Bottom fishing
can be an expensive venture if you are not careful with your ground tackle. Here
is a great way to keep from losing all that expensive hardware. It is called
“Tripping” your anchor. Let me say this first, this method of
anchoring is for fishing only. This is NOT for anchoring in emergency situations.
When you
are out fishing and your anchor gets “Hung” about the only thing you
can do is pull around it and hope you get it back. This is because the
anchor is being pulled by the shank. You can easily bend, break or lose
your ground tackle in this situation. In order to keep from losing it,
you should set it up so when the anchor gets hung you can pull it by the crown
instead. How? By “Tripping” it.
First drill
a hole in the crown of your anchor. Then take your chain (You are using
chain right? ) and use a shackle to attach it to the hole you made in the crown. Now
take the chain and run it up the length of the shank. Leave enough loose
chain so the flukes can move freely throughout their entire range but not enough
that it can tangle or get in the way of the anchor setting. Now take a
stiff wire coat hanger and attach the chain to the top of the shank. Here
is where you will have to experiment a little. Try to use just enough wraps
to hold you anytime that the anchor is not “Hung”. You want the
clothes hanger connection to be the “weak link” in the setup.
For example
I use 3 wraps on my 25 Aquasport, 6 wraps on the 54 foot “Gypsy” and
10 wraps on the 65 foot headboat “Captain Hook”.
Here is how
it works. Your anchor has slid all the way into the ledge you were trying
to fish on. You go to pull it up but the anchor is “Hung”. Well
it is real easy to get it back. You pull forward on the rode, just like
you were using an anchor ball, in an arch. Once you are in front of the
anchor, line the boat up straight on the rode and slowly apply engine pressure. The
clothes hanger wraps break and now you are pulling the anchor from the bottom
by the crown and out it comes. It takes about 5 minutes to put a few new
wraps on and away you go to catch that next grouper. Thanks to your “Tripped”
Anchor you still have all that expensive ground tackle and rode.
Tight Lines and Slight
Seas
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