Help! anchoring advice needed for small fishing boats

[Solent Fisher]

Hi Everyone,

I'm just in the process of making the transition from Beach Fishing to owning my own boat - a new 16' Predator 160 - http://www.douglas-marine.co.uk/PredSite2/predator.htm. Fitted with 60Hp Mercury and 4Hp aux

I've been learning a lot about safety, boat handling etc but what I dont much about is anchoring. All the books are aimed at powerboats or Yotties who only tend to anchor in shallow water with a clean sea bed.

I plan on fishing marks in and around the solent and IOW but my main ambition, when i'm more experienced, is the deep water a few miles SW of the NAB tower meaning I will be fishing in depths of around 30-40 metres. I have already bought a complete 220m reel of quality 12mm 3 strand Nylon (only 50p per metre!) which I was going to cut in 1/2 plus but my colleague who is a yottie thinks I'm off my head anchoring in water so deep in such a small boat!



Whats your thoughts guys and does anybody have any experience in fishing these areas??

Cheers,
James

Gosport

[A fluff chucker]

Hi James,

Welcome to the forum

The Predator is a good boat ! I have no experience of fishing the Solent but there is plenty of experience/info available amongst forum members and I'm sure somebody will be along soon.

Anchoring; I have a little experience.
Opinions of anchoring requirements are diverse; partly dependant whether the boat is displacement (most yachts and some fishing boats) or sat on the surface (ribs and your style of fast/planing fishing boat) but all opinions boil down to the following basics:

• A minimum of your boat length in chain; 1.5 boat length is better. For your boat 6mm dia. chain.
• A minimum of 3 times your anchor depth of rope;for your boat 12mm nylon is great; pleased to see you're not using polyprop for anchoring . If you start to drag due to strong tide current be prepared to let out up to 5 times the depth.
• The best anchor really depends on the sea bed. I believe the best 'all round anchor' is a genuine CQR. However if a sand/mud area a Bruce of 5 or 7.5 kilo will probably hold and has no moving parts to trap fingers.

Make sure your bow-roller has a removable drop nose pin across the top - to stop the rope jumping out of the roller whilst at anchor etc.

If you do cut your rope in half I suggest you splice thimbles on each rope end (easy to do with 3 strand) and then you can always shackle them together if a very long length is needed.

Hope this helps you.

[Solent Fisher]

Thanks for the welcome! This is a cracking Forum full of helpful people well into fishing like myself.

Cheers for the advice. I haven't got the boat yet, its being delivered next month. I spent a lot of time looking at boats like seahog and warrier etc. Hope i made the right choice!

That was a good idea about connecting them if I needed a longer length. I have a 7.5Kg Bruce at the moment which i will try first. I went for slightly larger 12mm as i was told its easier on the hands than 10mm.

My main concern is still the depth I can safely anchor in as I'm would like fish marks in the 30-40m range.

Also does anybody know of any good tope grounds in the region?

Cheers,
James

[duncan]

James,
the whole Nab area is a general tope ground and you will find great smoothhounds as well, both offshore and inshore.
There are a few small boat angling clubs in that area and I would realy suggest you join one for both finding fishing areas and support on the water.

I have never read as suscinct a response to an anchoring question as that given and would only make the following embellishments - if you are using a Bruce or copy (M claw etc) then I would use 8m of 8mm chain rather than 6mm. Overall you still have an easily managable package at a total of around 19kg and the extra weight in the chain will help hold the loads on the anchor along it's stock in deeper but calm water when anchored up for conger etc. It won't make much difference in anything lively as the snatch loads will pull either size pretty straight from time to time and, as stated, increasing the scope overall is the only solution then.
I really don't know why you would want to cut the warp in half at all. If you want some spare line to make up a few mooring lines and a towing line then pull of 30m maybe but otherwise I would keep it in one piece, coiled in a barrel with chain and anchor on top. Mark the warp at 10m intervals with some wool tell tales and be confident that you have the gear for the grounds you propose to fish. If you really really must split it up for some reason (???) then put soft eye splices in each and connect by interlocking them rather than a shackle and hard eyes. You will also want to splice the other end directly to your chain (and again 8mm chain will make this easier). Simple instructions can be found here
I get over south of the island in winter but will head west (from Poole) in the summer more often than not - but I may see you around.

[sanctuary]

Very good replies already but you might find this useful http://www.powerboat-training.co.uk/...anchoring1.htm
Also have a second Anchor set up with the best rope, chain and anchor as an emergency back up and only use it in emergency's. It may save your live one day.

[duncan]

An article very focused on general anchoring for pleasure Ribs really. Particularily loved the bit where first it states that a length of chain is there to make the anchor work at all (false per se - the other reason is the valid one) and then goes on to suggest a 2 - 5m length of it!

Safetly aspect however is, I agree, significant - and a good anchor set up is the fisrt piece of safety equipement that should be fitted to any boat. A second set up is important to - all the more so if you actually use your anchor each trip.

[A fluff chucker]

Originally Posted by duncan

An article very focused on general anchoring for pleasure Ribs really. Particularily loved the bit where first it states that a length of chain is there to make the anchor work at all (false per se - the other reason is the valid one) and then goes on to suggest a 2 - 5m length of it!

Safetly aspect however is, I agree, significant - and a good anchor set up is the fisrt piece of safety equipement that should be fitted to any boat. A second set up is important to - all the more so if you actually use your anchor each trip.

Well commented and spotted that the article is primarily for 'Ribs' and therefore not 100% relevant to our 'semi-displacement' boats - but I've had this discussion before SEE HERE

The longer & heavier the rode the better the anchor will hold the anchored vessel. I don't understand why peeps debate/argue the fact

[ChrisP]

Owned boats for 36 years now and one thing I have learnt is that no two people can agree on anchoring. I have allways owned fishing boats so cannot comment on Yachts and the techniques they use. I have read a lot on the subject and over the years of practical experience have tried various techniques, I have heard various lengths mentioned, 3 times depth for all chain, 5 times depth for rope and chain and 7 times for all rope. I have read and discussed the advantages of various anchor types and have come to a decision. Whatever combination of anchor/chain/rope works for you and gives you confidence stick with it.

What works for me is the lightest anchor I can use to hold me in my intended fishing spot. I fish Caenarfon Bay which has very little current so I can use a 5lb CQR with 30 foot of 1/4 chain and 12mm nylon rope, I let enough out to hold. If I fish in the Straits I use a 15lb CQR with 30 foot of 5/16 chain and 14 mm rope. I also carry a 25lb CQR with 3/8 chain and 16 mm rope. This one is my emergency anchor. If it gets used I know it will hold, it also gets used if I am out overnight as a matter of course.

On all 3 anchors I have about 500 foot of rope and the maximum depth in the bay is 100 foot. If the anchor is not holding I use the next size up. It is very rare that I let all the rope out, I let enough out to hold because I am lazy and have to pull it all back in.

All the anchors are set up to trip except the 25lb CQR.

This may be seen as overkill, it probably is not the best set up according to the books and other boat owners. The fact that all 3 anchors are CQR's is probably wrong but I have bruce, danforth, fishermens and others at home and have tried them all. The CQR works for me and I have confidence it will hold in the areas I fish, that is what matters to me, not what books say, after all they can only be generalisiations intended for guidance.

[A fluff chucker]

Originally Posted by ChrisP

Owned boats for 36 years now ................

Great write up Chris and I'd sure be happy anchored in your boat

It's amazing how experienced guys don't try to skimp on anchors and rope/chain lengths etc. and have it available; if needed.

I suppose those peeps argueing/debating will come to the same conclusions; eventually.

There's something about taking a horse to water ...................

[duncan]

your reference to arguing and debating is interesting.

part of the problem about forums is that many come for practical focused advise rather than a catch all response that would do credit to many of the excellent tomes on anchoring written over the last century!

Well commented and spotted that the article is primarily for 'Ribs' and therefore not 100% relevant to our 'semi-displacement' boats - but I've had this discussion before SEE HERE

I was highlighting the fact that it was general anchoring for pleasure ribs not that it wasn't relevant to semi displacement boats. Can't understand where that idea came from as James has stated he has a Predator 16ft which is about as akin to a rib in hull shape and performance as you can get! What is relevant is that most pleasure ribs don't set off to anchor in 100ft of water off the Nab and wish to save weight where possible.

The longer & heavier the rode the better the anchor will hold the anchored vessel. I don't understand why peeps debate/argue the fact

Please please highlight where you believe this to be the case (in this thread/my response).
In my previous post I had suggested 8mm chain rather than 6mm as it's easier to splice to and it's additional weight would work well with the Bruce and make the chain splice easier too.
(In practice I could argue your claim that this assertation is a fact as it makes no allowance to the need for elasticity in the rode (ie a straight substitution of all 6mm chain for an equvillent combined rode would be heavier but, especially in shallower water, is more prone to working the anchor out with small shock loads) but then we are off into a book again!) Generally I agree!!!

Re ChrisP's approach I agree the general approach of using a set up appropriate to the conditions (ease of handling in a small boat is also a significant safety factor), having spare equipement and having, if I read him right, a no compromise set handly too. Unfortunately I believe the degrees of experience necessary (local conditions, boat etc) to fine tune use that much are probably too great to recommend such an approach overall, as is the need for 3 different sets. Additionally anchoring a wreck requires absolute confidence in the gear holding first time or you are going to loose it - I am sure if he was doing such Chris would take this into account when selecting from his available gear. For the normal small boat angler 2 good equivilent sets
of gear, possibly one having a shorter length of warp being the spare/safety set (but still capable of holding away from local dangers at around 6 times scope). For James area (and most) these would be as already specced.

Personally my main gear is heavier than my spare, capable of being handled manually (just) but comfortably with a windlass. Even the spare is one size up from the manufactures recomendations.