why trolley anchor ?

[susqeyaker]

i was just wondering why everyone is so determined to use the trolley anchor system. i understand that its so you can unhook it in a hurry. where i fish in the suski the water is pretty fast and if you drop an anchor off the side and the curent gets yet you sideways ur gonna get swamped. we use anchors on the front and back of our kayaks. we use clam shell cleats and can raise and lower anchors with one hand. most of the river is only a few feet deep so dont need to let out much anchor rope.

[kayakkevin]

we use anchors on the front and back of our kayaks..

how do you get your anchor rope to the front and back?

[susqeyaker]

i use one piece of rope that is 25 feet long. the anchors are tied on the ends. i can only anchor in about 7 or 8 feet of water. the rope runs the entire length of the kayak and is held at mid ship by clam shell cleats. i can control both anchors with one hand. how do you anchor with a trolley in any fast current without flipping your kayak?

[kayakkevin]

you paddle around with anchors hanging off of you bow and stern?
when i toss out the anchor and slide the rope in place with in the trolly, the anchor rope is free, not conected. when it is at my bow or stern i cleat the rope.

[TopWaterLover]

Susky is right about the current flipping the yaks. I've seen it first hand! Fast water and rocky bottom = bad idea. We use 3 lb lead balls and when pulled up they are clear of the water and do not effect the tracting or handling of the kayak. I used 30 ft of rope and can anchor in almost 20 feet of water. The river where we fish is seldom more that 10 ft deep. Of corse we only fish below the Dam during low generation.

[susqeyaker]

i understand how it works now (trolley system). isnt it more involved dropping your anchor? i can drop anchor or raise anchor 8 feet or so almost instantly with one hand. tried to get pics for you cant get them to post

[ictalurus]

If you're fishing deep water, a 3lb ball might not cut it. I used a 5lb (or is it a 7lb?) folding grapnel anchor on 50ft (I think) spool. I can't leave the anchor at the bow because it'll constantly drag in the water and bang against the boat.

I went with a heavy anchor because I found a big wad of nice croaker and spot in 35ft of water. The wind was blowing pretty good, and my dinky anchor wouldn't hold. I ended up wasting a bunch of time trying to hold position when I should've been bailing fish. I picked up a heavier anchor on my way home that evening.

[mmanolis2001]

Its really not that involved. It only takes seconds to move the trolley from mid ship to bow or aft.

1. Move the trolley to mid ship.
2. Run the tag end thru the ring and cleat.
3. Drop anchor and move the trolley where you want it.
4. fish.

If you get in trouble just un-cleat and you are clear of the anchor.

If you need to reposition there is no need to un-cleat the anchor. Just pull anchor and move to the new position and drop it again and move the trolley to the desired position.

I see where the method you use works well in shallower fast moving rivers but i feel in open deeper water the trolley is the way to go. It also works great for using a drift sock to slowdown and position you boat better during drifts.

I don't think my boat would like a 3 lb sledgehammer hanging from the bow when paddling in 2 - 3 ft chop.