Anchoring under the Ches Bay Bridge?

[billd]

Does anyone anchor under the bridge? I felt I could've got a lot more fishing in yesterday but wasn't sure if the waves were too big to anchor the yak from the bow. Any thoughts?

[imagine29028]

You'd need a lot of line....and a heavy anchor, current is strong. Also would need to be on a weekday....cause the boat traffic on the weekends could provide some safety concerns.

[J.A. Veil]

The water near the two rockpiles is 30 to 50 ft deep. Regardless of the normal wind and currents, there is always some interesting movement near the large pilings and rockpiles. If you do anchor, make sure you have a sharp knife or a quick-release mechanism. An anchored kayak could swamp quickly.

[Cowpokey]

The water near the two rockpiles is 30 to 50 ft deep. Regardless of the normal wind and currents, there is always some interesting movement near the large pilings and rockpiles. If you do anchor, make sure you have a sharp knife or a quick-release mechanism. An anchored kayak could swamp quickly.

How fast is does the current usually run on a tide change? I looked at the tide charts, it appears there's only a foot or so difference between high and low. That doesn't seem like much, but I don't have any experience here.

[Shady]

Probably not a good idea...

Current strength can vary depending on where you go. It rips next to the rock piles

Sent from the water.

[Cowpokey]

The rock piles and bridge pilings are a big deal when it comes to hydraulics...and hydros are crazy stong. Learned about that the hard way doing white water, a small mistake gets big quick.

[billd]

how about in the areas closer to the boat launch where the water depth is around 10-15 ft?

[john from md]

A better idea would be to use a drift sock to give you more time over a given area. I have a cam cleat on my yak that gives me instant release if needed. I am not a believer in anchoring a yak in the bay. There are too many variables and they all add up to bad things for a small boat.

John

[billd]

good ideas, thx all

[Memory Maker]

The bigger boats anchor and let line out so they are close enough to the pilings to cast a live spot a couple of inches from the piling .......... If the Stripers are there and you cast less than a foot from the piling ......... Well ..... The spot will never reach the bottom ......

But it could be dangerous from a yak because you will probably have to anchor from the back so you can fish from the front

[FishingGeek]

I lost an 3 lbs grapple type anchor in about 20' of water when it got caught on something, my choice was to cut the line or swamp the kayak. I now use a 10 lbs dumb bell with about 40' of line as an anchor when I'm around the bridge, it doesn't hold when the tide is moving hard but it does the trick most of the time. I use a 5 lbs dumb bell when I'm else where. I haven't tried anchoring in the deeper water around the bridge.

[MrT]

Having to Anchor your kayak on any bodies of water with current and waves is a risk. front anchor is much safer than the rear anchor because kayaks are design to hit current and waves head on first. if you don t have any other options, front anchor then fish the pilings from the back of your kayak. I normally do this with river current not the bay.
10 to 15 FOW is much more doable.

[bignose]

How fast is does the current usually run on a tide change? I looked at the tide charts, it appears there's only a foot or so difference between high and low. That doesn't seem like much, but I don't have any experience here.

The current velocity is dependent on several variables.
Primary factor is lunar phase: there is significantly more water, higher tides and faster currents during a Full, or New moon (Spring tides), than there are during a quarter lunar phase (neap tides).
Secondary factor is wind direction and velocity.
1 foot sounds like a mean average, and a low one at that.
The Bay Bridge shoreline forms a natural funnel or choke point that amplifies the effect of tidal current. It is the narrowest section of the Bay, until you get up the Susky.

And do not confuse tide with current. Quite often this are will still have current flow for a couple of hours after a tide period ends.
Example: low tide (outgoing current) at 12:00 noon, but the current may flow out for another hour or more based upon wind, etc.
We were out in the big boat last week and fished thru an entire tidal cycle and the current never reversed itself, it flowed out all day, even though the tidal chart indicated that the current should be running in. Why? Probably because the wind was blowing down the Bay from the NW.

We have had trouble during a Full Moon getting our anchor in our 38 foot charter Boat to take hold. When we did finally get set, the boat left a wake as if we were pulling 5+ knots.
We couldn't put enough weight on our baits to get them anywhere near the bottom, the force of the water carried our baits up off of the bottom.
Wind blowing in tidal flow directions makes this even faster, while wind in opposition to tidal flow can cause a strong surface chop.

There is also a slight diagonal component to the current flow, outgoing current tends to run slightly towards the Southwest, incoming current flows slightly towards the Northeast.

Add, all sorts of obstructions and general crap on the bottom that could make retrieving an anchor difficult. If you chose to do so, be able to reach the rope and have a sharp knife ready!
Plus consider the effects of the wakes caused by Power Boaters, many who are totally oblivious to your presence….hell, we had them hit our anchor rope while in open water down near Hackett's Point, and, well, you get the idea.

The only area that I would consider anchoring, would be on the far Eastern Side, in shallow water, fairly near the shore.
Be careful out there!

[Frogsauce]

I use an anchor trolley with a 5 lbs anchor and 75 ft of line. It holds me in place very well in most conditions, even the swells. I use it out in the 30-50 ft water off ches beach. The pulleys are attached to about 4" of bungee so it doesn't jerk the yak when catching in a swell.

An old merchant marine ship captain told me the longer the anchor line set out, the better it will hold. So 40 ft of line in 20 ft of water with a 5 lbs anchor will hold no matter the tide or current. (Edit: within reason of course...)

[bignose]

Conventional anchor strategy is a rode 7 times the depth of the water, i.e. 20 feet of depth requires 140 feet of rope.
Probably less important as buoyant as most Yaks are, and their relatively low amount of water resistance..