I’ve started to consider how to build an anchor system for my kayak, like to Joe Hydes soft canoe anchor system. I didn’t want to try and aquire the materials (bags & shot) to buld the anchor bags so I went to the local sporting goods store and purchased a pair of adjustable 5 lb. ankle weights. The weights are individual plastic tubes of shot which are inside a zipped water-resistant pouch with a velcro strap at one end and a D-ring at the other. I don’t intend to remove any of the weight from the pouches, I just like the fact the shot is sealed in plastic.
I’m going to replace the existing lightweight D-rings with stronger ones. Then I’ll use a hook clip to attach them to the lines. Now I just have to rig my lines and get some cleats attached.
I’m looking forward to getting out on the water with a dual anchor system. It means I’ll have my fly in the water more than my paddle.
Nearly forgot to mention, the ankle weights I found were between $16 and $21 depending on where you purchase them.
My life since last September has been disrupted by changes at work and in my personal life that it was just last week I discovered the PADDLING category in the Bulletin Board! I just never scrolled down far enough that it came into view on my monitor screen. :oops:
Hey, man, you’ve got to work up a Warm Water Features story on this setup of yours. Sooner the better; more kayakers will benefit if it’s a Feature story. One part, Two part, Three part story, who cares how many it takes?
I’m particularly interested in your use of the Weider weights as anchors. With your anchor line situated center-mass, and with the zippered plastic bags spreading the mass laterally away from the anchor line (as opposed to hanging straight down) I feel your choice of these workout weights solves the problem of “anchor hang”.
Still, I’m curious whether your bow anchor in particular comes into contact with the water, where it would generate drag while you’re underway? Also, once you deploy the bow anchor, at what position does it ride AFTER you lift it off the bottom and lock it in place preparatory to changing fishing spots? Does it get pulled back up onto the bow deck, and if so, how? Or does the anchor hang just above water level?
This is all very interesting to me because a friend in Topeka owns two sport kayaks – a Dagger Zydeco and an Old Town Otter – and she wants to try fly fishing this year when the weather warms. Neither kayak has an anchoring system. Yet.
I really hope you will write a features article, or two or three, detailing this system.
I don’t know if this is helpful …a source of weights could be the the disc shaped bench rest weights or the dumb bell weights…multiple weight choices…they can be picked up at thrift stores for almost nothing…I use a disc one on my pontoon…
Glad you like the adaptation on your anchor idea. The front anchor doesn’t drag because the caribiner is just high enough to keep it above the water. I used the weights because I didn’t want to buy shot and have any left after making anchors.
I hadn’t thought of writing an article about the idea, but I guess I could. I could include detailed pictures of the system, too.
Take care and maybe we can get out fishing somewhere together this year.
I used the dumbell weights suggested above and lost one of them when anchoring over a rocky bottom, the weight must have tipped when it hit a rock and slipped between them I could not lift it and had to cut the line. Just then I realised the wisdom of Joe Hydes soft anchor which I will employ at the next outing.
Joe I have just read your article featured on the home page about improvements to the system you developed. I also went to West Marine and purchased
the same fairleads and also the nylon cleats which operate like a wedge in which you slip the line in and the forward pull of the weights jams the line. Perfect and cheaper than the clam cleats.I did this last year after reading your article. I should have followed your advice on the weights though, but have seen those mentioned above and they look workable.
Hey, any chance you can post a photo of that “wedge”, or maybe give a web site link? I can’t quite visualize what the device looks like. Sounds like it functions like a cam cleat, but without cams. I’d really like to see it; sounds interesting.
Yeah, those little cam cleats are definitely pricey, aren’t they? Sure wish that wasn’t the case.
Re: losing one of the Wieder ankle weights in rocks. Probably the only reason I haven’t lost one of my soft bag weights yet is because I very seldom fish in rocks. Matter of fact, I can’t say I ever have anchored on a rocky bottom of the type you lost your anchor in.
In Kansas, probably the only place I could anchor on rough rocks is if along the face of a state or federal lake dam. The submerged rip-rap covering the face of these dams is composed of fairly large limestone pieces. The size of the rocks definitely create gaps and holes large enough that my soft bags could easily slip down between the rocks and get jammed.
This possibly is what happened to you with the ankle weights. If so, it’s questionable whether my teardrop-shaped anchor bags would have performed any better than the Wieder ankle weight you lost.
Hanging an anchor on the bottom is about my worst nightmare. I hope it never happens to me; I hate losing gear. Sorry it happened to you!
Joe unfotunately the canoe is at my daughters house and I work 2 jobs so cannot get there till the weekend for to take pictures. The cleat is elongated and if you can picture a cut out wedge in this elongated block in which the line would fit. It has ridges which start out wide at the top and narrow down to the bottom the rope is placed in this wedge and pushed down as you let go it wedges itself. You can get big and small for differentsize rope.Willsend photo, as soon as.
Having spent much of the past 20 years as a wilderness fishing guide in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, I have found taking an old stuff sack filled with rocks found on the shore a great, lightweight, portable anchor. Over the years, I have used several different types of bags, but most recently the portable anchor bags made by http://www.kondosoutdoors.com/accessories.php.
To each his own, but I prefer anchoring both ends of my canoe so that it can’t yaw in the wind or get pulled around by a hooked fish. Regardless of which material a single anchor bag gets filled with, one anchor alone doesn’t give me the boat control I want.
I’ve never been to the Boundary Waters so I’m ignorant about the type of rocks and smaller sized aggregate that’s available for use as anchor weight material. If I lived up there I’d be very tempted to use your “empty bag” strategy. If small gravel was readily available at the lakes I wanted to fish I’d use my two anchor system but instead of lead bird shot I’d fill the bags on site using gravel. (Because if the gravel particles are small enough they’d give me two “soft bag anchors”.) At the end of each trip, I’d just untie the anchor line from the bags, turn the bags upside down and dump out the gravel.
I suppose there’s lots of places on Minnesota lakes where a person can easily find small gravel suitable for this. Again, I don’t know.
But for me here in Kansas, we have very few lakes and ponds where small gravel or sand is obtainable on-site. Mostly our lake shores are mud/clay. Either that or limestone shelf rock. Even if you could rocks on-site, using them in anchor bags is iffy because odds are they’ll be large-size rocks that once put into a bag will still clang loudly against your canoe hull when carried in the raised/locked position.
So for me, where I live and fish, the best time and labor-saving benefit came by taking two small anchor bags, each filled with lead birdshot, with me on every trip. Does away completely with the need to hunt about for anchor material every time I go fishing.
If you are talking about what I think those cleats are pretty common. My last pontoon came with one and most of the folks using McKenzie drift boats around here have them.
Here is something you might want to consider …Rope Rachet…I rigged one on my first pontoon and they are quite handy. They are quite available now…Ace Hardware…Sportsman’s Warehouse… Home Depot, etc.
I see they have something called Cal-Grip that looks interesting…
More on those cleats I mentioned. The front end has a hole so that the line is fed back from the anchor and using two of these on the same side the paddler in front can operate the anchor or if fed back to the seconed cleat the rear paddler can do the same the holes act as a neat guide keeping the rope running along the gunwhale out of the way.
It was rip rap that I lost that anchor in. Texas (Dallas area) also has a shotage of stones but plenty of clay and sometimes shale too.
Another techniques that I have used with great sucess is using a drift sock. If the wind is blowing just right it can move you at a snails pace along the structure allowing you plenty of time to hit all of the main holding spots for fish. However, if the wind is not blowing just right, it can also be one of the most frustrating techniques to use.
