A User Review: Super Fat Cat vs. Fish Cat

I received a Super Fat Cat back for a Christmas gift to myself in 2012 but due to health concerns I was not able to use it until spring of 2015. I used the SFC twice so far this year, once was at Putah Creek just below Berryessa lake. Putah Creek is a slow moving wide river at this point and I went with a guide. The guide had a Fish Cat tube. This trip was my first time in my SFC and first time using my Force Fins with my heavy Simms wader boots. It was very windy that day and combined with the current it seemed I could not move around worth a darn, the guide had to grab onto my tube and help me to get to wherever we wanted to fish, the guide was using some kind of dive flippers and it seemed like he could move with ease anywhere on the water. The guide ended up anchoring my tube wherever we wanted to fish and his tube was tied to my tube. I did not feel comfortable in my tube on this water, I had visions of myself being swept downriver and ending up stuck in a tree or something. I did end up catching several wild hard hitting trout and that was fun.
Second trip with the SFC was on a small 7 acre lake at 8000' elevation in the Sierras. It was a perfect cloudless day with no wind which made it a great day to learn how to use the Force Fins and get around the water. It was a complete opposite experience compared to the wind and current of Putah Creek, I was very relaxed and had a very fun time on the water even though I was skunked. At the end of the day I realized that it was a lot easier to troll out of my Hobie Pro Angler kayak compared to the SFC but still had lots of fun.

I used a Fish Cat twice to fish out of a small 1 acre private pond this spring that was full of trophy sized Brown and Rainbow trout in Nevada. These two trips were my first experience with a float tube. The owner of the pond provides the float tube, waders, booties, fins, net, etc. to prevent any diseases and mussels, snails, etc. from other people's gear from contaminating his pond and fish. The first trip there the wind was light and I had the entire pond to myself. The fins provided were Outcast's fins and they worked ok, nothing spectacular but I was able to get around. I had a decent day and caught and released a handful of very nice Rainbow trout.
My next trip to the same pond was very windy and I took a buddy that had never been in a float tube, both of us had a hard time getting around due to the wind and we tried to hide from the wind behind a row of trees. The only problem with that was the trout were all on the other side of the pond. I did manage to catch and release 9 trout of which about half were very nice size. Several of them took me for a ride on the tube and I was spun around and towed around for a bit, lots of fun and made up for the pesky wind.
I really like the SFC, I just need to not inflate the seat bottom so much as after a few hours it seemed as if I had been sitting on a granite boulder. I like the Force Fins more than the Outcast brand fins maybe due to I had a few trips under my belt by the time I used the force fins.
The Fish Cat tube worked ok for me too, this tube had the foam seat bottom and seat back. The SFC seat bottom had more hip room compared to the Fish Cat and the SFC has a lot more storage room compared to the Fish Cat.
I am a tall guy at 6'3" and 205 lbs. but I felt comfortable in both tubes. All four trips I spent 4 to 6 hours on the water and never cramped up or felt fatigued. I thought for sure that I would get cramps or fatigued on my SFC with the heavy Force Fins and heavy Simms wader boots but there was no difference between the lightweight booties and Outcast flippers.

Great write up and review , I have the fat cat deluxe myself with inflatable seats and back rest and i can say the tubes have a very comfy ride ... using the right fins with the tube also helps a ton and the Force Fins are great as you saw . I can tube all day and never be fatigued or cramped up

Wes

Thanks for sharing atavuss.

I'm 55 and I notice the fit guys move around better with any fins. I have been rehabbing a back/hip injury for over a year and the Force Fins are a bit easier on the body than dive style fins.

I haven't pulled the trigger on a FT as of yet but found your INTEL to be very enlightening.

Thank you very much for your comparison review.

Both are great tubes for sure but have you looked into the Cumberland:?:

Like Wes said, awesome write up mr Atavuss......i too have a Outcast Deluxe fish cat and love it its cuts through water like butter LOL ....

tony G

Hi and to the gentleman above thinking about purchasing a float tube;
If you are an avid fisherman and think you might like fishing from a float tube, I'd bet you'll love it once you try it and get used to moving around in it.

Just get something, anything to get started.
Once you get a feel for it you can pick a more specific tube you might like better.
And your waders, booties and fins will all be good to anything you change to.

Also I'd get light weight booties as real wader boots are not necessary unless you have to walk a long way to the water with all of your equipment. There is a definite difference when using lighter weight booties and fins. The large dive fins have a lot of propulsion but I find them not as well suited as my force fins which seem very good all around but a little pricey as a first set of fins. But you'd probably not buy another set. Again, I'd get some decent inexpensive fins to get going.

Float tubing is not like fishing from a kayak, canoe or small boat. Your hands are completely free and unencumbered, yes I know Hobie kayaks have a pedaling system, and not to take anything away from them, but they are not even as maneuverable as a float tube can be. But any kayak will be much faster across the open water, but usually all the extra speed isn't worth the less maneuverability. Plus you aren't going to carry a kayak very far from your car, truck or trailer.
The thing I like to do most, float tubing, is a very slow troll which is just about the perfect speed using a float tube with very little kicking and effort. And any fin set will work.

I have the Outcast Super Fat Cat now.
I started and still have a smaller Caddis profile 2000?, no longer made but it is a "U" shaped FT.
It's very light and I can easily carry it loaded with all my tackle for miles using backpack straps.

I then bought the defacto fish cat 4, which is very nicely made but I instantly missed all of the pockets that the Caddis had and how you can separate everything in different pockets.
Unlike the large pockets of the fish cat 4 where all of your tackle and boxes are in just two different large pockets.

That was a bit of an adjustment and issue for me.
I liked that it was faster across the water but at the cost of it catching more wind.
That's a bit of a trade-off of having more of your body in the water and less above.
But there are always trade-offs.

The biggest problem I had with the fish cat 4 was the foam seat bottom and back. I could never get comfortable in them. I knew that it was not for me after the first day using it.
But its is very popular so many must like the foam seat and back.
The other thing about the foam pieces is they take up a lot of room when packing it away.

Enter the Outcast super fish cat lcs.
It has the same or better build quality.
It's slightly wider and longer.
More noticeable when you have them side by side.
But I noticed it right away when I got into the SFC.

The inflatable seat bottom and back are a huge improvement for me.
I have always been able to fish all day. But now my butt and back don't bother me at all.

I like that the actual tubes are about an inch larger in diameter so it rides a little higher out of the water, and is a little faster, or easier to move across the water.

The pockets are a in a similar position but are a little larger and I like the design and function better than in the FC4.

Even though the SFC is bigger the lack of the foam cushions makes it pack down so much smaller and it is considerably lighter.
I think their outcast web site says that the FC4, FC4 deluxe and the SFC all weigh about the same.
That is false the SFC lcs is pounds lighter, not a couple ounces. I've lifted both back to back onto the top of trucks and it's easy to notice how much lighter it is. Just pick up the boxes in the store and you will see what I mean, not to mention how much smaller the SFC shipping box is.

My buddies all have SFC's or FC4's.
And when one of us with the SFC isn't using it the owners of the FC4 always ask to use them.
It really is that much nicer on the water.

The only real negative is that the SFC cost almost twice as much.
I'm not sure it's worth that difference but it is without a doubt better in every way on the water.

I'd look at the deluxe FC4 because of the inflatable seat and back before considering the FC4. I think the inflatable seat and back are worth the price difference.

I looked at some of the other float tubes, on the market, and have an inflatable personal pontoon along with the SFC and Caddis and former FC4.
I even use fins in the pontoon so for me it functions just like a float tube on the water.
It is a lot faster than any of the float tubes, I've had, but it is heavier and harder to "assemble".

Personally I waited and waited, looking at all of the available float tubes, years ago when I was thinking about getting one for the first time, but finally just bought the Caddis, some inexpensive fins, booties, waders, PFD and never looked back.

I can't recommend the Outcast SFC more but I understand the cost is prohibitive.
I don't like to think about how much it cost.
I did like some of the others and have had a chance to use a few of them but I made my decision based on what I thought would work best for me, for most of my float tube fishing, which is 99% of the fishing I do now.

Good fishing and best wishes picking out a float tube.

You won't regret it!

socal_native,

That may well be the best description of why people enjoy "Float Tube Fishing" I have ever heard.

Thanks for sharing.