Fish Cat 5

jaredoconnor

jaredoconnor

Peabrain Chub
I’m back on the market for a float tube. I bought the Fish Cat 4 clone, from Sportman’s, but they sent me a used one and I sent it back.

Does anyone have any experience with, or thoughts about, the Fish Cat 5? It’s just a larger version of the Fish Cat 4. It seems to be similar to the Super Fat Cat, except the seat is foam and the bladders are PVC. From my research, the foam seats are better at keeping the cold away, at the expense of weight and size. I’m not likely to do any alpine lake hiking, any time soon, so I’m optimizing for comfort on lakes that I can drive to.
 
No experience with the FC5, but I have OG version of the FC4 deluxe (the all hunter green). I replaced the bladders 7 years in and that was ~10 years ago. That thing just keeps on ticking....although, I'll be looking into a FatCat before next year.
 
jaredoconnor said:
I’m back on the market for a float tube. I bought the Fish Cat 4 clone, from Sportman’s, but they sent me a used one and I sent it back.

Does anyone have any experience with, or thoughts about, the Fish Cat 5? It’s just a larger version of the Fish Cat 4. It seems to be similar to the Super Fat Cat, except the seat is foam and the bladders are PVC. From my research, the foam seats are better at keeping the cold away, at the expense of weight and size. I’m not likely to do any alpine lake hiking, any time soon, so I’m optimizing for comfort on lakes that I can drive to.
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I like the air bladders over the foam. I find them way more comfortable and notice they keep me out of water better. I'm 250 pounds.
 
I have the Fish Cat 5. Pretty much the same as the Fish Cat4, but bigger. The Fish Cat 5 foam seat is a little wide for me, so kind of pinches the sides in and is a little annoying. If you don't need the extra size of the FC5 for the higher weight capacity, I'd go with a FC4.

I also have a Super Fat Cat (yes, I have equipment issues). For me personally, I prefer the foam seat over the air bladder seat. But I have thought of adding some sort of pad on the seat in the FC5, as it does get uncomfortable after 4-5 hours. The main thing I don't like about the Super Fat Cat is that it's a single bladder (other than the seat and back), so might be a problem is you had a seam blow way out on a lake. The big plus of the SFC is that deflated, it folds up really small.
 
I haven't used the air seat, but I haven't had any issues with my fishcat 4 foam seat.

People do seem to like the air seat though.
 
This is probably a dumb question, but does the color of your clothing matter, when fishing from a float tube? If not, I plan to get the most obnoxious high visibility colors that I can find.
 
jaredoconnor said:
This is probably a dumb question, but does the color of your clothing matter, when fishing from a float tube? If not, I plan to get the most obnoxious high visibility colors that I can find.
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I don't think so. I do have sage and sky blue sun shirts, but I don't think it matters. They don't seem to mind the orange boat. I took two crappie right under my fins while unhooking other fish today.
 
jaredoconnor said:
This is probably a dumb question, but does the color of your clothing matter, when fishing from a float tube? If not, I plan to get the most obnoxious high visibility colors that I can find.
Click to expand...
I can't remember if it was @Northern or Freestone who suggested using the brightest PFD you can find so you are more visible to others (boats with motors). I fish from a Super Fat Cat, foam seat. Super boat, back pack straps (or a backpack frame - @Bakerite - show him, eh!) are very useful. I too use an NRS Chinook except during the hottest times when I'm out, then I use a self inflating PFD, type-III.
 
I have the version with the inflatable seat. Very comfortable and in cold weather I add an inexpensive foam seat from Walmart on top. When deflated, the float tube rolls up to a very compact size for transport. I also use one of the NRS fishing PFDs when I’m in the float tube and my frameless pontoon.
 
I should add, I go 155 lbs, so the size 4 is right for me. I kicked back into the front of a thunderstorm the other day, the less boat in the wind the better in my opinion.
 
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I agree with less wind exposure. I remember kicking from the far end of Lenice to the takeout. Waves going over the top of my head made it 'interesting'. Glad I was not sitting up higher...
 
jaredoconnor said:
This is probably a dumb question, but does the color of your clothing matter, when fishing from a float tube? If not, I plan to get the most obnoxious high visibility colors that I can find.
Click to expand...
IMHO, as @Buzzy said, I'd rather be highly visible to boats! I mean, it's not like being on shore near a small stream. In that instance, bright colors might catch the eye of a creek fish expecting death from above and alert for movement onshore. A lake fish can see a midge in the surface film...I don't think it's gonna miss your float tube and kicking legs because you wear a blue shirt!
My entire kayak is chartreuse. My fishing partner's is orange, and I know we both feel better when we can spot each other across the water. My husband's is camo, and he was SUPER hard to find on even a small lake, until I got him a bright red pfd.
 
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