don't anchor in fast water

I learned this lesson many years ago while i was living near Austin Texas. I was fishing below the dam at lake Travis. probably only 100 yds downstream from the dam. They were only letting out a little water at the time, but enough to provide a decent current. I anchored my canoe in a back eddy and was fishing the main stream. When the horn sounded to notify fishers that more water was going to be release, I thought I would be OK since i was out of the main current. I was wrong. The increased flow turned my back eddy into part of the main flow. By the time I realized I neede to get out of there the water was pulling the boat so hard I could not pull up the anchor. It only took moments before the current was about to pull the boat under. Luckly I had a good knife on my belt. The line was so tight that as soon as i touched the knife to the rope it cut through and almost launched me downstream. I learned several good lessons that day.

Good post, ya never know.

Thanks jsmartt

The geezer

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Excus my spelling and gramma, I hooked Mondays and Fridays so I could Hunt or fish.

I also add to that don't anchor from the middle of your canoe or kayak in moving water. The current can easily pull the upstream side of you craft below the water line and you'll be swimming in no time.

How do I know.... uhhmmmmm... I read it in a book.

jed

I saw a young man drive a nice new boat from the ramp, across the river into the current and anchor. This was a deep sided jon boat with a 25hp motor. The anchor pulled the bow under and it sank in under a second.

There is no time for a knife, or undoing the line. He was swimming before he could stand straight up.

NEVER ANCHOR IN CURRENT.

He was a newly wed, and it was his father-in-law's new boat....talk about starting off wrong. :roll:

Your post title send shivers down my spine. Over 25 years ago I anchored a 17 foot boat, by the stern, in Hammersly Inlet South Puget Sound. It was slack tide. I was catching some nice bluebacks then the tide changed and started to go out. It wasn't long before it picked up tremendous speed (The tides down there can reach 20 feet at certain times of the year) and the boat started to take water!! Luckly I had a knife handy, cut the line just in time to save my a$@. I have never forgotten that moment and never want to repeat it again. I had my 6 year old son in the boat and neither of us had life jackets on. Again, not to be repeated. Jonezee

I had never been on the Pacific Ocean before. The first time I tied my 12 foot aluminum boat up to a warf at Skidigate in the Queen Charlotte islands. An old timer came up and asked me If I was from the Interior of the Province. I said that I was, thinking he must know me or something like that. He said " Yep I thought so, You tied up to a solid piling. When the tide drops more than 20 feet about an hour from now your boat will be way up in the air unless the line breaks. I thanked him for the lesson and tied up to the float. Lesson learned. :lol:

Years ago I lived on board a boat, and we had a freakishly high-tide ... to the point that if you walked down the fixed pier, you were in waist-deep, moving, water. Even though the pilings were equipped with a slide/ring rig that let you lines slide up/down the pilings with the tide, lines were being pulled tight, and the tide was still rising.

They needed volunteers to go out and cut lines loose and re-tie the boats, so being a teenager, I jumped at the chance. I later realized why they wanted volunteers ... walking down a pier, at night, in waist-high, moving, water, with a life-vest, safety line, machete, and a coil of new line. :shock: You know what they say about teenaged boys ... "young, dumb, and full of ...." :wink:

Dave