Anchor advice

[Douglasdzaster]

Hello everyone, I’m planning the first of three trips to take grandkids to stay at Lake Somerville a few days and fish. This first trip is taking the most planning. After it I’m all set for the others.
I’m doing my best to put them on some fish. I’m planning on using chum I have brewing and anchor in spots. I’m getting a second anchor for the stern so I keep the boat facing into the wind and it’s not drifting around.

I have a 16’ long x 5’ across the floor and 7’ beem across top flat bottom. It’s really sturdy. But we’re supposed to have some wind which there’s several creeks and islands to hide out.
I always carefully distribute weight and have no trip hazards.
My bow anchor is a 15-20 lb. Navy anchor that I’ve had for several boats now but never used a chain. I’m getting a 7 lb. Fluke for the stern.
How much of what size chain should I use on both anchors?
The bow anchor only has 50’ rope but I’m getting longer for peeper water in the future l
I read I should have a foot of chain per foot of boat but that seems why overkill for my tin boat.
Another suggestion was a pound per foot of boat also seems overkill. I don’t fish river currents. I’m mainly lake fishing and have to deal with wind which when the waves start hitting the boat pretty good I’m out of there.
I just want to go ahead and have some chain like I should so the anchors will set and hold better in the mud and clay.
As always your advice is greatly appreciated. Thank y’all.

 

[LDUBS]

I know it violates the rule of thumb and I normally follow those kinds of rules, but agree with you that 16' of chain seems like a lot of chain for calm lake waters. I would probably use 6' of 1/4" or 5/16" chain and call it good. My boat came with a fluke (Danforth) style with I would guess maybe 4' to 5' of chain (never measured it).

 

[Tin Man]

I agree with LDUBS...on smaller lakes heavy duty anchoring gear is not necessarily needed.
I use a Lewmar 2.2# claw anchor for the bow. For stern, even a small mushroom or fluke anchor would be fine. 6' of 1/4" chain and 100' of rode on bow. I. may end up using vinyl coated chain, so not to scratch up my pretty new boat!!

Stern anchor could be shorter. Much of the rode depends on lake depth....ex. my local lake is approx. 225' deep and very steep at its inside edges. I don't even take the anchoring gear with me to this lake. For shallower lakes, I plan on taking the anchoring gear. The Lewmar and mushrooms are small compact anchors and with chain and rode, can fit in a small heavy duty canvas duffle bags.

 

[flatheadsteve]

I run a 10lb fluke on the bow with 8ft of chain. A fluke is suppose to have chain to help it dig into the bottom it doesn't rely on its weight to hold the boat. Off the stern I have a 10lb navy anchor no chain x2. Don't often need the 3rd but on days with a strong wind opposite a strong current its often needed to stay locked in position. The fluke anchor will all by itself hold my boat even in the strongest of currents it will however often require you to motor up past it and give a solid tug to free it from the bottom. My boats roughly 3500lbs with gear and the potomac has very strong currents in spring.

 

[airshot]

I use spot lock on my trolling motor, no chain needed !! Haven't used an anchor since I got spot lock.

 

[thill]

I use a small Danforth anchor most of the time in muddy/sandy bottoms, and I also have a small collapsible grapple hook anchor for use in the rocks and I've been very happy with that setup.

Agree that chain is important if you want a quick anchor set

 

[Douglasdzaster]

Got a 7 lb fluke and used it a few times today as a stern anchor and a 15 lb navy anchor off the bow. Some times it was a little tough getting the fluke to set. But I only have about 3 foot of chain. I’ll try more chain. I threw it out when we got out of the boat to keep the wind from blowing the boat sideways into the bank. I pulled up to a nice sandy spot but it’s sa rounded by rocks. The fluke set right away.

sitting in a cabin right now resting. Been on the lake all day. The trip just didn’t get a good start. I was late getting here with them last night.
They close the gate at ten sharp and reservation or not you’re not getting in. I was at the gate at 9:57pm..
I looked everything over 2 days ago. Boat and trailer. And kept finding things that had to be done.
Thursday night I worked until 2am. Then couldn’t sleep thinking about everything I still had to do before I could leave Friday. Got here stayed up Tying rods. Didn’t get up until 6 this morning and still had rigging to do on the boat . The boys were not enthusiast at all and wasn’t much help. So late start I skipped channel cat and went looking for bait. I couldn’t find the shad or anything for cut bait. Knew I should’ve brought some chicken.
Ended up with 20 other boats where I finally started marking fish. I noticed a boat trolling and others working jigs. Hybrid stripers where schooling. I redid some rods with whatever I had crank baits you name it. And trolled. At first with the Yamaha (ran better today than it has in a while). No hits I was seeing big arches on the screen along with what I’m pretty sure were some big balls of shad. I could see the streaks across the screen where the fish were feeding on them big time. We tried until the party was over and the fish left. Grandson missed one hit and that was all.
We’ve been resting a little while and got the boat tied off by the cabin.
Fixing to go used my lights and catch bait. Big green light seems to always bring them in. There was no wind today but it’s supposed to hit 8 mph in a little while. Might be some good night drifting. We’re not far at all from where the big blues have been hanging out.

 

[thill]

Wow, you sound like me with the "one more thing to check" stuff. I like to eliminiate any possible problem during a trip.

Kids want to fish, but ususally are not thrilled with working on boats.

Glad you made it before 10!

The green lights always work, usually within 20 mins.

It JUST hit me what your screen name spells out. That's funny!

 

[thill]

Hello everyone, I’m planning the first of three trips to take grandkids to stay at Lake Somerville a few days and fish. This first trip is taking the most planning. After it I’m all set for the others.
I’m doing my best to put them on some fish. I’m planning on using chum I have brewing and anchor in spots. I’m getting a second anchor for the stern so I keep the boat facing into the wind and it’s not drifting around.

I have a 16’ long x 5’ across the floor and 7’ beem across top flat bottom. It’s really sturdy. But we’re supposed to have some wind which there’s several creeks and islands to hide out.
I always carefully distribute weight and have no trip hazards.
My bow anchor is a 15-20 lb. Navy anchor that I’ve had for several boats now but never used a chain. I’m getting a 7 lb. Fluke for the stern.
How much of what size chain should I use on both anchors?
The bow anchor only has 50’ rope but I’m getting longer for peeper water in the future l
I read I should have a foot of chain per foot of boat but that seems why overkill for my tin boat.
Another suggestion was a pound per foot of boat also seems overkill. I don’t fish river currents. I’m mainly lake fishing and have to deal with wind which when the waves start hitting the boat pretty good I’m out of there.
I just want to go ahead and have some chain like I should so the anchors will set and hold better in the mud and clay.
As always your advice is greatly appreciated. Thank y’all.

In my lake boat, I typically have 6' of 3/16" or 1/4" chain. In my Bay boat, I typically have 10' of 5/16" or 3/8" chain.