I have no experience anchoring offshore. When I have bottom fished in the past I have drifted. I managed to get the kids and wife out to the nearshore last week, and wanted to anchor so I could remain sane and not drive/bait/tie/release fish all at once.
Dropped down my shiny new reef anchor and got hooked up. Caught small BSBs until the kids got tired of reeling them up and then went to leave. First I motored gently up till rode was about vertical and tried to free it as I normally would. No go. So then I put an anchor ball on the line and motored forward, assuming the prongs would bend and anchor would free as designed. Cleated at bow. Stuck fast. Tried angling a bit without luck. Finally gave it power, in retrospect probably a foolish amount of power, but I didn’t know what it would take. Well you guessed it…snap. Luckily no one was hurt by the line and actually the anchor broke at the upper ring. I pulled in anchor ball, rode, chain and shackle intact. I only had 4 ft of chain on the thing because I borrowed it from a little beach lunch hook that I had. I had been meaning to buy 10 ft, but had not yet.
I realize I’ll probably lose a few anchoring on such stucture, but what should I have done differently either in setting the anchor, or attempting to free it? Maybe feed it slack while over it then try to free it again?
Also when you anchor on live bottom spot farther out in say 100 ft, do you use reef or danforth?
Others may do it differently but I use heavier chain on my reef anchor and set it to bottom trip with zip ties, just make sure you don’t use those jumbo super ties they don’t break easily.
Mark
Pioneer 222 Sportfish Yamaha F300
Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal? I wouldn’t go so far as to call a dog filthy but they’re definitely dirty. But, a dog’s got personality. Personality goes a long way.
“Life’s tough…It’s even tougher if you’re stupid” John Wayne
If you are wreck fishing you need to anchor in sand after you find out your drift so that you will be over the wreck. I use 15’ of heavy chain to keep the anchor stuck in sand. Having two people to throw and pull it helps.
Lots of people lose anchors at the nearshore reef. People throw their anchor right on top of the big wide barge and it drags into the holes many holes in the deck never to return.
Stop the boat and figure out your direction of drift. Move up current of the structure and anchor in the sand with the current putting the boat right on top of the structure to fish it.
Rig the anchor in a way that the end of the chain is shackled to the bottom of the anchor. Run the chain up the side of the anchor to the top shackle point. Put some slack in the chain and Zip tie the chain to this point.
4 normal zipties holds good.
If it gets stuck you can pull hard enough to break the zipties. This releases the chain from the top of the anchor and flips the anchor upside down releasing it.
Anchoring in the sand and drifting over the wreck helps, but there is alot of rubble so dont be surprised when you loose your primary anchor, which is why I dont.
quote:Rig the anchor in a way that the end of the chain is shackled to the bottom of the anchor. Run the chain up the side of the anchor to the top shackle point. Put some slack in the chain and Zip tie the chain to this point.
4 normal zipties holds good.
If it gets stuck you can pull hard enough to break the zipties. This releases the chain from the top of the anchor and flips the anchor upside down releasing it.
What he said ^^^ just like this…
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.” -Robert N. Rose
Pay attention to the bearing you set the anchor. Then when your ready to retrieve bring the boat around and pull the anchor out from the opposite bearing that you set it. Did this for years on head boats. Hated losing a $500 anchor & $200 chain & swivel
Lots of people lose anchors at the nearshore reef. People throw their anchor right on top of the big wide barge and it drags into the holes many holes in the deck never to return.
Stop the boat and figure out your direction of drift. Move up current of the structure and anchor in the sand with the current putting the boat right on top of the structure to fish it.
Rig the anchor in a way that the end of the chain is shackled to the bottom of the anchor. Run the chain up the side of the anchor to the top shackle point. Put some slack in the chain and Zip tie the chain to this point.
4 normal zipties holds good.
If it gets stuck you can pull hard enough to break the zipties. This releases the chain from the top of the anchor and flips the anchor upside down releasing it.
Anchoring in the sand and drifting over the wreck helps, but there is alot of rubble so dont be surprised when you loose your primary anchor, which is why I dont.
This sounds like a great idea, but i can’t picture it. Can you post a pic or drawing of this?
