Anybody see or get the new Patagonia Crampon's. I'm looking for a pair that I can slip over water shoes for wet wading, and over my boots the rest of the time. These look like they would certainly fit the bill, but for $199 ... I don't know.

Patagonia River Crampon

I saw those in fly rod and reel and was thinking, "wow, not a bad accessory to have". Then, I checked the price too. 200 is a steep price...my boots arent even half of that!

for wet wading (and assuming you can swim and know what to do if you fall), i don't see the need to spend the money for 'em. get yourself some good studded boots and you'll be safe. The product appears to be for the rich man who only fishes with guides and doesn't know the first thing about wading, but wants the security when he does get out of the boat. I could also see 'em for guys who have boot foot waders and don't want the boots to be studded so they can go in the boat.

I have korker cleats for about $50 and they work very well:
http://www.fishermansheadquarters.com/korker_jetty_cleats.htm

looks like the lacing system would work better that the leather straps.

The ones with the bars across the bottom? They look like corrective leg braces. Frankenstien look. On a more serious note I think the $200 price is a bit steep. I'll stick with studs and a good wading staff.

I can attest to the efficiency of the Korkers.

15 years ago, my friend and I used to head for the Salmon River during the run and I was introduced to Korkers.

I just passed the pair I had from then, which were hand me downs from my buddy, to someone to use until he gets his wading boots.

One note, and it may have been my experience only, but I saw a lot of it on the Salmon, you may want to put a pass of duct tape around the laces if fishing very fast water like the Salmon River.

Dave

I've never worn them personally, but have spoken to a couple people that have. Both said that they put even the best studs they've ever used to shame.

But $200 vs. a couple bucks worth of studs? Seems like a hard sell.

They look terrible if you ask me.

They make boots with just a few of the aluminum plates screwed into the bottom. I'm not clear why they don't just sell the plates that could then be screwed into a boot.

Yvon Chiunard who founded Patagonia started as a blacksmith and famous ice climber. His great pacific iron works made ice climbing hardware. He's heavily into dam removal and contributes to things we'd approve of. His capiline under ware was a real break through. They make beautiful stuff. I'll bet those crampons work great. That said, I put sheet metal screws in my felts three years ago and they're still doing the job. I like the looks of them and I know they're well thought out but with the daughter at Georgetown they are not in my future. Easy for me to say: I'm too old for the Ausable and the WB is generally wader friendly.

I'm probably going with the Korkers. I have a pair of waders, a pair of hipboots, and wet wading sneaks that I wear depending on the conditions. I need something I can slap on any of the three.

sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I just recently discovered these. like everyone else I thought the price was steep, so I decided to make a pair myself. last winter I got a set of studded crampons from sears for about 14 bucks. brand of them was due north, and they're made of some kind of rubbery silicone or something with push through plastic covered studs. figuring I didn't need em much anymore I took the spikes out and bought a 1/8 x 3/4 by 6ft piece of aluminum. cut a few sections and drilled holes through em. I then broke out my rivet gun and some ss fender washers and riveted them together... my first try I used too thin of aluminum and tiny of rivets... so I popped them out... with the 1/8 inch it works really well. I feel like I'm super glued to the rocks in comparison to my regular wader boots. any ways just thought I would share that the idea behind them is really sound and its not hard to put something like them together for 20 bucks or so.

Sounds like a great idea thegreathoe. Any chance you have a pic of what you're talking about? I'm trying to picture in my mind what you did to make those, but it's just not happening. Thanks for the info though!

yup i will post one tomorrow

Ok... here are the promised pictures...

this is the underside that comes in contact with rocks...



this is the back *boot* side with fender washers riveted on.... in the future i want to change what side i riveted from... so the back part of these studs dig into rocks rather than feel like i'm always on little rocks through my insole-less boots



on boots:



on boots again:




does that paint a little bit of a clearer picture?

note: i do wish the rubber crampons were bigger.... hard to squeeze em on size 14 waders :-p