Question about appropriate anchor weight

[gldearman]

Hi, everyone,

This is actually a question pertaining to canoes, but the kayak forum seemed the most appropriate of all the places here to ask it.

I'm outfitting my canoe to make it better for fishing. I'm going to put in two anchors, bow and stern. I'd like to know about what size anchors you think I should use.

I'm planning on buying multiple sizes of anchor, and replacing the anchor (and maybe rope) depending on where I'll be fishing. That way, I'm not carrying any more weight than necessary. Initially, I'd just like to get set up for holding the boat still for flat-water fishing on lakes.

It's a 17' aluminum canoe, and presents a pretty high profile to the wind (at least compared to a kayak).

Do you think that, for flat-water lakes, two 1.5 pound folding grapnel anchors would do the job? If not, how heavy should I go?

And, for the future, I'll probably want to buy larger anchors for windier conditions, for river fishing, or for protected inshore saltwater fishing. What sizes/types anchors do you think I should get?

Thanks for your input.

[silverking]

Why two anchors? Are you trying to position so the canoe won't swing? If so, I'd suggest this set-up:

Buy a 2.2-pound claw anchor. You can get one for under $12 and it'll hold that canoe all day long. Tie enough rode (line) for the depths you'll be fishing and use a loop knot to connect to the anchor shank. Here's a photo of the anchor style.

product-7447-0-0.jpg (18.29 KiB) Viewed 2823 times

If you want to remain stationary, you can make a homemade stick anchor with some PVC to see if that will serve the purpose. If it does and you want to upgrade, the Stick-It Anchor pins for kayaks or Wang Anchors work well for under $65.

[gldearman]

Yes, two anchors is to attempt to keep the boat from swinging.

Why do you recommend a claw anchor over a grapnel anchor? And, when you say 2.2 pounds, do you mean for calm water only, or would that be heavy enough to deal with the winds and currents I'm likely to run into?

I've considered pole/pin anchors. But they seem a little more cumbersome — if I'm fishing in 10' of water, it's a lot less clutter to keep 10' of line on a spool than two 5' poles that I have to put together before deploying. Plus, if I go into water that's just a little bit deeper than that, they don't make anchor pins long enough, and I'm back to only one anchor (not that that's going to come up very often, since I mostly fish shallow lakes). Also, I'm going to put an anchor trolley at the stern, anyway, to give me a place to attach a drift sock. So, if that's going to be there, anyway, I may as well have it serve double duty.

Thanks for your input!

[silverking]

My experience with grapples is they tend to foul easily in heavy grass/weeds and won't hold. The claw digs in, sets quickly and holds in most bottoms. It even holds in oysters. A smaller slip-ring Danforth is another choice that would hold better than the grapples.

I used a 2.2 claw for my kayak with an anchor trolley in the Gulf and it worked just fine even in a moderate chop. Since I'm mainly fishing very shallow water, however, I switched to a 6-foot Stick-it (cut down from a longer model). I'm in a 14.5 Native sit-inside that weighs 65+ pounds, so the similarities are not that much different than your canoe.

Wrongly assumed you'd be fishing shallower than the normal pin lengths. But if you're in a lake and it's calm, the claw/trolley set-up should do the trick (slide the rode to an amidships position to prevent swinging) and keep your ground tackle to a minimum.