how big of a anchor

Patrick, it would help to know what size & type boat you are using (johnboat, pontoon, etc), and what type bottom is on the river where you are fishing (hard, sandy, rocky?). Sounds like a large boat, considering all the anchors you have rigged. Is the 50# wt first on bottom? If so it may not allow the other anchors to grab, depending on what type anchors they are.

Patrick, also, what is the water depth and what is the length of anchor rope are you using?

Visit these links on the BOC. Hope they will help you.
pontoon anchoring

anchoring your boat

Patrick, I thought of a couple more things that may help. When I fish hard current, I use a super hooker with 6' of 5/16" chain and rope length equal to at least 3-4 times water depth. However, if you have a lot of stumps, logs, etc, it can be difficult to retrieve in heavy current. In that case I use something similar to a reef anchor, which will bend and pull loose if necessary.
reef anchor

We got a 18 ft basstracker and the way he/s been doing it is just basically throwing about a 100lbs off straight down and hoping the weight would hold it. Like i said earlier were new with a boat and don/t know what the hell were doing. I have a lot of experience fishing the mississippi and other rivers ,20 yrs at least ,but it/s all been bank fishing. This boat fishing is a lot different, in about 12 times out we have caught 1 cat about a 2 pounder ha ha .I know it/s just a matter of time before we get some monsters Anyway I think I got the anchor thing figured out thanks to you guys. We wasnt letting it dig in just hoping the weight would hold it down i/m a welder so i will be making one of those reef anchors. Thanks guys

Patrick, if you are making your own reef anchors, I suggest you put an eye on the 'anchor' end, attach your anchor line there, and run it along the shank, attaching at the other end with a couple of electical ty-wraps. This will allow you to break free and pull the anchor up backwards if the shank should hang under a log or something. That's the way most of us use them in the Santee Cooper lakes, where there are a lot of logs. Occasionally, I have to tie the rope to a cleat and pull loose with the engine, but I've never had to cut one of these style anchors loose. Good Luck!

i think your prob is your not letting out enough rope,try anchoring well ahead of the **** and let out a bunch of rope till your closer to the ****. try using 100 feet of rope. i think 100 pounds of anchor is more than enough.

100 pound anchor??? That's waaaay too much anchor! My anchor was designed by another member here (Coach) and works very well in the Mississippi. I've used it in strong current with little problem. It is very similar to the reef anchor shown above. The only difference is that my pieces of rebar are welded to the pipe rather than being passed through the pipe. I use a piece of chain about 1-2 feet long on the other end and then tie the rope. The rebar pieces are about 12 inches long and are 3/8 inch thick. It takes a good bit of pressure to bend them but they will bend and usually pull free. If you are fishing sandy or muddy bottoms, flat bar may work better than rebar. I'll try to find a link to pictures of my anchor.

Try this link. I'm not sure how to clean that up like in the old forum.


http://www.catfish1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1596&highlight=anchors

CATMAN, Geeze you must be a man 100 pound is way to much for me. I use an anchor like gofish(joe ware) uses. IT work very well for me . It is made like a grappling hook. See the pictures in the library(informative Post).

Like everyone else has stated 100 pounds is way way to much. You want the anchor to dig in. Not just held by weight alone.