Shiner

Went out this past Saturday and had many problems anchoring over a wreck. I'm using a fluke style anchor with about 8 feet fo chain. The wind and current was very strong and I couldn't get the anchor to grab. I also had problems figuring out how to anchor directly over the wreck. Does anyone use a buoy to mark the spot before anchoring? Does it help?

mpmorr

I dont know if you know how to search the old forum or not but I believe Murph pretty much wrote the book on anchoring as well as retrieving the anchor. "DeepLines"

Last Chance

Yes using a buoy helps ten fold,but check out Murph's post as mentioned above,good information to know.

X-Shark

You also do not have enough chain for your size boat.



At the min, you need double what you have.

Gonnamissher

I couldn't find Murph's post, but would be very interested in reading it. I was out yeasterday and it took me 5 tries to get the anchor to set. Don't know if it was just me, or the heavy current and high west winds that was the problem.

onoahi

ditto the anchor ball, it's a life saver.

Danno

Ditto to Billybob, if you get anchored the first time where you want to be, its only luck.

Even checking the drift of the boat and dropping it right, wind, tide and current are going to effect the swing of the boat and that is going to take you on and off the wreck/spot.

We dropped anchor7 times on Sunday on a spot; we quit at 7 because I gave up. Wind, current, boat traffic ended up swinging us on and off where we wanted to be.

wrightackle

I like Billybob's advice. Use the chartplotter on your gps to find your anchor bearing. Get rid of that fluke style anchor and buy a claw anchor in the eleven pound size. Make sure you have at least 600 feet of anchor line. If the current is running strong you are going to need to drop the anchor about 300 feet from the wreck to be safe. If you have a garmin gps it will tell you how many feet you are away from the wreck. The claw anchor will plow into the sand with eight feet of chain. If you miss your spot by 50 feet or so you can move that much by cleating you anchor rope off at a different angle. The boat will slide over to where you want it without reanchoring.

Shiner

Thanks to everyone for all the tips. I'm also glad to know that I'm not the only one that was having this problem. I felt like an amateur out there the other day trying to anchor. I'll definately add more chain and look into a Bruce anchor.

Tight Lines!!!

captken

You guys have it made up there. I have to contend with at least one tide change every day and usually 2. Tide speed varries all over the place too. Yeah, the water is much shallower but on screaming tide days, I sometimes have to go to an 8 oz sinker to Grouper fish in 20'.

I haven't gotten to "Anchoring Tips" yet. That ought to take up a bunch of pages.

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Captken
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