Anchor set-ups

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Light Keeper's Kid
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Anchor set-ups

Post by Light Keeper's Kid »

:clap: ALRIGHT :clap: Thanks also Gerald :!: Do you have any anchor set-ups :?:

Mike
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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by gerald »

What??? You ask an old marathon paddler if he has anchor setups? Don't need no stinkin' anchor in a race. Actually I don't know if I'll ever race again. Maybe I will need to sit still for awhile. The last anchor setup I had was on "Old Blue". It was the typical rigged line completely around the boat through pulleys at each end. I believe the anchor was a 1 1/2 lb. danforth type. I could easily orient the anchor from end to end and either side at any position. I rarely used it, though, and eventually removed it. Along the rivers and in many lakes there is always a stump or brush to clamp to.

http://texaspaddler.com/gallery/album17/Oct19_02" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Picture of "Old Blue" at Houston County Lake. Hard to see the anchor setup, but it's there. That old boat was rigged with 4 rod holders, anchor system, bilge pump, 360 degree white light, and a fishfinder. Caught a lot of fish in that boat.

I guess I'm gonna have to figure out how to post the pictures here in the forum....
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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by Light Keeper's Kid »

I'm afraid I'll be one of those open water guy's that will be pick'n my spot's most of the time in 10'-15' of water,see'n I'm mostly a freshwater redfish man and will hit the saltwater once in awhile. :wink: That's why i'll need stainless fitting's :D

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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by gerald »

Some years ago, while in Old Blue, I caught a 29" redfish at Tradinghouse while trolling a rapala broke-back minnow over a shallow sand bottom that jutted a ways out into the lake. I had been trying to follow the bank at around 7' deep when I started dragging the lure on the bottom at 4'. I just kept going because I knew I'd eventually get back to 7'. Boy...wasn't I surprized when I got hung up (I thought) and discovered it was a pretty nice redfish. Wind was really kicking up and there were some pretty good waves. By the time the sleigh ride was over and I got the fish in the boat I was out in the middle of the lake. That was a pretty good trip.
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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by gerald »

Light Keeper's Kid wrote:I'm afraid I'll be one of those open water guy's that will be pick'n my spot's most of the time in 10'-15' of water,see'n I'm mostly a freshwater redfish man and will hit the saltwater once in awhile. :wink: That's why i'll need stainless fitting's :D

Mike
I only use stainless, nylon, or certain other durable plastics on my boats. You can usually find good stainless bolts,nuts, and some fittings at Ace Hardware stores, or Lowe's. Add Home Depot for some plastic stuff you can use. The pulleys on Old Blue were plastic wheels for patio sliding doors. I molded the actual pulley body into the boat with wood and epoxy and then used a stainless center screw to hold the "sheave". It worked great. I could remove the screw and replace the line easily.
There are also some fine marine supply stores that can fix you right up. Unfortunately they can also sometimes be expensive. Sailboat fittings are for RICH people...
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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by Light Keeper's Kid »

Looks like old blue seen many landings and i bet you've caught many fish in her :wink: I hope to put my Wadefish though the same thanks for your advice :wink:

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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by Pogo »

I've used a variety of anchor schemes over the years. Anchor trolleys like those commonly used by the plastic SOT crowd are very cool in their own way, but I'm a big fan of "Dualing Dumbells". I first learned this trick from TKF'ers Gumbo and Madman, and then from a couple of canoe fishermen buddies who had pretty much exactly the same thing. It's essentially a matter of mounting a pulley off bow and stern, dangling 5 lb dumbells from them via 1/4" rope, and jam or cam cleats to hold 'em where you want 'em. Having two anchors gives me a world of versatility, and is well worth all the futzing necessary to set up and use them. In actual use they're extremely convenient and tidy, and work equally well in shallow or deep water.

Here's a pic that shows mine in use, but not all that well, lemme know if you want some detail pics and I'll go take some. I've been meaning to do that some day anyway to show my removeable anchor pulley "bowsprits".

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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by gerald »

hey...post the details. Interesting concept, but I'm trying to get my mind wrapped around the ramifications of using dual anchors. I tend to get cranky when I have to fiddle with lots of stuff. I can remember one time at Houston County Lake where I anchored over an underwater, very large stump structure. Found it with the fishfinder. Crappie heaven....
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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by Pogo »

I hear ya. I get plenty impatient when having to futz around with a bunch of doo-dads, and eliminate that sorta crud whenever and wherever I can. But these anchors are the path of least resistance for the kind of fishing I do; every once in a while I try to get away without 'em 'cuz I don't feel like messing with 'em, and it usually it ends up a bigger PITA and me kicking myself for being lazy . . . so futz I do. Or in other words, I hate 'em, but hate not having them more. :?

I didn't get a chance to take any pictures, but it's pretty simple stuff. Here's Canoe Nut showing his anchor sprits, which he keeps mounted permanently on his Shearwater.

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The ropes go back to cam cleats like this:

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Those cleats are a little pricey at some $15 apiece, but they're a joy to use and will last the rest of your life. If that's too rich for you, there's always the jam cleat for around $7:

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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by gerald »

Even though some of that marine hardware is pricey I believe in the long run most of it is worth it--if you really have a use for it. In some of the experiements I've been doing for boats and seating systems I've even had to MAKE the bolts. Gets old sometimes. Wish I could just open the old magic boat builder catalog and choose what I want.
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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by Pogo »

Yep. But you think that's bad, try makin' telescopes. You have to custom-fabricate almost every last little thing that goes into it, can hardly even use off-the-shelf machine screws without having to modify them one way or another. It can be frustrating at first, but after a while you become resigned, accept it as part of the trade, then it becomes second nature. And that's nuthin' . . . tracking down the materials is pure detective work, and you better be good at it. All in all, it's excellent training for boat building, and a lot of boat building's tricks of the trade augment the telescope maker's repertoire considedrably, particularly in waterproofing them (telescopes often drip with dew).

I built every telescope in this picture (there's actually 6 present) except the two at far left...

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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by gerald »

....ah man! I have no skills to build a telescope.... :D
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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by TexaRican »

Pogo, I'm interested in how you make your sprits removeable. One reason I did not fish long on my first outing with the new pirogue is that I had not rigged an achor yet. Was going to just do the full length trolley like my plastic boats but then I go to thinking that I really don't need that setup.

I like the dumbell idea, especially since I lost my nice bruce claw the last time I tried to anchor on a freshwater lake. It was only about 6 feet of water but was stuck tight and I was not about to dive for it with the prehistoric toothy critters lurking. (I was also alone at the time so no way would I try something like that)
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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by Pogo »

Here ya go, Pepper, new pics fresh outa the camera. The first pic shows the painful simplicity of the scheme. In fact, both sprits were intended to be working models . . . not even prototypes. But They're made of cedar and just won't die, so I never got around to building the "real" ones. In fact, I even used the stern sprit as an impact barrier when I had to beat a frozen wheel off a drum with a 5-lb hand-sledge when I had a flat, and I'm still using it - lol! The second picture shows it installed. The world isn't really upside down, it's just my canoe's hanging from the carport roof cooling its heels.

True Factual Tale: A few years ago I came across Gumbo and Madman off the Texas City Dike; I found them riding at anchor on the Mosquito Island flats, a-fishin', and I pulled up and dropped my manta, or mini-bruce, anchor. Didn't take long before I was slowly scooting downwind. Drat, I thought, pulled anchor, paddled back and reanchored. Started sliding away again. Went through several gyrations of this before finally getting a good bite while they laughed and snarked at me the whole time (hey, what're friends for??). Finally, after things settled down a little, I asked 'em with some exasperation what the heck kind of anchors they were using that held so solidly on that featureless sandy bottom in that afternoon breeze. I couldn't believe my eyeballs when they showed me their dumbells. As I recall, they were hanging off their stern anchors only, and so were able to point to the bow anchors dangling from the pulleys for show 'n' tell (they were, and still are, in plastic SINKS, Pungo 14's I believe, tho' Gumbo had an ancient Dagger rec boat at the time I think). That was my introduction to this method of sportin' anchors.
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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by TexaRican »

Very nice Pogo. Think I'll give that a try - steal one of my wife's rubber coated dumbells. 3lb? 5lb?

When stowed in the up position while paddling, do you have an issue with them banging around, making noise?
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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by Pogo »

5 lb dumbells work for me. Canoe Nut's been having fits with his, though, and is now using 8-ers, I think. Can't make heads or tails of why he's having problems and I ain't . . . 'cept maybe I'm a sawed-off little guy at 5'-6" x 160 lbs and he's more like 6-3" x 225 and catchin' more wind or something. Whatever, I recommend starting with 5-ers. Give 'em to the wife if they don't work out, but be careful of giving her implications along with them or it might prove hazardous to your health. :|

Riding with 'em stowed is a matter of pulling the rope taut and jamming it good in the cleat. You keep 'em from banging around that way, by keeping the ropes tight and the dumbells snugged up against the sprits.
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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by barditch »

:? After losing 2 of the little collapsable kayak anchor in the same river over a 3 month period, I've gone low tech on the river anchor...your basic 4 hole brick w/1/4" cotton clothes line. Now when I lose one, it's biodegradable and free! (I gotta stack of old bricks that I can raid, no charge!)
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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by Pogo »

Most excellent, I love it! Not to rob thunder, but it reminds me of one of the nice things about those rubber coated dumbells: they're non-corrosive and wood boat (or gel coat) friendly.
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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by RealBigReel »

Works off of either end, no trollery required.

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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by preacher »

All my yaks and Peroughs have anchor trolleys. I love the versatility I get from the set up allowing me to change with the wind direction and use an anchor or stake out pole.

This is the Bumble Bee set up which looks exactly like the first pirogue and both my yaks.

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Front pulley.

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"O" ring set up with clip. Anchor rope goes through the snap, stake out pole goes through the "O" ring.

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Rear pulley. The top rope rides on carriers to hold it up high (center photo) and to reduce twisting, the bottom rope swings free.

The anchor rope secures inside with the cam pictured in (sorry bout that) Pogo's post above.
Last edited by preacher on Thu May 07, 2009 3:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by Tombo »

My drop down anchor from Stinger. I call it a poor man's power pole. Its used in conjunction with a 5' Stake out Stik.
It should be noted I rarely fish in water deeper than 4'.
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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by Pogo »

Tom, last I heard that Stinger was brand new . . . what was that, half a year ago? Now that you've had it a while, tell us about it... :?:

Sorry if you've already issued a report and I missed it... :?
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Re: Anchor set-ups

Post by Tombo »

Pogo wrote:Tom, last I heard that Stinger was brand new . . . what was that, half a year ago? Now that you've had it a while, tell us about it... :?:

Sorry if you've already issued a report and I missed it... :?
I am going to post up another updated review on the Saltwater board so as not to take away from this thread.

Here is the link.http://texaskayakfisherman.com/forum/vi ... 1&t=119796" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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