had to cut my anchor loose.....

22E6441

22E6441

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
376
While I was out today I lost a lure and an anchor.

Had a bad snag with my lure and had to cut my fishing line.

When we went to leave, I couldn't get the darn anchor up! We were anchored for about an hour in a stiff breeze...18 feet of water...rocky bottom...anchor wouldn't budge. I pulled and pulled, then tried to reposition the boat....pulled some more. Tried for about 15 minutes to get it....no dice.

It was a number 5 danforth type anchor. Funny, because I had just commented to my wife how happy I was with the anchor because it held us in place so well!!!!!

How can I prevent this from happening? Should I have a couple different kinds or anchors and bring one that meets certain conditions or something? I'm kind of at a loss.....this has never happened before. Mind, my past anchors were all old jugs filled with concrete and a u bolt. They didn't really hold you too well, but they never got caught either.......
 
J

James P

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Feb 13, 2008
Messages
49
Re: had to cut my anchor loose.....

My understanding for anchoring is that you at least need 3 times the length for the depth of water. 20 ft depth min 60 foot rope. Carrying extra rope may have given you a better angle in recovering your anchor but sometimes hangups just can't be recovered.
 
Nandy

Nandy

Commander
Joined
Apr 10, 2004
Messages
2,145
Re: had to cut my anchor loose.....

I dont think rode played a role in here. I have had my anchors stuck may times. Have only lost one that I can remember. Sometimes you just cant retrieve an anchor. I had mine stucked in trees and rocks. My underwater camera had been helpful to give me an idea of what was going on underwater. I boat a very clear lake... Sound like you did all that was possible, repositioning the boat is about the only thing that has helped me. The anchor that I had to cut was off my whitewater pontoon. I could not roar back enough to give me enough time to pull the anchor. Then they released the water early for about 2 hours... When I saw the water level coming up I knew it was time to cut the $18.00 mushroom anchor and save my butt from going under the force of the river.
 
F

Floatsum

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Dec 7, 2008
Messages
133
Re: had to cut my anchor loose.....

tashasdaddy said:
i personally prefer this type anchor. http://www.iboats.com/Slip_Ring_Anchor/dm/*******.473703934--**********.109132121--view_id.56240

the slip ring allows you to manouver the boat 180* from the anchored position, and the free the anchor.
Click to expand...

EXACTLY!
Only anchor I'll own is the one you can reverse.
I've lost too many over time not to. anchors are cheap enough, it's the chain, swivels, lines, etc. that adds up.
$100-$150+ a pop, I want them back. :D
 
C

capt sam

Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 14, 2009
Messages
878
Re: had to cut my anchor loose.....

if you anchor in any rocky bottom/heavy coral areas you need to know how to rig your anchor properly or you're gonna lose alot of anchors or run into an issue like the NFL guys did a few months ago.
 
22E6441

22E6441

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
376
Re: had to cut my anchor loose.....

tashasdaddy said:
i personally prefer this type anchor. http://www.iboats.com/Slip_Ring_Anchor/dm/*******.473703934--**********.109132121--view_id.56240

the slip ring allows you to manouver the boat 180* from the anchored position, and the free the anchor.
Click to expand...

Sorry, my bad. the slip ring is the kind I "had" and lost. I was using the wrong name.....

No matter what I did I could not free it. Was really frustrating.

I think I'm going to try one of those mushroom anchors next.
 
Navy Jr.

Navy Jr.

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Sep 14, 2007
Messages
738
Re: had to cut my anchor loose.....

I've had good luck with the Richter anchor, which was suggested to me by my dealer. It's easy to store and doesn't require as much chain. They sell different weight anchors depending on the size of the boat. Upside is it's easy to retrieve. Downside is it costs quite a bit more. They have a website you can google.
 
Nandy

Nandy

Commander
Joined
Apr 10, 2004
Messages
2,145
Re: had to cut my anchor loose.....

Floatsum said:
EXACTLY!
Only anchor I'll own is the one you can reverse.
I've lost too many over time not to. anchors are cheap enough, it's the chain, swivels, lines, etc. that adds up.
$100-$150+ a pop, I want them back. :D
Click to expand...

Well, I wished that submerged tree had read the specs on that anchor... I was surprise that I was able to raise that sucker enough to cut the branch out. Probably the fact that it was a small tree helped... No system is perfect, you will lose gear eventually... However I agree, the anchors w the rings are easier to retrieve.
 
F

fishrdan

Admiral
Joined
Jan 25, 2008
Messages
6,989
Re: had to cut my anchor loose.....

What did you do to free the anchor? When I've had mine stuck I've tied the anchor rode short to the transom, maybe 45* angle to the rode and drove circles around the anchor until it pulls free,,, and once it pulls free drive forward until the anchor planes up.

If you are stuck in a tree this probably wouldn't work as you will wrap the tree (I pulled up a tree or big tree branch once) but it hasn't failed me yet.
 
T

thegreatpiscator

Cadet
Joined
Nov 8, 2008
Messages
21
Re: had to cut my anchor loose.....

Yeah, sometimes you just can't get them back...but your story reminded me of a couple of my own.
One occurred back in the '60's when I was just a kid and fishing with my dad and uncle on Lake St. Clair's Goose Bay. We were on a school of perch, big time, and I mean nice "yellow bellies," anywhere from 10 to 14 inches! Anyway, this group of guys saw us hauling in fish, and kept moving and anchoring closer to us each time. Finally, they were so close that my dad none too politely asked them if they wanted to get into our boat. They replied with a bunch of expletives, and anchored again, just upwind of us. Their anchor rope wound up running within a few feet of our stern, and my dad quietly reached out with a boathook and brought in their line, and then cut it in a very jagged manner with his pocket knife. It took them a while to realize it, but soon discovered they were drifting, and pulled in their bare anchor line. This brought a new barrage of insults, but my uncle pointed out that the rope was frayed. My dad threatened to walk over to their boat to sort things out (which, at my age, I thought he really could) but they finally left.
The other story had to do with my not so ingenious idea to appropriate a couple of "sash weights" as potential boat anchors. For those of you who aren't old enough to know, they were used as counter-balances for old fashioned windows, and acted as a weight to help lift the lower portion of the window. They were made of cast iron, averaged about 10 pounds, about three inches in diameter, and were basically free for the asking when somebody was remodeling. My son and I were fishing on a marl-bottomed lake in Michigan's upper peninsula when I asked him to "drop the anchor," and he did exactly that. When we decided it was time to move, we couldn't budge the anchor, no matter what we did. I theorized that the long, cylindrical sash weight must have shot into the bottom like an arrow, with the rope trailing behind it. And the muck bottom just settled back in around it. So much for great ideas!:redface:
 
C

captharv

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Mar 26, 2005
Messages
187
Re: had to cut my anchor loose.....

Tie some 1/4" nylon line to the wrong end of the anchor. Thats what the small hole at that end is for on a danforth.
Then, tie a float on the other endof the line. If it gets stuck, pull it out by the 1/4" line. Works every time.
Thats what was taught in the Coast Guard Auxiliary course, lesson about anchoring
 
cbavier

cbavier

Lieutenant
Joined
Apr 8, 2007
Messages
1,363
Re: had to cut my anchor loose.....

If you have the anchor with the slip ring all you do is motor past the anchor about 25 ft and pull. The ring will slip to the bottom of the anchor and up it comes. I only had to do that a couple times. I've saw the anchors pictured in capt Sams post but I still prefer the slip ring style. Besides you don't have to have 7 ft of chain.
 
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