Pontoon Boat Anchor Size?

[Ryan]

I know this is a good one for the boats section, but I think way more people look on the general fly fishing.

Anyways, I have a 12' two man boat, and I used a 12lb. anchor. The 12lb'er just wouldn't hold in anything unless the water was practically dead w/ a sandy bottom, so I went all out and got a 30lb. anchor, but when I lift the anchor, I really understand how heavy this thing really is. Is this too heavy? It probabley is, but when I drop it, I will be sure not to drop it in the middle of the rapids, but more to the side in a little slower water where my 12lb'er wouldn't hold. Another question, how is pulling one up about 10 or 20 feet? Is it really hard, I'm young, and am in shape and fit from wrestling for about 8 years, but I'm not really "strong" by any means, so would this be overkill for pulling the thing off the bottom back to the boat? Thanks in advance for advice.

PS, I always have a knife right on me ready to go if I have to cut the rope, and I forgot to mention, the reason I want a bigger anchor is because my past two trips down the sac w/ higher flows have been tough because when the fisherman hooks his fish, almost the entire productive run is wasted fighting it because the current is too strong to row back up and too strong to anchor w/ 12lbs, it would just drag which would be bad for the river and dangerous. Most of the time, the current was just as strong right next to the bank which makes stopping impossible, therefore, there is nothing to do but drift right on through. Any adivice, thoughts, opinions?

Ryan
Be carefull with a pontoon boat and fast water. It can kill you with a heavy anchor. It pulls the thing right under.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Ryan,

Outcast has 5, 12, 20 and 30 pound lead 'pyramid' drift boat style river anchors with a rope.

Pyramid Anchors with Rope
All anchors complete with 35' of stable braided nylon rope.

5 lb. $40.00
12 lb. $50.00
20 lb. $60.00
30 lb. $90.00



I think we stock the 12 or 20 pound?

You might need the 20?

As Sturmer says 'be careful in fast water'.

[Ryan]

Yeah, I got the outcast 30lb. anchor. I came up with an idea though that I think will work pretty good. Out of the probabley 20 or so times I have taken my boat out, I have never had to take 35 feet of anchor rope out, but more like 10- 15 feet on average, and 20 at most. So what I think I'm gunna do is just cut the knot that stops the rope at 35' so if I do get in a situation where my boat is tipping, I will quickly pull the rope and let it slide through the hole, off the boat and into the river. Put the fact that I have life vests on at all times, and I will only drop it on the side of runs or near the bank, I think I should be safe. The downside to this is that if the anchor slips for some reason, I will be out the money I paid for it. Has anyone else done this, or anything like this? Thanks for the responses by the way.

[jfkowalski]

there is quite a bit of science in anchoring. A few of the main considerations are the length of the rope and the angle of the rope from the anchor. Adding a chain to tip the anchor over can help.
Re water flows. Just because there is more water flowing down the river doesn't mean that it is flowing any faster..just deeper. The speed of a river is primarily dependant on the the gradient of the river bottom, not the amount of water in it. A deeper river would require more anchor rope to maintain the critical angle on the anchor rope.

[Adam Grace]

The chain idea really works. I have used it when fishing out of my 10' pram.

I also have used the chain by itself, called a drag chain. I slid an old bike inertube over the chain so while I drag it along the bootom of the river it does not tear up the bottom as much. Dragging a chain is still not very good for the river bottom but at least I'm trying to decrease the damage.

The drag chain allows me to drift along with the current and keep the bow pointed up stream. Since the chain is doing all of the work, I could focus on casting and fishing. The drag chain was an awesome tool when fishing out of the pram by myself.

Good Stuff.

[Darian]

I concur with Mr. Kowalski..... I would add that a lot of the decision about the weight and type of anchor you choose will be the type of river bottom over which you intend to fish. For example, I have a 17' bass boat with a deep V hull. The anchor I chose was a light weight sand model that weighs approximately 10 lbs. It is tethered to the boat with a 10' chain and rope..... I have a 22 pounder for rocky bottoms and have never broken loose even when encountering heavy waves from passing boats....

I'm kinda confused about the need for a 30 pounder on a pontoon boat, regardless of the bottom type. My concern would be that your light weight boat will not be able to pull the anchor loose from the bottom when in the situation where a large wake is encountered and this will result in what Sturmer suggested earlier.... Your bow will be pulled under.....

Now, at best, you may only get wet but all of your equipment (on board) may suddenlly be gone. Or, you're out there and your equipment is all gone and the pontoon boat is upside down or has broken loose during all of the gyrations and you're not able to get back to it in your wet clothing, etc. Worse yet, you're going downstream rapidly while your boat is still tethered to the anchor....

Not trying to alarm you but stuff happens..... A good addition for you to acquire, if you haven't already done so, is a PFD (SOS type).....

Be careful out there....