no laughing now!

hey lads
i have a bit of a basic question for you. i do mosty of my fishing on the drift but when i anchor my longliner i cant get her to stay in the same spot. the stern swings enough to make it a nightmare to fish. whats the solution? also is it really nessecery to have 3 times the length of rope of the depth u r fishing over. there are no mad tides r currents where i fish so no real danger.

I use a length of chain between anchor and rope. The chain is as long as the boat and is fairly heavy. For fishing I usually let out the anchor line to about 1.5 times depth. The 'three times' figure is for safe, fast overnight anchorage.
The downside of all this is anchor recovery. I have made an Alderny ring set up - but this can be dangerous is some situations, so I would not readily advocate this method.

Peter

Liam,
Very fustrating situation. All boats suffer this problem, You're not alone! I would think the point that there are no big tides is important. With some wind or a good rip of tide I take it you have no problems. When in the situation where she swings maybe try a small stern anchor. We use one of these fold up jobs. Normally we only suffer in very shallow water with little wind and tide. The little anchor helps but it can get in the way. There's no real answer.

As for the anchor rope: That term "three time the rope..." I would consider this a safety margin for the amount of rope you should have on board, not the amount of rope you should have out. Wind, tide and nature of bottom play a factor in anchoring. We may use a short rope over rough ground where as over sand with a big rip we'll use a lot of rope. Anchoring wrecks in 350 feet we could have 900 feet of rope out. We use about 6 feet of good chain. I would consider that one of the most important things when anchoring is having the anchor rigged to "trip" if the sh*t hits the fan!
Jim.

cool, it is true that when i have anchored it was over shallow ground without much tide r wind.what is triping the anchor? is it having a weak link to the bottom of the anchor in case u get snagged up? if so i am laughing, if not u better fill me in in case the s*** does hit the fan and i am blisfully unaware!!!!!!!!
cheers Liam

Tough one to describe without a picture!

Picture your average plough anchor. Your chain is attached to the bar or eye at the bottom of the anchor behind the plough (with a d-shackle). The chain is attached to the shaft with a cable tie mid way up. If the plough pivots around the shaft leave enough slack to allow the anchor to pivot (a Bruce anchor does not pivot so the chain can be tight along the shaft). Finally the chain is secured to the eye of the anchor with enough cable ties that the boat can break out under power. If the anchor gets stuck you can then power uptide and break the cable ties. The anchor will then be pulled out backwards. This has saved many an anchor and warp. The amount of ties at the eye is something you'll get used to. We normally use four wide ties (7.8mm) this enough to hold the boat in the toughest conditions but allows us to break out fairly easily.

Get my drift (or not as the case may be!!!!)

Jim

phew! was hoping i wasnt missing out on somthing there

To my Irish bros. & sisters, regarding a boat swinging at anchor. You could try a method which we here in the states sometime use.
It is called a bridle and it involves the setting of 2 anchors at @45degrees off the bow. It works like a charm to dampen the boat's motion while fishing.
The down side, however, is that it takes a great deal of anchor line on each anchor and the assistance of a capable deck hand to handle the lines. It is not a solo operation.
First, set the first anchor and position over the wreck.
Next, run at an angle uptide for a distance equal to the scope of the first anchor and set the second anchor.
Now you can make fine adjustments to the boat's position while minimizing the swing of the vessel.
A very good reference text with a good section on anchoring is
"How to Fish Wrecks, Lumps & Rock Piles" by Captain Greg Venture.
It is a publication of "The Fisherman Library"
1620 Beaver Dam Road
Point Pleasant, NJ. 08742
Tight lines and world peace to all. CaptJPUSA.

Interesting.
Sounds somewhat similar to what I saw a Namibian skipper do when he wanted to anchor inside the surfline off the Skeleton Coast.

Worked too. 8)

ps:

Welcome aboard, CaptPJUSA. Stick around and share some more info!

:P

Thanks all for the Irish hospitality. I enjoy reading about local conditions and methods.
I hope to get to Ireland during the summer of 2005 and while there maybe get a day or two out on the briny. Jim.

Hang a small drogue from the back on about 5 mtrs of warp.the stronger the tide ,the better it works.

Fishing using the uptide method works well when the boat is moving from side to side, as the bow in the line keeps a constant pressure on the rod, I only really realised that when using this method late last year, great for bite detection as well when using braid, amazing with such a bow in the line how you can hold the bottom in a strong tide if fishing in 20-70', thats when braid really comes into its own with the thinner diameter.

Sean,