Home Forums Fishing Flyfishing Spring Creek Prams

Several years ago I treated myself to one of these, the 10' Hopper with two seats. It vastly improved the whole stillwater fly fishing experience!

http://www.springcreekprams.com/

I can shove the thing in my short-bed pickup and drag it to the water myself, or if my son or a buddy are along, we share the load.

Rowing the pram is wonderful. With a few strokes of the oars I can put it pretty much anywhere, it only draws a couple of inches so it works great in real shallow areas too. A small mushroom anchor holds it in place.

If I'm fishing alone, I typically keep one 5wt rod rigged with a floating line and a dry fly, and a 6wt rod rigged with a sinking or sink-tip line and a wet fly. The rods nestle safely inside the pram, secured to the hull by velcro straps.

With two of us aboard, there's still plenty of room, and the swivel seats are very comfortable. In the summer, it's nice just to hop in wearing sandals & shorts instead of putting on waders, boots, fins and clambering into my float tube (which I still use now and again). In cooler weather, it's nice not being down in the doggone cold water!

Sight fishing is great. The pram is stable enough to fish from standing. Standing, along with a good pair of glasses, sure helps pick out the fish. If two of us are aboard, I make sure we take turns with that standing stuff...

Embarrassed to admit that I have virtually no photos of the pram, despite fishing from it for eight years now. Must be having too much fun fishing instead of taking pictures!

Folks ask me how well it works with a trolling motor. Darned if I know. I just row it where I want it to go.

Anyone else using one of these Spring Creek Prams?

used to have the same boat, pocket pullers on both ends, cattarac(sp) oars, snap in carpet. Yup they are great fishing platforms, small and stable. Truely enjoyed it for stillwater fishing, my intrests just lead me away from it into something with 330hp and a bit more room . I do miss it, and wish that I did not have to sacrifice that boat as well as a few other items to jet my riverboat, but the trade off has been well worth it. I have plenty of pictures of the boat though....all from the inside, or hanging out of it holding trout.

Yeah, I'd say a 330 hp boat is a wee bit different from a Spring Creek Pram!

Here in AL. a "Pram" just doesn't fit for the tactics I use but a one man pontoon has worked very well for me and my buddies. We put trolling motors on them, run upcreek a ways and drift back down. Or float down and come back up. It sure beats leap frogging the vehicles. Also, most of the flat water is private except for the TN river backwater. The pontoon is lots more stable and flyfishing friendly than a canoe.

Yeah, pontoon boats are good, real good!

Agree about the canoe - I've got one and I've fished from it quite a bit (have one heck of a story about latching onto a salmon out in the salt water from a canoe...) But they're typically not all that stable. With the pontoon boat you're sitting up pretty high, and have good visibility. Same thing with the pram - I sit up pretty high, and can even stand when I need to. Most of my fishing from the pram is on stillwater.

Rivers, I typically wade.

Regards, Guy

Good thread. I've itched to try the little 8ft Stillwater, but decided that for the money I'd try to build my own if I ever get the garage cleaned out. I like the idea of being able to anchor and stand up to cast, not have to wear waders, and have extra space for gear, lunch, and coffee. Right now my only "watercraft" is an Outcast Fat Cat. After a full day of fishing, I'm tired of kicking. And if the wind comes up I've really got my work cut out. Toons allow kicking AND rowing, but from what I've seen, guys mostly row, and only kick to aim and turn their boat. A fisherman in an anchored pram wouldn't need to turn since he'd be free to move about the boat or on the swivel chair.