Anchor Line Length

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If I remember right its 3 to 1.(10 foot of water 30 foot of line)That's so the anchor can hook the bottom at an angle.
 
check your local regs... they will tell you how much line you need.
here in pa it states that you need 3 times the water depth. so if lake has 50ft deep water you should have 150 ft of anchor line on the boat
 
Good golly, I had no idea there were regulations on anchor line. Is this a joke or is there an actual law that regulates anchor line :LOL2: I think I have around 20' or so because I usually only anchor in shallow water when it's windy.
 
yeah it is kind of weird. it is 3:1 as i also remember it from my boater education class. and it definetly depends on the depth of water.

and remember to tie the other end off to a cleat! we lost an anchor one night on the james, first time this guy went with us catfishing he tossed the anchor over and just assumed the anchor was tied to something.
 
redbug said:
check your local regs... they will tell you how much line you need.
here in pa it states that you need 3 times the water depth. so if lake has 50ft deep water you should have 150 ft of anchor line on the boat

I'm glad that OK doesn't require anything. I go to a lake that is 90' in the middle but would have no reason to anchor out there.
 
I use 1/2" 100' on the bow and the same on aft anchor. I beach the boat alot and take advantage of the length to tie the boat off on a large tree when beached. You can never have to much line, never know when a emergency might pop up.
 
Depending on water conditions, wind, size of boat and type of anchor, a peice of chain connected to the anchor and then to the rope is also a good idea. This helps the anchor to lay flat and grip the bottom better...

Being a former Lake Michigan boater (30 ft. boat) Anchoring can be an art that takes a lot of expericance or from being a current inland lake and river boater, sometimes just dropping a small anchor over the side will do the trick...

https://www.anchorbuddy.co.nz/anchoring.html

Outdoorsman
 
Outdoorsman....thanks for your LINK. I clicked on it and..... after reading the anchoring article...I further clicked on the "Anchor Buddy" LINK. https://www.anchorbuddy.co.nz/how.html

That is a really interesting product and suggestion. It makes a good case for carrying some kind of extra heavy weight that can be clipped onto your line to increase holding power in a real storm. Only happens now and then, but if I got caught in a big blow without enough scope and anchor chain...tying some other weight onto my rode and slipping it down the line appears like it would help a lot.

thanks...I am trying to learn something new every day.....Rich
 
po1 said:
I use 1/2" 100' on the bow and the same on aft anchor. I beach the boat alot and take advantage of the length to tie the boat off on a large tree when beached. You can never have to much line, never know when a emergency might pop up.

I just bought 100' of 3/8" rope. It was on sale. Now I just got to thinking, I would never want to anchor in very deep water. Just too much of a hassle to manually pull up a 20# anchor. But like you said, having the extra length in case of emergency, or tying off makes sense. Thanks.
 
If I ever have to anchor in water over 12', I'm fishing in the "WRONG PLACES", most of the water here in the bays is only 3' to 6' deep. I use my shallow water anchor I built for my boat. Was in an earlier post.
 
rusty.hook said:
If I ever have to anchor in water over 12', I'm fishing in the "WRONG PLACES", most of the water here in the bays is only 3' to 6' deep. I use my shallow water anchor I built for my boat. Was in an earlier post.

Yea, the lakes I plan to fish are only 10-15' deep. I have 100' of rope. I'll probably use 50' for anchor line and have extra 50' of rope for reserve.
 
3 to 1 is for safety, if the motor goes out in a storm, or sitting on the hook for long periods in heavy current/waves. With the rivers I fish I rarely have more then 20-25' tied to my anchor and usually a knot tied to the boat shorter then that. But it's always good to have a little extra rope on the boat.

More inportant is your anchor set up for the water you will be on. How big of a boat? What type of conditions? Lots of rocks and logs, or mainly sand?
A 3-4 foot peice of heavy chain will increase your scope angle. Sometimes I will tie a window sash weight or small anchor a few feet above the main anchor fior the same purpose.

For your main anchor, I feel a good all around is a tri-flute river anchor. And go big or go home.
 
redbug said:
check your local regs... they will tell you how much line you need.
here in pa it states that you need 3 times the water depth. so if lake has 50ft deep water you should have 150 ft of anchor line on the boat

That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard....

Good thing Ga doesn't have that. I sometimes fish a lake that is 450 feet deep. I don't know where I would put almost 1400 feet of anchor line.

I carry 100' with me. If it is real calm water, and drifting off position wouldn't be more than a nuisance, I'll sometimes only put out 1.5' for every foot of depth. For the river, when they are generating (and thus, a fast current), I need a 4:1 or sometimes even a 5:1 ratio (rarely find water deeper than 10 feet) to hold.
 
redbug said:
check your local regs... they will tell you how much line you need.
here in pa it states that you need 3 times the water depth. so if lake has 50ft deep water you should have 150 ft of anchor line on the boat

Does that mean if you fish in the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans you need to have a rope three times the greatest depth. I will have to tow some more boats behind my boat just to carry the rope. LOL
 

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