I’m buying a used pontoon boat tonight (YES!), and an anchor is not included…
I’ve searching around, and I found a few kinds of styles:
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[li]One is a pyramid, in 5 or 12 lbs. (sold at Cabelas, made/distributed by Outcast, I believe)
[/li][li]A fix tined anchor (looks sort like a cylinder sea mine)… not sure weights… seen these on drift boats a lot.
[/li][li]a normal style anchor with folding tines (I have one of these for my kayak). The one I have is 3 lbs.
[/li][/ol]
I’m not sure which to buy. I’ll mostly be using this in rivers, probably not to anchor in some really raging water, so I would think the 12 pound pyramid one should be more than enough to hold me… but really I don’t know. the 12lb pyramid one is $60… and that is just expensive enough that I’d rather search out opinions before buying.
I’m about 170, and the boat is a dave scadden skykomish sunrise (10.5 feet long).
If the rivers you fish most are very rocky-bottomed (large rocks) and have ledges in them, a river and mushroom type anchor will get hung up some. I’ve had to cut more than one anchor rope to free myself using those types of anchors. However they do and will work in the correct conditions. I use a drag chain(s). I’ve found that they work mucho better for the rivers I fish. I use 3/8" chain, 12-15" sections, wrapped well in duct tape (individually) to keep them quiet. I loop each section to a large linkable chain section for the connection point to hook to a clasp that’s tied off to my anchor rope. Depending on which boat I take and how much current the river has, I can add or delete a section of chain. With a chain, you can let just enough rope out so the chains will touch bottom enough to slow down your drift, or you can let enough rope out the allow the chains to lay all the way down and stop you completely. And the drag chain is simple and easy to replace if you loose it.
Remember to never try to anchor in heavy current or rapids! A recipe for a real disaster!! When I was a rookie tooner, I dropped anchor in too fast of a current once. Within seconds the rear of the tubes of my 9ft toon were digging into the current and going under. In another second my boat was doing a great wheelie, straight up in the air, until I finally freed the anchor in a panic’d hurry! Learned my lesson really fast about where not to drop anchor! Good rule of thumb is, if the water is too swift for you to wade safely, then it’s too fast to anchor in also.
Good luck and enjoy the Skykomish! They are good boats, I used to own one myself.
The mine sweeper style seems to be popular. I learned my lesson not too long ago as I did just what DarrinG did and, on top of that, I couldn’t get it undone. But the problem solved itself as my knot came undone and the lower Henry’s Fork claimed another offering :roll:
I can only respond to what I am using on my NuCanoe and that is the pyramid style. I have one mounted on the rear and one on the front of my NuCanoe and they work great. They both weigh 5 pounds and work well. I would assume that a 5 pound pyramid style would work for you on your pontoon. One thing to watch out for is not to get one that has any length to it because if it is too long, even when raised all the way up, it will still be in the water behind you and will get caught in any grass, debris, etc.
Hope you enjoy your new pontoon and it enhances your fly fishing.
Now the Anchors:
Your No. 1 is a good anchor. I suggest you need the 12 lb. model. They can be eaten by some types of river bottoms as describd by DarrinG.
Your No. 2 is actually a Spike Anchor. These are a little more cumbersome off the water, but do not get hung up like the Pyramids.
I actually have both types and use the one that is appropriate for the stream. Below are some pics of my home made Spike Anchor.
Forget No. 3. It will not hold you.
I made my homemade anchor out of a piece of 3 inch PVC and a couple of caps. I drilled a hole in one of the caps put an eye bolt through it and filled it with quickrete. then glued on the other cap. it weighs about 10 pounds and so far works really well for me. I had the pipe, and I got the quickrete from a busted bag on discount so all I had in it was the caps. I think it cost me about $6, but I don’t remember for sure. So far it has held me very well. Hope you have fun with your toon.
The spike anchor has screw caps so I can ship it around empty with the pontoon on fishing trips. I prefer to use granite pea gravel as it is a dense rock giving me about a 11 lb anchor. Overall anchor length is 14". You can see that it has holes in the side to let water in and get the air buoyancy out. You want it to get down quickly. Actually the holes are my initials; just have it upside down in the pic. The hardware is all stainless steel with the spikes being 5/8" diameter, 4" long carriage bolts with washers and nuts.
Sometimes I can not get the granite at the destination and use something else that makes it lighter and not work as well. The screw caps are also expensive. If I did not want a travel anchor I would just fill it with concrete with some scrap steel in it.
Excuse the artwork, this is a pencil sketch of a fine piece of redneck engineering from the Tennessee River area of north Alabama. The anchor I remember was probably stainless steel pipe but it was 2" pipe with weight in the center and the ends welded closed. The end of the pipe digs into the bottom or under rocks, but if you can go upsteam it will pull free. I have been planning to make one out of pvc but do not have a rod for the top.
Hi jesse
You stated the critical words that make this design a question for me for pontoons on a flowing river–“if you can go upsteam it will pull free”. In many cases I am just not able to go up stream. There is a similar concept, using a sliding rod, commericially available in the Richter Anchor - http://www.richteranchors.com/products/ They sure look like they would hold well.
You already have an anchor that you use with your Kayak, so why don’t you just use that one? The Homemade one with the bolt through it look like I would try my best to puncture my inflatable pontoon. It wouldn’t be easy but I could probably do it.
One style not mentioned and it is especially useful if weight is a concern. I have seen some that are just a canvas type bag. You fill it with gravel at your launch site and when you are done you dump it out right where you took it from. Light weight, easy to pack, probably not the best for much moving water but useful on lakes with a little breeze when you want to stay in one place. I use one of the smaller mushroom type anchors that is about 8 pounds if I remember right on my small Outcast pontoon. The little two or three pound ones would be fine for packing in and using a tube, but something bigger I just feel better about a little more weight even if it isn’t as convenient.
Exactly why I selected them, there was also a warning earlier about anchoring in fast water. But you need to be able to abandon an anchor because most are capable of be lodged under a log, rock, etc., A old fisherman in the Muscle Shoals, AL are told me he found countless anchors below Wilson Dam during an extreme low water period, where fisherman had cut the anchor rope when turbine generators were added on line without warning.
The third jerk. A jerk on one end of a rod hoping for a jerk on the other end of the rod. But might have to jerk his anchor loose from the bottom.
Drill a hole in the outside bottom of your mushroom anchor in the center, tap if you have to…and install an eyebolt. Solidly hook a couple of feet of fairly heavy chain to the new bottom installed eyebolt… and then connect your rope to the end of the chain.
Now…a few links up the chain from the bottom eyebolt, insert a nylon tyrap of your choice and tyrap the chain to the mushroom anchors original “top” eyebolt. Now your anchor is set to toe from the top orininal connection point and anchor as normal.
But when it hangs up…jerk hard and break the nylon tyrap. NOW your rope and chain are pulling from the “bottom” of the anchor and should pull it loose.
The chain helps the anchor tip over when you throw it a ways out…and then give a pull on the rope and let go so the chain helps the mushroom anchor tip over. Or drop the anchor and then troll or move your craft 15’ or so, and tug and let go to tip over the anchor so it will grab something on the bottom. Weight of the chain should help the mushroom anchor tip over and grab. When it won’t come loose, jerk hard to break the tyrap and tug on the anchor rope, which is now connected to the BOTTOM of the anchor.
Hextall,
You will love that toon it is a sweet boat. I use a twelve pound pyramid on that same boat and at times i think it is too light to keep you stationary in some types of moving water so going a bit bigger might not be a bad idea. Also i think that a chain anchor could be nice since controling your drift is more usefull at times. rember you should always have a good sharp knife with you when ever using any type of anchor in moving water and dont tie a knot at the end of your anchor line.
I have a Scadden Madison River, great boat. I do lots of chironomid fishing in lakes, and need to keep the boat still in high winds.
I use a 12 lb. Spike anchor off the trolley, and a 8 lb mushroom anchor that I can toss off the back deck. Drop the trolley anchor first, let the wind swing you around, then drop the mushroom, then tighten the trolley.
I also keep a fabric sea anchor (looks and works like a wind sock) on the back deck. It can put you at perfect trolling speed for leeches and streamers in high winds. There’s a separate strap that hooks to the hole in the outlet end – pull the strap, the sea anchor collapses, and you are on your way.
For my float tube, which is not affected nearly as much by the wind, I use a 3 lb folding anchor like Char mentioned.
DANBOB
