Anchor rig ideas for rocky bottomed rivers?

[bunnielab]

Hi,

I have the smallmouth bug bad and I want to head after them in my kayak, but I would like to rig up an anchor first. My current yak is a Slayer10 and it is not super smooth to paddle for me (although much of this is inexperience on my part)and it tends to spin easily in current or wind. I would really like the option to anchor up to cast and to mess with tackle.

I would prefer a single point mount on the nose of the yak to a trolly, and would like something that is low-profile and/or easy and quick to remove, but I am open to any ideas.

Thanks guys.

[Steve6902]

The Scotty Anchor Lock might work. Here's a link http://www.scotty.com/fishing-gear-e...nchor-lock.htm

[brianisoutside]

A four foot piece of chain works well to drag


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[Mark]

A four foot piece of chain works well to drag

Agree. I don't believe you'd want a standard anchor in a rocky bottomed river, especially on the bow. It would have the potential to hang up in the rocks and spin your boat 180 degrees with the stern pointing downstream.

I used to own a Jackson Coosa. Although I never used it in the environment you mentioned, it had channels/grooves on the stern to direct an anchor line toward the back of the boat. Also, I've fished guided trips in Jon boats on the upper Susquehanna and the anchoring concept used was precisely what Brian mentioned -- a chain dragged behind the boat.

If you need to do tackle maintenance on fast moving water your safest choice would be to head toward shore and anchor up there out of the strong current.

[Backdoc]

I consider anchoring in a river to be one of the most dangerous things you can do in a kayak. I fish the lower Susquehanna a lot and I have seen some guys get into trouble in a hurry when anchoring. I have watched guys in jon boats get messed up as well. My answer is effective but not pretty. I use a 5 lb rubber coated dumbbell tied to a length of nylon rope and I tie a float (a six inch piece of pool noodle) to the end. I hold the rope under my foot on the foot rest. If things go bad I just lift my foot up and float away. I paddle back up to my float and retrieve my anchor. I would never use a claw anchor in a river that has or potentially has current.

[M1A4ME]

There's an old anchor at home my dad made years ago for floating the Greenbrier River in WV. He used an old Tupperware container. He drilled a couple holes in the bottom of it, ran a muffler clamp through the holes, put the curved end of the muffler clamp and the two nuts on it inside the Tupperware container and then mixed up some concrete and let it set up. Then he broke the plastic off it and tied a rope to the (sort of) square chunk of concrete with the iron "hoop" sticking out of it.

He said it worked great. It got a little beat up over the years but it never broke up.

Something some folks used at home many years ago was to tie a rope to one of those old cast iron window weights. They were about two inches in diameter and about a foot long. I haven't seen one in a long time.

[bunnielab]

Thanks for the input guys. It sounds like something like the Scotty Anchor Lock mounted to the nose is the ticket, but modified to allow the line to "jump" off the top. Then I can secure the line to a small cleat up near the seat so I can quickly cut it if things go sideways. The float is a good idea as well, I think I even have one somewhere around here.

I had thought of using chain, but figured it would be super snaggy with links jamming in between rocks. I saw some pictures of guys who run the chain through old inner tubes, I might give that a go.

[Big Mike]

When I lived in DC I fished the Potomac out of a canoe and I made extensive use of a 3' piece of good sized chain wrapped in a bicycle inner tube and duct tape. Probably weighed about 7 pounds. It rarely hung up. I would adjust the drift by lifting some of the chain off the bottom of the canoe wasn't moving or putting it all the way out to slow down.

[Slackdaddy]

I run a Coosa HD and Cuda 12 in rivers for Smallies.
We run the South Branch in the Trough and Smoke Hole canyon, The James, The Shenandoah.
The only thing we use is a stakeout pole, I personally use a 3/4" CPVC rod about 5' long (Till I get my river stick setup made)
The trick is knowing when and where to stake out.
I never stakeout in "fast" water. I will stake out just up stream of a good ledge/pool, so I can work the pool.
After going over a ledge or through a nice piece of moving water, I will get over to the side, spin around and stake out off to the side, and work the bottom end of the rapid.
Other times its just easier to "beach" up on a rock in the middle of it all and hop out work the whole area around you.
But the ultimate would be a micro power pole,, but my $2.00 CPVC pole does 75% of what $700.00 power pole does.

Slack

[CB kayak 02]

Look the The River Stick.

[DanMarino]

I run a Coosa HD and Cuda 12 in rivers for Smallies.
We run the South Branch in the Trough and Smoke Hole canyon, The James, The Shenandoah.
The only thing we use is a stakeout pole, I personally use a 3/4" CPVC rod about 5' long (Till I get my river stick setup made)
The trick is knowing when and where to stake out.
I never stakeout in "fast" water. I will stake out just up stream of a good ledge/pool, so I can work the pool.
After going over a ledge or through a nice piece of moving water, I will get over to the side, spin around and stake out off to the side, and work the bottom end of the rapid.
Other times its just easier to "beach" up on a rock in the middle of it all and hop out work the whole area around you.
But the ultimate would be a micro power pole,, but my $2.00 CPVC pole does 75% of what $700.00 power pole does.

Slack

I know this is an old post, but it is fantastic for anyone who plans to fish the Upper Potomac for smallies or anyplace similar. I need to find a pole to use. I've tried an anchor before and don't like it, so I end up beaching my kayak on rocks, ledges, boulders, and islands.

[mchottie]

Someone in another thread also recommended the 3/4" solid stake from Grainger as it is 12' lentgth and fits directly (so they say) into the Micro Power Pole.

A nice DIY setup for the Grainger Pole is on my to-do list. Hitting upper potomac tomorrow for the SH Derby so will get a better idea of depths and viability.

[suicyderider]

research quick release anchor rigs. very easy to do. youll need anchor of choice, anchor line( paracord builds twists I use anchor line from walmart now), two 3/4" pulleys short length of bungee for each, you can use paracord as ur pulley line to move the bullring front to rear.

trolley design------find the farthest point you can safely mount a padeye on the bow somewhere above the waterline. mount the front and rear padeye. take your bungee cord and run it through a pulley, then run it through the padeye and secure it. repeat on other padeye. run your pulley line through each padeye and add a bullring in the center to complete the trolley line.(I like to add two padeyes on the top trolley line between the pulleys equal distance which divides the kayak into 1/3s this keeps it from being in the way) TROLLEY COMPLETE!!

Quick release anchor rigging--- decide on anchor, appropriate anchor line, add some type of float, zig zag cleat.

mount the zig zag cleat in a easy accessible location on same side of trolley. what you will do is allow the anchor to drop to the bottom, then you will pull the anchor line through your bull ring it should pull through as if your pulling two lines not just one. your float and anchor will remain outside the loop so if you were to let go all the line would rush back through the bullring.trolley.jpg
trolley2.jpg

[suicyderider]

if you cant see the images clearly I will send them to you not sure if you can zoom in or not I edited them in PAINT and they were larger there

[HJS]

Here’s the anchor-type I use when fishing rocky bottomed rivers like the Potomac and Susky near Harrisburg. They are easy to make from cheap recycled plastic containers, cement and an I-bolt. Assembly is pretty much self-explanatory. BTW, I am fishing from a 16’ canoe.

anchors-A.JPG

The bigger anchor weighs 14 pounds and is made from a one gallon plastic jug that windshield washer fluid is sold in. These washer jugs are made from slightly heavier grade of plastic than a milk jug. Trim off plastic as shown. The smaller container is 3 quarts and weighs 9 pounds. A side benefits of using plastic containers is the plastic keeps the cement from scratching your kayak… so leave the plastic in place.

As others have mentioned I too prefer nudging my canoe up on rocks to hold position. Sometimes I will also lower the anchor to keep the canoe from backing off the rock.