Anchoring up

Got a question here lads, I was boat fishing last summer and decided to drop anchor for a spot of bottom fishing, hadn't really done it before so thought I'd give it a go (generally I'm a feather/lure fishing man on the drift)

I found the boat swung around a lot and was pivoting around the anchor. This made bite detection impossible as the line was always either completely slack or else completely taught dragging the bait around after the boat.

Any tips on what I did wrong or is this normal?

sorry if this sounds really daft

Rob

Got a question here lads, I was boat fishing last summer and decided to drop anchor for a spot of bottom fishing, hadn't really done it before so thought I'd give it a go (generally I'm a feather/lure fishing man on the drift)

I found the boat swung around a lot and was pivoting around the anchor. This made bite detection impossible as the line was always either completely slack or else completely taught dragging the bait around after the boat.

Any tips on what I did wrong or is this normal?

sorry if this sounds really daft

Rob

hi mate.. to me it sounds like you did not put enough anchor rope out.. when setting out anchor steam over your mark you want to fish. see what way your drift is .. common rule of thumb is for every 10mtrs of water deep . let out 5 mtrs of rope.. that allows the boat to be held at an angle from the anchor not straight up...... hope this helps.....

How deep was the water, and how much warp had you out? Was the wind with/against/across the tide? Did the tide turn whilst you were anchored up? If you were in the Sheephaven, whereabouts?

common rule of thumb is for every 10mtrs of water deep . let out 5 mtrs of rope..

Bit puzzled by that, did you mean it the other way round?

I usually let out a lot more than twice the depth.

I was anchored in about 20 feet of water across outside the mouth of Ards but well away from the flow over near the rocks. I would say I prob didn't have a massive amount of rope out, so that could have been the problem. It was middle of the tide though to be honest I can't remember which way it was flowing. As for the wind, there was little more than a light breeze.

Bit confused by the post above too - what's the general rule of thumb for rope length?

I would like to anchor in Skate Bay which is about 100 feet - what length of rope would I actually want to have out?

Have you tried using a DROGUE? Its also called a drift anchor, I find I can bottom fish with it, will always keep u facing the waves

Bit confused by the post above too - what's the general rule of thumb for rope length?

I would like to anchor in Skate Bay which is about 100 feet - what length of rope would I actually want to have out?

Theoretically 3 times the depth but you'll soon just get a feel for it

Wtf! Going to be out a fortune in rope

[hugo]

I would like to anchor in Skate Bay which is about 100 feet - what length of rope would I actually want to have out?

300 ft - three times depth is usual formula. Thats a fair depth for a small boat to be anchored in all the same, I'd be happier with a slow drift. Depending on conditions, I chuck out a bucket on a rope to act as a drogue, its often enough.

Last edited by hugo on Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

Sounds like you need more rope..... might be a good idea to get an old scrap metal grapnel-type anchor welded up if you're going to anchor up in Skate Bay - I've seen anchors get tangled up in pot-lines in there and they had to be cut loose to free the boat. And there's lots of pots in Skate Bay.

Sounds like you need more rope..... might be a good idea to get an old scrap metal grapnel-type anchor welded up if you're going to anchor up in Skate Bay - I've seen anchors get tangled up in pot-lines in there and they had to be cut loose to free the boat. And there's lots of pots in Skate Bay.

you might aswell anchor up on a pot so

common rule of thumb is for every 10mtrs of water deep . let out 5 mtrs of rope..

Bit puzzled by that, did you mean it the other way round?

I usually let out a lot more than twice the depth.

sorry lads only dawned on me when i finished. wrong way round.... oops,,,,,,

when there is only wind or only tide the boat will sit without swinging,
the problem is when both forces are nearly balanced, one gaining then
the other the boat can swing around.

letting out extra anchor line is only useful if the anchor is not holding bottom,
in this scenario you will only swing in in bigger arcs.

its may be better to hold the rod, raising and lowering it. Mono can be better
than braid here as tangles are inevitable, you could be forced to stop fishing
with really strong wind/tide combinations

Cheers for all the advice lads. must admit I never would have thought the rule of thumb was 3x the depth

The boat is a 7.2m cruiser, don't know if that's particularly big or small, but I did think anchoring at 100ft would be a bit of a chore myself... what would you recommend instead then for bottom fishing? Surely even with a drogue the boat will rip along at a fair rate and pull my rig through the pot-ridden bottom? (per tanglerat's experience!)

Surely I'm not the first to wish to anchor in deep-ish water?

decided to drop anchor for a spot of bottom fishing, hadn't really done it before so thought I'd give it a go

Bit more info needed then.
What type and weight of anchor? how much chain and rope?
What exactly did you do after anchor was dropped?
What was state of tide and how much wind and from what direction?
You may not remember the answer to all of this but some more info would be useful.
All of this will help to determine what was happening.
A 7.2 metre cruiser is quite big what type of boat is it?

Must say I am with John if there are loads of pots about why not tie off one of these?

Yappo

[/quote]

Must say I am with John if there are loads of pots about why not tie off one of these?

Yappo[/quote]

only if the potters are not around the feckers will ram you

well after all they dropped a pot right on top of one of your favourite fishing marks, thats my answer for them

Yappo, there must be a lot of abandoned pots as there aren't many buoys visible, and at a guess I'd say most of them are on the rough ground closer to the rocks whereas I want to anchor up over the sand further out on search of the resident raymonds.. just going on tanglerat's advice here as I say I have never noticed there being more pots in skate bar than anywhere else.

As for the anchor, it's approx 20kg folding design, got about 15 foot of fairly heavy chain attached, don't worry it was definitely holding as we didn't move anywhere, just pivoted around a bit. To be fair the boat pivots around its mooring all the time inside the pier in light wind, so maybe this is just normal?

The only other thing I can think of is that I might have secured it onto an eye just off centre at the front of the boat, not sure if the rope was actually dead centre on the front roller. It's difficult on out boat as there's nowhere dead centre to tie it!

Boat itself is a Uttern C72, inboard Mercruiser diesel..

beautiful boat. id say as the lads said might have just been the day that was in it variable winds and slack tide

Yappo, there must be a lot of abandoned pots as there aren't many buoys visible,

Not abandoned pots, but strings of pots. A marker on one end of them, then mebbe a line of a dozen pots or more before the end marker. Makes for a fun time guessing which buoys go with which and what line the sring is running in. You'd think they'd use the same type of buoy for the start and the end, but that'd be too easy....

Turbot, good plaice, big dabs and smallish thornbacks to be had in there too. Just over, at the corner of the Horn, is fantastic for spinning up big pollock.

Boat itself is a Uttern C72, inboard Mercruiser diesel..

I've just google-imagesed that boat - You want to fish inside the Bay?

That boat'll go to the cod grounds outside the Limeburner, no bother at all. Or Tory. Or anywhere.

scrob is my newest bestest friend......