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New 14, 16 and 18 ft. FISH-CATtm models and options in the lineup for 2013

This is my wife Patti waiting while I park the van/trailer at Red's on the Yakima River in Washington. There's a large amount of usable flat space on board a River King cataraft compared to a conventional drift boat of the same length.

As more anglers discover every year, River King Catarafts provide access to all the near-shore fishy habitat that a serious angler might wish to prowl. If you're like me that runs from rivers and streams, to lakes and ponds, to estuaries and eel grass flats and rocky shorelines in the salt. Most other designs, like John boats, inflatable or rigid canoes and kayaks or traditional drift boats and rafts will present some difficulties for one or more of those habitats. Even most other large catarafts are designed first for whitewater and then they add some fishing accessoriers, like an anchor or a pad to stand on. While River King Catarafts come with the same rock and abrasion resistant tubes and oar systems of their whitewater cousins, our frames are designed first as fishing craft that can carry multiple anglers comfortably and plenty of gear for multi-day adventures on the water. We just build them plenty tough enough for whatever water you're likely to encounter on our big western rivers.

A River King Cataraft consists of two inflatable pontoons - we call them tubes - and a rowing frame which sits on the tubes and holds everything together. While the tubes provide the floatation, the rowing frame supports the working surfaces where people will sit to make some sandwiches, repair a leader, tie a fly or change a camera battery - or stand to take pictures, cast and maybe even catch some fish.

Although a minimum of two carpeted bench seats come with the rowing frame - additional seat options and lean bar mounting possibilities are almost unlimited.

The rowing frame also provides the structure to attach useful items like oar stands, coolers, gear boxes, seats, rod holders, anchors, motor mounts or standup casting bars. These are the elements that turn your floating tube raft into a real fishing craft that perfectly fits your fishing style and needs. At River King, we like boats with plenty of flat working space. So, our boats come with two large upper decks and a solid wide lower deck for stand up casting - all running the full length of the frame. It's hard to overstate how much easier it is to see a feeding fish at 50 feet plus and drop your fly exactly where you want it - when you've got a solid platform under your feet. Our lower decks are built to make the largest angler feel secure and steady.

Aside from the light weight of our catarafts which makes them easier to row - and the wide stance which makes them stable even in the roughest water - River King Catarafts can be easily disassembled for storage and transport such as in small planes - and just as easily assembled again at the launch. In many cases you won't need a trailer to haul your cataraft to or from the water. (Note that trailering is still a good option that will eliminate the modest assembly time if you do a lot of float trips during the season.) Some added benefits that are usually not noticed until after you buy a boat is that during the off-season, a deflated and disassembled River King Cataraft takes very little space in your garage or shed. And catarafts, with only their air inflated tubes resting on the water, are less likely to spook feeding fish than other watercraft. Unavoidable noise and bumps on deck almost never make it to the water.

Click on one of the crimson links at the left to learn more about our 14, 16 and 18 foot fishing catarafts. The 3D PORTAL link is new this year. It's a graphic portal into as much detailed information about our catarafts as you'd like to explore. Other links take you directly to purchasing info, pricing, etc.

This year we've separated our product family into FISH-CATtm and CORE-CATtm categories to make it easier to navigate our site. This page, the FISH-CATtm main page, is also our website Home Page because fishing catarafts are our original product family. We're here to answer your questions by phone or email. Just use the contact info at the bottom of each page.