Paddlers and fisherpeople, Read about using soft anchors and made two using old lead shot bags. Worked great on my yak, but deteriorated after a year. I need to find some durable sacks that will work to hold 4-5 pounds of lead shot or sand to use with my yak.
I think that enclosing whatever material I use for weight in a plastic bag might help the durability. Nothing I’ve found has seemed like the right solution yet.
All suggestion as to what and where to get some suitable bags is welcome. I might try Joe’s leg weights idea, but I’m kinda a tightwad, and my old anchors worked so well!!
As a fellow tightwad I salute you. The ideal thing would be bags of a cordura nylon type material, the stuff they call ballastic cloth. You might call around to either a luggage repair shop, or check a thrift store for something you can salvage for a couple of bucks and then glue/sewn the seams to make a bag. Now I’m thinking pretty does not fit into the equation. Second idea plastic jars that everything from mayo to peanut come in, is a quart of sand heavy enough to hold you in place if you cut a “mushroom” from heavy scrap plastic on the bottom?
What about one of these reusable shopping bags all the major grocery stories and wally world has for a buck. Put in a few lace holes to close the top.
Ive got an anchor for my yak and plan on getting another.How do you all rig them on a yak? I was fishing a lake with my single anchor and when the wind came up it just swung me back and forth too much.
Sorry for the hijack rodgerole.
The Lord willing I will be floating down the Hooch in the morning, I am going to try out Norm’s idea of mesh bags, only oranges originally came in mine.
I’m cheap also and I used stuff I had around the house for my second anchor. A gallon jug, rinsed out bleach, and some concrete mix. The handle provides a secure place to tie the rope. HOWEVER… I use it on the bow of my canoe and it tends to bang against the boat when I raise it.
My main issue on this is weight before entering the water. My Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon routine frequently starts with packing gear, something over 30 lbs., about 3/4 mile. I want an anchor that does not added to the pack weigh. The truth be known I guess I don’t really have much of a need since I have been doing this for several years without an anchor, but I did add a couple fo mesh bags to the gear. The last jar of mayo my wife bought was in a wide mouth plastic jar. I have plans to recycle it into a anchor by adding a mushroom disk to the bottom with a piece of small chain connecting a bolt through the disk and jar bottom. Empty it should weigh an oz. or so.
Try a small plastic bottle filled with cement. Use one with a handle & adjust the weight by filling it to different levels… As a fellow cheapskate I can say.
This is my mayo jar anchor concept. I have gotten it wet yet. I hope this will be adequate for the Hooch, which doesn’t usually have too strong of a flow. The idea is to fill it with rocks at the launch point and dump them at the take out. The good Lord willing it will get a test run this weekend.
This is my mayo jar anchor concept. I have gotten it wet yet. I hope this will be adequate for the Hooch, which doesn’t usually have too strong of a flow. The idea is to fill it with rocks at the launch point and dump them at the take out. The good Lord willing it will get a test run this weekend.
Back to the drawing board, the plastic quart mayo jar filled with rocks did not hold my tube in current. The 6" plastic disc did not grip at all (duh). A quart of Georgia river rocks weighs a little over 3 lbs. BTW. I have an extra day for more extensive testing next weekend, Igor back to the laboratory.
I made these to use on a pontoon, but I suppose it could be sized up for a canoe or yak. They are containers with quickcrete in them. I used an eyebolt with a washer and nut on the end, and also added some wire onto the bolt into the concrete to help keep the eye from coming out. I also partially covered the eyebolt to keep it from turning. I built 2 sizes to test them out, but I don’t need much since these will only be used on stillwater on slightly windy days at worst. BTW, I used a can opener on the pop can to make things work better.
Y’all have come up with some good ideas. I’m going on with my soft anchor idea even though they may last only a short time. I found a couple of nylon camo sacks at Bass Pro for $4.99 ea. Other sack I found were about the same price, but all had to be shipped here to the podunk little place we live. Luckily Bass Pro is only 25-30 miles away. They don’t look terribly sturdy, but will probably last as long as the shot sacks I used for my first anchors. I’m gonna stick the shot in a plastic freezer bag to see if letting the bag dry out better will help the longevity. It took my first sacks quite a while to dry out because of the material and the wet shot inside.
I actually need the soft sacks because I have the anchors rigged thru micro cam cleats and fairleads so I can raise and lower them from my kayak seat. I leave them dangling over the side of the boat on opposite sides(for balance?) at each end, but not touching the water, when not in use. Hard anchors bang against the side of the boat and probably bother the fish. I know for certain the banging and thumping bothers me.
They worked pretty good for anchoring quickly when I was searching around for fish. I can let them down with one hand and still keep the fish on so I don’t lose track of where I was when I got bit.
It probably will not solve your bumping problem but in threads in the past it seemed there were a lot of people that agreed that a bundle of chain worked quite well…especially in moving water.
I replaced some old windows one time and kept all the old window “counter weights”…They weigh probably 2 ta 3 lbs each…they are about 1ft long and about 1 and 1/4" around… seems like they would be justa bout right and wont be so heavy i cant pull em up also wont have ta worry about em gettin snagged too bad.
