My OSG Stealth Pro Experience - Ten Years and Counting

Over ten years ago I sold my frame style pontoon boat and sold my fishing kayak, took the money and invested in a OSG Stealth Pro and never looked back. Today I could overwhelm anyone with the countless stories of the great, fun times I've had and shared with this frameless, inflatable boat. I have friends from west coast to east coast who have also shared in this venture and our topic of conversations always involve where have you floated recently and what are our future plans. So what has made this experience so great?

That Guy in the background with a frame boat now owns a Fish Cat Scout, a great economical option!

My first thought that comes to mind is freedom!

Find a piece of river or stream five to ten miles long and suddenly it becomes all yours for the day. Explore the water in ways that are next to impossible on foot, learn the currents and how fish use them, set the schedule that works for you and quit looking at the time. Soon you realize nature has its own time and it rarely syncs to your watch. I found no better way to leave behind daily frustrations. Just float away from them!

Freezing winters or hot summers, Stealth Pro doesn't mind the weather

Find your own Water

How many times have you arrived at your favorite run and find another angler already beat you to it. When you float streams this no longer becomes a concern. Yeah, you would have liked to fish that run but just float on. Soon you will find the run that no one wants to hike to. It'll pay off, trust me.

Body Anchoring

What is that you ask! Very little talk out there about the benefits of the open cockpit design. Let's say you come up on a shallow gravel bar with a great bucket in front of you. Just put your feet down and hold there. Maybe stand up if you see fit. You'll have the boat around your body and the foot bar will keep you within your boat. No anchor needed. Walk around and your Stealth Pro stays with you. Let's see you do that with a kayak!

It really is different

I see guys out there in the older style frame pontoons and they think it's mostly the same thing and their frame boats more secure and stable. I had one of those too. Stealth Pro is low to the water and the center of gravity is considerably better. 

A word about Safety

No matter what style pontoon boat you choose rivers can be dangerous, period. These are not toys! They are watercraft. Rowing boats and reading water takes experience! Know your water and KNOW your experience level. Always assess your dangers and when in doubt portage. If you have no experience I recommend a starting point to be stillwater. And always wear a PFD. 

Adventure

On a three day trip with a friend on the Devil's River, Texas we had to lower our Stealth Pro's by rope straight off a 25 foot cliff to avoid an impassible waterfall. We tied to the back d-ring and lowered our boats with gear still strapped in and I'm happy to say both boats entered the water below completely upright. I'm glad I had help in doing this but after said and done I learned I could have done it by myself if I was alone. A great feature of the Stealth Pro is how light they are and easy to portage. 

The Stealth Pro in this picture is my first and original orange Stealth Pro that has since been updated to green. Other than color no other changes were made to the current green model. This Orange Stealth Pro is now over ten years old and still in use today without any problems.

Portaging

Here is another good reason to go Stealth Pro. Some river obstacles should just be portaged no matter what boat you have. Making a portage with a Stealth Pro is just plain easy. They are so lightweight. On each side of the seating area are grab handles carefully placed to balance the boat. Just remove your gear and pick up and carry where you need to go. Re-stow your gear and continue on. If you're with a buddy you can leave the gear in the boat and do your portage one boat at a time.

Ten Year Old Stealth Pro Still Going Strong

Can you really do a multi-day float with a Stealth Pro?

I've done more than I can count. With that said you really do need to be minimalistic. There is a generous load limit of 450 lbs but I would tell you stay away from that limit as much as possible. Not just because of safety but also because the more you load it the slower it rows. But if you have done any multi-day hiking trips all the same rules apply. I use a lightweight backpack style tent, jet boil for my meal needs, etc. Just don't bring your cook stove and kitchen sink and you'll be just fine. 

Four day trip on the Buffalo River in the Arkansas Ozarks

Portability

I've always had a truck and never thought much about space for my Stealth Pro. Strap it down in the bed and go wherever. A couple of my float buddies have smaller crossover type vehicles and they always deflate and fold up there Stealth's for transport. Recently we performed our own shuttle with three Stealth Pros. We deflated and rolled up all three of them to fit into a crossover hatchback. Amazing, we still had plenty of room for all of our gear too. 

Buy Here

With the Outcast Frameless Boat Bag you could travel with your stealth on airlines with just the cost of an extra bag. I haven't done this, YET! But there has been talk about it. 

TIP:

K-Pump Mini

To inflate when launching I use an electric pump like the Outcast Hurricane 12 Volt Pump, but when doing multi-day trips you will want a hand pump option to top up on those cool mornings. The K-Pump Mini will just fit in the Stealth Pro Frameless Cargo Pocket.

Multi-Purpose

Personally I use my Stealth Pro for mostly river and stream floats. I have used it on stillwater a couple of times and it functions really well, much like a float tube. I have used kick fins and it gets around like that quite well too. 

The Experience

While I live to fish, doing your own river floating brings your fishing experience to a whole new level. No matter what the quality of the fishing is I always get great joy in drifting a river, taking in the scenery and just letting go of time and leaving the busy world behind me. 

Greg Darling

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Attention Outcast Clearwater Owners - New OSG Expandable Boat Bag

One of the many great features of Outcast OSG Frameless boats such as the Stealth Pro, Commander and Clearwater is that they can easily be packed up for travel in planes, trains, and automobiles. 

While the original OSG Frameless Boat Bag is perfect for Stealth Pro and Commander Boats it was a hard squeeze to fit a Clearwater. Solution is here; New OSG Expandable Boat Bag fills the need. 

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Unboxing the Outcast OSG Stealth Pro

Taking my time it really took about 13 minutes to unbox the Stealth Pro and have completely ready for water. I did shave a few minutes off by using my powered sup pump vs manual K-Pump inflation. 

FYI Note: K-Pump, K-Mini will just squeeze into the Stealth Pro Frameless Gear Pocket. It's a bit small to inflate your boat completely but it's perfect for a top off pump to have with you on your float. 

Pile on your gear and add water!

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Outcast OSG Stealth Pro Inflatable - Benefits of Frameless Boats

On a chilly morning... 

Two anglers prepare to launch on a "do it yourself" trout float trip. The open cockpit, inflatable design of the OSG Stealth Pro makes this float as enjoyable as it is successful with benefits that go farther than the eye can see. 

I've been float fishing in my Stealth Pro for over 10 years. My first one, the old orange trimmed model pictured behind the newer green trimmed model, is still going strong with no signs of giving up anytime soon. The green boat is going on about 5 years of use and is as good as the day it was new. 

My buddy with the old frame pontoon now sports a new Fish Cat Scout. Took him about an hour to figure out our frameless design boats had worthy advantages over his old school frame design.

My Stealth Pro's have been on big rivers like the Columbia and streams smaller than the John Day. It has floated dead of winter with icicles hanging from it and floated warmwater streams in the sweltering heat of summer. They have performed countless day trips as well as many overnight floats, packed full of gear. 

The obvious:

Floating a river in your own personal watercraft provides an element that goes beyond walk / wade / drift trips. Becoming part of the rivers current gives a feeling of life in motion. Life, in a setting of serenity takes a fly fishing experience to new levels not found in wade or guide boat settings. 

Access:

Become familiar with a river by floating and you will soon realize new water that is not being fished or fished very little. You'll learn to read the currents and soon realize you are a better angler because you learned to read the currents. The wade angler is restricted in how far he can go and how accessible parts of the river are. Floating a river can open up new opportunities even when you encounter crowds. You'll soon find yourself fishing water that has been previously inaccessible.

Due to the open front design some will argue you get wetter as opposed to a wrap around style boat. This may be true and also part of the fun. If you want to stay dry go through rapids sideways. 

Lightweight:

At a dry weight of 35 lb Stealth Pro is easy to pick up and carry around obstacles or to and from launch sites. Portages and shallow water are no problem to navigate in Stealth Pro. If water becomes too shallow to float over just stand up, pick up the frameless boat from the foot rest bar and walk yourself to deeper water. 

Stable and Rugged:

I have purposely not been gentle with my Stealth's. I have dragged them across rocks and down river paths. I've dragged them across river bars and even lowered one over a 20' waterfall by rope from the rear D-ring while it was loaded with gear. Push, pull, drag or carry, whatever the situation calls for Stealth Pro will tackle it. 

All this and the most stable river boat I've experienced. Stealth Pro never feels tippy. You can lean as far as you can to one side and never be concerned of tipping. You would fall overboard long before this boat would flip. In all my experience I've never seen one flipped over and have never felt like I was ever close to being ejected. 

Lowered by rope with gear strapped in. I was curious in this setting if the Stealth Pro would right itself from total vertical drop. Both boats came down right side up. This adventure was a 3 day float on the Devil's River, TX

Gear:

The Stealth Pro packs a good amount of gear. With room for more than one rod, unlimited flies and your lunch you can go farther and search more water. With creative packing you can plan to overnight and be on the water at first light and still have enough room for your all important, morning coffee dope kit. 

Stealth:

Stealth Pro really spells it out in the first word "Stealth". An angler can move along quietly in shallow water without hardly even putting off a wake. You sit low in a stealth helping one stay out of site from cautious trout. In stillwater situations you can fin kick a stealth. 

Seams to be a lot of internet chatter about sitting low versus sitting high. Many want to sit high and stay dry. A great boat for this is the OSG Clearwater. 

Stealth Pro sits low, very low and this sets up a big advantage for some anglers in particular those who fin kick. Other advantages of being low are stealth, low center of gravity, and using your feet as a shallow water anchor. 

Yes, you might get some splash in rapids but I'm always in waders and if the rapids will allow it you can turn your Stealth sideways and avoid the splash through the open front. 

I can't find a way to stress enough here that the big advantage of a Stealth Pro Frameless boat is this ability to shallow water anchor with your feet. This feature alone has opened up a boat load of opportunity for my fishing adventures. 

Stealth Pro is more than just transportation. Stealth Pro is a fishing system that can open up new water and new opportunities that adds versatility in your approach to coldwater trout as well as warmwater smallmouth.  

The BIG Benefit:

What most don't see in an open cockpit inflatable frameless pontoon is the ability to put your feet down. One feature I've come to love about this design is the ability to sit in shallow water with feet on river bottom. Who needs an anchor!

On shorelines and gravel bars one can put their feet down and just stop. Hold yourself in place while you fish out to the holding water. If you need to stand to make a cast than just stand up. The Stealth Pro will stay between your legs and can't get away from you. When you fished the spot just sit down and float on! Sometimes I just walk with my feet while sitting down just to move along 10-20 feet and start casting again. Great way to cover water. 

Want to fish a spot again? With the power of oars on this lightweight inflatable one can go back up stream pretty easy even in moderate currents. 

I hesitate to even try and spell this out to fellow anglers. It has become one of my greatest Stealth Pro secrets that I have remained discreet about for years. It is one of the biggest advantages I have realized in the 10+ years of floating in this frameless inflatable. I have fished from kayaks and framed pontoons / rafts and none of them compete with the Stealth because they all lack this open cockpit feature. I didn't know this would be such an advantage when I first floated in my Stealth, now I can't live without it. 

This feature has changed the way I approach a day of float fishing and has changed the way I view a river. I now look for those areas that others just ignore or are inaccessible on foot.

So while your read all the internet blogs about the 5 best frameless inflatable boats to buy keep an eye out for this feature to pop up. It won't! Few recognize this advantage and those few that do, if they are like me, have kept this feature tucked quietly under their rod wraps. 

In the modern day when it seems like there are no secrets remaining to discover, look outside your fly rods and fly reels and fifty thousand flies you've collected and think about how you approach fishy water. Are you Stealth-y? I am!

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Just In - Aire Frameless Kayak / Boat Bag

Same as the Outcast Frameless Boat Bag which has been selling really well and we are having trouble keeping in stock. The Aire version is exactly the same aside from brand and color. Aire is the parent company of Outcast and Fish Cat. 

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Just in - Fish Cat Scout IGS - IN STOCK

The frameless design offers ultimate portability and a simple, no-hassle set-up. It’s stable in moving water and features a low profile for still water.

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Just In - Outcast Stealth Pro

We have a couple Stealth Pro's and several other model inflatable pontoons and float tubes. Look for the words "In Stock" in the title. 

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Outcast Just in - Fishcat 4 LCS Float Tube - In Stock

We have over 100K of inflatable boats and float tubes on order for the 2022 season. Just in, is the Fishcat model 4 LCS. Search our boat category for all models. Order early even if we don't have in stock the boat you want. It would be better to get your favorite boat on order for future delivery as we expect most of these to sell out before they arrive. 

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