Anchors, Where To Place And How To Tie?

[crankbait2009]

You may have seen pictures of the flat bottom Jon boat I just purchased but when I bought the boat, it came with two anchors. Both different sizes.

They are both tied with rope, one cut off and the other in tact. Should both anchors be used?

Where is the best place to have them? IN the back or in the front of the boat?

What is the best way to tie them on to the boat?? Or do you never mount them?? Not sure of the bet way to go about an anchor.

I realize what its for but is there any sense to when and where to have them?

Here is a picture of the type of anchor i have

[Fishing Rhino]

You can tie an anchor to the line, but the best way to do it is to use a stainless steel thimble and an eye splice. You can buy them ready made at a marine store, BPS or Cabelas. It is attached using a stainless steel clevis. Remove the clevis pin/bolt, hang it through the thimble then attach the anchor by securing it with the pin/bolt.

All are available in various sizes. Choose the appropriate size for your boat. 3/8" line is plenty for a 12 foot jon.

Two anchors are rarely used except to keep the boat from swinging in the wind or current. Be sure to allow enough scope, length of line in relation to the depth, so the boat exerts more of a dragging force than a lifting force. The general room of thumb is three times the depth. You may not need as much in light currents and light winds and more in strong currents or winds.

[scrutch]

Always set a single anchor off the bow. Never off the stern by itself. As Rhino said, a second anchor can be used in the wind off the stern. The reason for this is a single anchor set from the stern can cause a boat to be swamped and sink in bigger waves. You always want your bow facing the wind and waves. If you want to use two, set the bow first, allow the wind to align the boat into the wind, then set the stern anchor.

[surfer]

Yep. Heavier one of the bow. More wind, waves, current = more line out. If you need to prevent your boat from wagging in the wind you can drop an anchor of the back, straight down with just a little slack. I skip the shackles and use a Uni knot. Whatever knot your comfortable with. A cleat on your boat at the tie of spot is faster than tying knots.

[FD.]

The most important thing about an anchor has already been said. Always have a rope that is 3 times the maximum depth of where you plan to fish. Spend the money on a good woven rope.

Also, tie a small cork or plastic buoy to the end of your anchor ropes. You will thank me later.

[Fishing Rhino]

The most important thing about an anchor has already been said. Always have a rope that is 3 times the maximum depth of where you plan to fish. Spend the money on a good woven rope.

Also, tie a small cork or plastic buoy to the end of your anchor ropes. You will thank me later.

Very good advice. In fact in some cases where larger fish are involved, fishermen will put a good sized polyform ball at the end of their anchor line. When a good fish hooks up, and they need to chase it, they just release the anchor line, fight, and hopefully land the fish, then return to their buoy, tie up to the anchor, and set the fishing lines out again.

You never know when you may have to release a hung anchor in rough weather, or some other circumstance. With the buoy, you'll be able to come back to it another time and free it up.

[NWBasslover]

Guys with bass boats, where do you tie off at? Just up on one of the front cleats, or is there some special rig for attaching an achor to a bass boat?

 

Thanks,

Matthew

[slonezp]

Guys with bass boats, where do you tie off at? Just up on one of the front cleats, or is there some special rig for attaching an achor to a bass boat?

 

Thanks,

Matthew

Yeah, It's called a Power Pole LOL. You can tie off on a cleat or the bow eye. I have a carabineer  attached to the anchor rope. ( a real carabineer, not the keychain type) Clip it on the bow eye and I can shorten it if needed by wrapping excess line around the cleat. 

[NWBasslover]

So you just run the rope through the carabiner and tie off to the cleat? Or do you actually tie off to the carabiner?

[slonezp]

I did this pre Talon and Ipilot but I still keep 2 anchors with 100' of rope each on board because you never know. If I'm on a river I will just connect the carabineer to the bow eye and leave the excess in the water If I'm on a lake I still connect the carabineer to the bow eye but if I have too much rope, I may pull 10 or 20 feet and then wrap a cleat and keep the excess slack in a neat pile on deck. 

[Traveler2586]

Yeah, It's called a Power Pole LOL. You can tie off on a cleat or the bow eye. I have a carabineer  attached to the anchor rope. ( a real carabineer, not the keychain type) Clip it on the bow eye and I can shorten it if needed by wrapping excess line around the cleat. 

 

I have a little (4') rig that I use to tie the anchor line off of the bow eye.  It's a Carabiners for the bow eye, a short 4' section of line with a round SS "O" ring on the other end.  I got everything at West Marine.  I hook the Carabiner to the bow eye and the anchor line to the ring.  This does three things for me; 1. it keeps me bow dead into the wind, rather than taking water over the fore-quarter when tied off to a cleat; 2. when I need to make an adjustment I raise the anchor line till I get to the "O" ring, then re-tie the anchor line on the ring as needed; 3. when pulling in the anchor the rig allows me to pull the anchor on deck.  When not in use I secure the ring to the trolling motor mount with a second Carabiner, then I can run to my next spot without unhooking the bow eye.

 

Question: What is a good size anchor for an 18.5 foot glass boat?  Also, do those folding anchors work on a glass boat?

 

I'm currently using an 18 lb. river anchor, but it's getting to be too much for my back to pull in.

[Fishing Rhino]

I might be in the market for a power pole, when they make one that will work in water 12 - 20 feet deep.

[Traveler2586]

I might be in the market for a power pole, when they make one that will work in water 12 - 20 feet deep.

 

Then would we call you "The Long Rhino"

[slonezp]

I might be in the market for a power pole, when they make one that will work in water 12 - 20 feet deep.

iPilot 

[Fishing Rhino]

I don't mind spending money, and I know it's a great device, but for me, it's not worth the asking price.  I know my buddy Scrutch will vehemently disagree with me.  That's okay, and one of the things that makes fishing such a great activity.  We can each do it our way. 

 

I'd rather have the Humminbird 360.  It's like an underwater radar, where the entire display refreshes every few seconds.  See a rock pile off to the side and you can turn toward it without losing it on the screen as you would with side imaging.  The image doesn't blur as you turn because it refreshes so frequently.

[slonezp]

You're going to get the 360 and wish you had the iPilot to keep you on the rockpiles your seeing on the screen.

[Fishing Rhino]

You're going to get the 360 and wish you had the iPilot to keep you on the rockpiles your seeing on the screen.

 

Nah, not me.  When I want to stay on a spot, or work around a spot, I use a two dollar buoy to mark the spot.  It's easy to stay right on that spot, or move a few feet one way or the other, using the buoy as a reference.  With a little practice, holding a position, even in the wind, or current, is a piece of cake.

[mikeg]

I've been using a couple of retractable 24' dog leashes with 5# weighs.  They work well for my canoe.  Didn't know about the 3 times the depth rule though but I generally don't fish in big waves.  Good to know though.

 

mikeg

[I/MBasser]

On 6/26/2013 at 2:26 PM, slonezp said:

Yeah, It's called a Power Pole LOL. You can tie off on a cleat or the bow eye. I have a carabineer  attached to the anchor rope. ( a real carabineer, not the keychain type) Clip it on the bow eye and I can shorten it if needed by wrapping excess line around the cleat. 

What knot did you use to tie the rope to the carabineer?  I'm going to use an anchor knot to tie off the anchor itself but not sure about the carabineer.  Thx!

[slonezp]

2 hours ago, I/MBasser said:

What knot did you use to tie the rope to the carabineer?  I'm going to use an anchor knot to tie off the anchor itself but not sure about the carabineer.  Thx!

An anchor bend or double half hitch will work.