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Anchoring at long reef - advice please!


anthman

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Hi all, @DerekD was kind enough to show me around long reef and I recall the drop off ridge line to be around 30-40m (can't remember tide situation, sorry!) . We saw a whole host of boats anchored and it got me thinking - how little rope can I get away with in good conditions? (It was 0.5m swell, <10knt winds on the day).

Using a reef anchor, i've got 50m rope + 15m handy, for 65m total. Being a reef anchor it's more about hooking into the right crevice rather than laying flat, right? Assuming a 40m depth, that's only 1.5x - doable? Or should I get 80m total?(3x depth seems like a lot of rope for my smallish boat).

My boat is a 4.72m tinny, btw.

Also, given the size of my boat, what's the minimum MM diameter rope that I could get away with? Having thinner rope might help manage larger quantities. Currently using 8mm silver rope.

Thank you all!

Edited by anthman
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You'll need at least 100m of line to anchor at this depth properly and with comfort to you physically and comfort knowing your going to hold. 

You could go less and add more chain but more line is better. 

 

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in 0.5 m swell and no wind- sure you can get away with the amount of rope youve got- I keep 200M on my boat (5.4m cc) all i do is splice an eyelet into the ends of the ropes and use shackles to join them when needed. In tide vs wind and more breeze you will quickly lose grip with minimal rope out- plus in an emergency more is better.

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Thanks guys. So I need more rope. What's the minimum diameter you would use? I'll be retrieving by hand, so is 8mm the thinnest you would use? (Balance between strength, storage and handling).

 

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2 minutes ago, PaddyT said:

this-and a small sea anchor

All good ideas, am thinking for snapper fishing so prob would have to anchor down to keep the Burley trail constant. Do any of you Burley whilst on the slow drift?

 

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I personally have a lot more success on Snapper by anchoring on structure,  even though nothing shows on the sounder (I prefer if nothing "shows") using a light constant burley trail made up of the same bait I am using, pretty simple fishing that has been going on for years, and works.

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1 hour ago, noelm said:

I personally have a lot more success on Snapper by anchoring on structure,  even though nothing shows on the sounder (I prefer if nothing "shows") using a light constant burley trail made up of the same bait I am using, pretty simple fishing that has been going on for years, and works.

I was thinking of the ridge line drop off at long reef as the "structure" I would sit on. What do you reckon?

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3 hours ago, rickmarlin62 said:

Buy a ball and clip  its so much easier

Having never done this before but watched some videos, is this the right process ?

1. Situation: boat anchored with 100m of rode, 40m deep, reef anchor with zip tie breakaway. Tied to bow. Currently pointing to anchor .

2. Leave rope tide to bow, clip on ball and drive 45° to one side of the anchor rope. For example, turn 45° port so the anchor rope is now on the starboard side, starting to hang loose.

3. Maintain careful course (maybe 6-8knts), to keep the rope out of the prop, and continue until the rope starts from the bow to the starboard stern side of the boat (e.g. 75° towards starboard side, from the bow).

4. Maintain course until the ball has gone under water and "popped" the anchor out.

5. Keep driving until the rope runs along the surface/ball is visibly floating.

6. Turn and slowly head towards the floating ball whilst retrieving rope.

Is that right? Also which size ball for a 4.72m would work?

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Just drive round the ball by a couple of feet then straighten up and travel virtually straight over anchor  otherwise your not pulling anchor straight out opposite the way it hooked in     if you deviate out at 45 deg you will get caught up on reef to the side of your anchor

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Hi

 

I use "Telstra" rope and chain for my reef anchor. We use it to anchor in 50 metres. It is 6mm and means if I get really stuck, it doesn't cost so much to replace.  You get about 400 metres for  $65.  I have to rebend the prongs after I pull it up and I use a float and a clip to raise it up as described above. My boat is a 5.8m plate.  I've also anchored in 100 metres in my old FG boat with the same setup.

One other thing that I have done is to attach the chain to the bottom of the anchor and then cable tie it to the top, so if it doesn't get stuck, the cable tie will break and the anchor will come out backwards. You just have to remember to keep spare ties on board

 

 

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Thank you everyone. I'm gonna use my existing 50m + 40m I have already to anchor. Have also purchased a 300mm anchor retriever set (300mm styrene float ball, nylon rope, solid metal hoop). 

@rickmarlin62 based on your instructions, it sounds like you start taking parallel to the anchor rope, towards the anchor. Then you go past the anchor (so the rope now starts to travel in the opposite direction to which it was laying out when holding the boat) and keep driving till the anchor pulls?

If this is correct (please let me know), what if there is a boat anchored Infront of you? Is it ok /safe to take it at a 90degree angle instead to not only avoid driving close to the other boat but to also have anchor not catch on them/their own anchor rope.

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The whole idea of the ball pulling the anchor up is by pulling it out in the opposite direction  you are correct in driving past anchor and keep going till ball bounces on the surface   if using a solid ring instead of a grab clip   feed a doubled over peice of coat hanger wire or similar into rope sticking out 4 inches or so on an angle facing towards anchor for the ring to catch on and hold near surface

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14 minutes ago, rickmarlin62 said:

The whole idea of the ball pulling the anchor up is by pulling it out in the opposite direction  you are correct in driving past anchor and keep going till ball bounces on the surface   if using a solid ring instead of a grab clip   feed a doubled over peice of coat hanger wire or similar into rope sticking out 4 inches or so on an angle facing towards anchor for the ring to catch on and hold near surface

Thanks, I thought the metal loop was meant to "catch" the anchor and "carry" it to the surface - in the case of a reef anchor, having the main shaft pass through the solid circle and then prongs sticking over the outside.

The coat hanger idea sounds like a good one of the anchor slips out of the solid ring, is that your experience?

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On ‎6‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 11:37 AM, PaddyT said:

this-and a small sea anchor

I think it depends on the type of sea anchor but I have a model designed for a 20ft vessel on my 13ft tinny & it struggles to do much in 15kph winds.

I am temped to go double but I think if it did as it was supposed to do & I was standing the sudden jerk could throw me out of the tinny.

One of the electric motors makes sense but I suspect it wont hold a larger boat in moderate winds?

Both together would be pretty effective I recon.

Edited by kingie chaser
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15 hours ago, kingie chaser said:

I think it depends on the type of sea anchor but I have a model designed for a 20ft vessel on my 13ft tinny & it struggles to do much in 15kph winds.

I am temped to go double but I think if it did as it was supposed to do & I was standing the sudden jerk could throw me out of the tinny.

One of the electric motors makes sense but I suspect it wont hold a larger boat in moderate winds?

Both together would be pretty effective I recon.

the whole point of the sea anchor is to straigten the boat up while you have current vs wind- if you are drifting , you will drift with the current and if you are at anchor hang it out the back and you will face downcurrent- which is really important when berleying for snapper, i also use this method if i chase jews on bait in the river.

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24 minutes ago, PaddyT said:

the whole point of the sea anchor is to straigten the boat up while you have current vs wind- if you are drifting , you will drift with the current and if you are at anchor hang it out the back and you will face downcurrent- which is really important when berleying for snapper, i also use this method if i chase jews on bait in the river.

There you go then, I always thought they were used to slow your drift!

The straightening just being the result of the effect of the shute

Edited by kingie chaser
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54 minutes ago, kingie chaser said:

There you go then, I always thought they were used to slow your drift!

I'm pretty sure sea anchors are designed to do both...slow the drift and straighten up the boat. I use my sea anchor on almost every trip and I can tell you with absolute certainty that it slows my drift down.

Edited by GoingFishing
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