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New kayak fishing anchor

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Monday, 01 October 2007

Multi-tasking anchor system

New anchor rig

While kayak fishing at Gatakers Bay (Hervey Bay) with a strong northerly and incoming tide, my anchor rope was inadvertently severed after being shorn off on what was obviously a sharp reef edge. It brought a quick end to what would have otherwise likely been a productive trip (the fish were just coming on the bite at the time).

The lesson was learned, however, which was that the business end of an anchor rope really needs to be tougher than the kind I was using (5mm polyester). I didn't waste any time making good on my mistake, stopping in at a hardware store on the way back to camp. Not only did I replace the polyester rope with a nylon variant (they make fishing line out of that stuff for a reason) I also picked up 5 meters of nylon coated 7-strand wire. This is now my anchor tracer line, which I'm pretty confident will stand up to the kinds of conditions that annihilated my previous anchor rope at Gatakers Bay.

5kg dumbell, 7-strand wire nylon coated cord & 15 meters braided nylon main line

As you can see from the photo, I'm using a 5kg dumbell for an anchor weight. 5kg seems to be enough to hold the kayak in place in almost any conditions, and is also less likely to get snagged on reef than a typical anchor. Best of all, I get to use it for a multitude of exersizes - everything from arm curls to shoulder presses.

Because I do use the dumbell for it's intended purpose as well an an anchor weight, it made sense to use a galvanized bolt in securing system to hold it in place. Not only is it more reliable than any knot I can imagine tying, it makes it really easy to remove the anchor line so I can use it for a workout. I'm employing the albright knot to attach it to the main anchor line, which seems to hold steady nicely. Its also really very easy to untie, which suits my multitasking purposes nicely.