[Spot shooter]

My Lund has cleats 4 feet back from the front of the boat which made us think about how we should get the front anchored.

After a bit of research one old salt said —- If you put a cleat up high on your gunnel in the front it will pull you boat down and your keel will grab more current so the wind and the water will screw with you and move the boat.

However, if you get a 4 foot rope with large snaps on it, you can attach to your D ring up front, and snap it over your anchor line, THEN use that cleat that is back 4 feet. The lower anchor point won’t pull the boat down so much, and you get everything you wanted in terms of the anchor point being the keel.

Crap - don’t you hate it when you are about to buy new cleats and some old dog teaches ya a new trick... Good googly moogly !

I’m gonna try it.. I may also put a knot or something in my anchor line so it comes up before the anchor does, or just make it long enough to get the anchor in with it on.

 

[BBK]

You will need to anchor a deep v off the bow eye or it will sway back and forth in current. I just use a very large carabiner clip. Make sure its big enough that the rope slides freely through it for safety reasons.

 

[SteveMcK]

I just put a carabiner on the front eye and clip my rope thru it after the anchor is deployed then tie it off at the cleat.

 

[CaptainBrad]

You guys make this way more difficult than it needs to be. Put a simple cleat as pictured on front tip of the bow and run the rope through it. Quick and easy to use and keeps the boat straight.

 

[BBK]

I have a front step on the bow next to the trolling motor, for getting out of a deep v without tripping on the high sides. Putting a cleat there would be a tripping hazard, plus then Id have to have my rope rubbing my trolling motor. Not making it more difficult, just working with what we have.

 

[BBK]

Spot shooter, with your 4 foot rope idea and snap, the snap will just slip on the rope and your boat will sit at an angle perpendicular to the current. You need the anchor rope to be pulled over to the bow eye, no “leader line”, just a big ol clip. By the way i have the exact setup as you, you can bypass the clip it you run dual anchors also. Sometimes we have to run dual 20’s or dual 38’s on the Miss. we cant use grabber anchors on some spots or you would never get them back, cant pull them out upriver in a 5-10mph current for safety reasons.

 

[Spot shooter]

That is what I’m going to do.

I put a large alum. Caribiner on the end of a dock rope that has a loop in it, and I’ll put a quick cleat up front for the other end of it.
I’ll leave it looped up so when I drop the anchor off the side you just clip the caribiner on, drop the anchor and then pull that caribiner rope in the quick cleat so the anchor point is right on that front D ring.

Lunds have a super smooth ride - this should make it even better when I’m anchored in 1-2 foot waves... not that it’s bad now but this would even be better.

 

[BBK]

I am having trouble envisioning what you want to do. But you keep speaking of dock lines, if you do not have this anchor rope attached to a fixed point (bow eye or cleat on bow point), it won't work. The anchor point won't be dead center and current will want to kick your keel off to the side and the boat will shoot off to the side. Especially with a dock line, they stretch way too much. I've attached a quick drawing to illustrate what I mean. A is how the boat needs to be anchored, B is how I think you want your line to be, but C is what will happen when the current catches your boat with the "leader" line. With these deep V's, they don't ride up on top the water like a flatbottom boat, they have a big protruding keel that has to cut through the water. If the boat isn't pointing dead center straight into the current, it will walk to the side and present a safety hazard and make it very hard to fish.

 

[Spot shooter]

Look at your picture B.

BUT... have a rope from my hands running through the keel D ring over to the Anchor rope just like in picture B.

Then I pull the rope with my hands and it pulls the anchor line right up to that D ring on the Keel... NOW we have what you see in Picture A.... Savy.

So basically I’m using a line through the D to pull the anchor rope to it, and when I want to release it I just let it loose and the anchor line will go back to the B picture geometry, so I can pull the anchor up without trying to screw around up at the front of the bow.

 

[BBK]

Oh okay, i see what you mean. That should work. Just remember to clip up the rope after you deploy your anchor, you dont want a knot or twist to catch. If you plan to fish fast water, be sure to either have a way to release your clip rope and let the line free or leave the end of your anchor line straight (no knot or loop) so you can unhook the rope and toss it if you need to in an emergency. I have a clip with an old boat bumper in the boat, they are called “long line clips”. They allow you to clip something to your main line in a half a second. If i have to toss the anchors in an emergency, i will clip that buoy to the line past the clip, then theoretically my rope will float and i can go back and get it. Havent needed it yet, but its there. An anchor buoy (ball) will do the same thing, some guys clip them to their lines in front of their boats while fishing here so they can toss and go. I’m too lazy to do that every time.