large suitcases or duffle bags, trunk of a car, or rv compartment. Basically, it can go where you go.
So the real question is...
...Where will your Stealth fishing boat take you?
Really, we want to know. Leave a comment below and fill us in on your travel plans...

The 5 Most Important Things To Look For In Your Next Fly Fishing Boat
Have you ever made a big purchase like a car, motorcycle, or fly fishing boat and had buyers remorse?
You know, that dreaded realization you paid all that money and it doesn’t perform the way you’d hoped? Thoughts like, “I wish it could do this" or “I wish it had this feature" causing a perpetual buzz-kill?
It’s the worse!
Whether you’re looking to buy your first fly fishing boat or to upgrade your old one, we’ve put together a list of things to consider, so you can altogether avoid the dreaded buyers remorse and love your fishing boat for a long time to come.
The 5 Most Important Things To Look For In Your Next Fly Fishing Boat
1. Functionality: Know what your needs and wants are, then make sure your boat can do it all.
When boat shopping, you'll want to ask yourself questions like: Is it stable enough to stand while fish? Does it have a shallow draft? Do I want/need a motor? Can I fish with a friend/family member? Is there room to fish inside the boat?
Many boats require certain types of water ways and set ups. Like a drift boat requires a boat ramp and the water has to be deep and wide enough for drifting.
If you choose a boat that’s versatile, you can have the best of all worlds.
2. Does it fit your storage and transportation situation?
Can you store a hard boat at your home? Would you need to purchase a trailer for a new boat? Would you need to purchase a new vehicle to pull the trailer? Are you already trying to tow something else like a camper?
If you’re thinking about a drift boat, you may want to consider other options, given the price tag and hassle.
3. What would the cost of your whole rig be?
It all adds up. Boat, trailer, motor, truck, storage, etc. And once you buy these things there are more upkeep expenses involved. Unfortunately, less expensive boats, like single-person float tubes, kayaks, or pontoons tend to be very limiting. :(
4. Durability: What is the life expectancy of the boat? And does it have strong resale value?
Hard boats have great life expectancies, although repairs can be costly when needed. Inflatables fly fishing boats on the other hand are more forgiving when making contact with rocks and the bottom of the river. However, personal inflatables tend to not have great resale value, but high end rafts and hard boats do.
5. Is the fly fishing boat versatile?
Unless you’re positive you’re not interested in exploring new rivers, streams, or lakes ... versatility is key when choosing a fly fishing boat.
The versatile Flycraft Stealth doesn’t require a trailer to transport and you don't have to take up valuable driveway or garage floor space to store it. Because of it’s light weight, you have many more launching and fishing options and possible storage and transportation options.
It also has a strong resale value.
A Flycraft is best of all worlds. It excels on most all water ways, including all the smaller rivers, streams and ponds that other people can't boat on. And no trailer is needed to transport it. Plus you get all the same features, like being able to stand, that a drift boat has.
Hope this helps!
And as always, feel free to give us a call or email us at sales@flycraftusa.com if you have boating questions.

Road Tripping In A Toyota RAV4 With A Flycraft Inflatable Drift Boat
Since I was a kid, I've spent summers guiding my fly fishing squad (dad + five brothers) down some of the top western rivers in various inflatable drift boats, rafts, canoes, and hard drift boats.
My dream has always been to throw a fishing boat on the roof of my car and hit the river or lake. Easy right?
Wrong.
I had zero luck finding a raft that could do it all. I wanted a craft that could be used solo, 2-person that could handle standing fly fishermen, and room for a kid.
Plus, dealing with the headache of a hard boat and trailer was an immediate no-go for me.
And then, in drifted the Flycraft Stealth.
I was stoked.
It did it all.
Solo raft, 2-man + kid.
...Super stable, drop-stitched floor so fly fishing while standing feels like you're in a hard bottom drift boat.
...Swivel seats, so we could switch off fishing and rowing. Plus my dad, who has limited mobility could easily get in and out using the swivel feature.
...A killer anchor system that's incredibly smooth and easy to use.
...98 lbs, so I can load it up myself if I had to.
...and the best part, no trailer needed. It could all fit in a trunk of a car, or top it off.
I assembled the Stealth (which was incredibly fast and easy), loaded it up, and strapped it down to my Toyota RAV4 – then headed out for a weekend floating a small western river known for having monsters in its depths.
My travel companion and I hit a small lake the first evening. We were blown away by its maneuverability and comfort. It turns on a dime!
This boat is legit! The Stealth can do it all!
And for a novice rower, he got the hang of it in no time.
Then in the early AM we floated our small river. It had zero boats on it but a handful of fishermen on foot in a few public areas.
A local told us he's tried to float on it in different crafts but the boats were either too big for the river or too lightweight. He said he's only seen Flycraft's handle its odd currents.
The fishing did not disappoint either.
And I've gotta say, having such a sexy boat topping my mom car has elevated its cool status considerably.
When I got home, the Stealth was the talk of the neighborhood, with a stream of guys taking pictures and asking questions.
Which I replied every time, "BUY ONE! You'll love it!
by Natalie Orvis

4 Unexpected (and totally AWESOME) Ways To Use Your Inflatable Fishing Boat
At Flycraft we've made a science of experimenting with many different ways we can use the Stealth inflatable fishing boat while out exploring. See for yourself...
Here's 4 Ways You Can Use Your Stealth Inflatable Fishing Boat (HINT: They're for more than fishing!)
1. Use your Stealth as a shelter.
Whether caught in a mid-day Montana downpour or just wanting to catch some zzz's, the Stealth can be propped up with the oars and it'll make a killer temporary shelter.
2. Use it on water more more than fishing.
Yes we are obsessed with fishing, but sometimes it's great to just spend a day on the lake or beach with family and friends. For swimming out of or diving, our low profile tubes make it effortless to climb back in the boat. If you enjoy hunting, we're sure you'll come up with a few ideas for this boat as well!
3. Use it as a sleeping pad.
The Stealth's drop-stitched quilted bottom makes for a cozy sleeping pad for the night or a nap.
4. Turn it into two comfy camp chairs.
Pull the frame off, set it on the ground and you now have two great swivel camp chairs to sit down on and enjoy a dinner by the campfire.
How have you used your Stealth? Leave a comment below. If it's a good one, we'll hook you up with some sweet Flycraft swag ;)

Fly Fishing in the Jungle with Flycraft
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:
- 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.
- 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.

It's An Inflatable Drift Boat... All the Comfort, Without The Hassle
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 Stealth Pros George Daniel and Lance Egan
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!

6 Ways An Inflatable Raft Is Better Than A Drift Boat For Fishing
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: