I plan to fish the Columbia for Springers this year in my 18' Super Vee LT. What would you recomend for an anchor system?

Thanks!
SA

28 lb rocking chair style anchor, four feet of chain, rigged as breakaway, 200 feet of 1/2 inch rope, anchor buoy with slider. The slider is optional, but nice.

This assumes that you're salmon fishing. Sturgeon requires more rope if you're in the deep holes, and maybe a bigger buoy.

All can be had at GI Joes.

I use the above to anchor a 19 foot windshield sled. In addition to the anchor, you will want two sea anchors rigged to hang from your stern corners, which I got at Boater's world.

In the lower C below I-5 any kind of anchor will do for springers, I anchor my 16 foot smokercraft with 45 lbs of chain like I do in any river. It's only in that oversize sturgeon water upriver that you need the fancy anchor system. For springers you never need to fish in over 20 feet of water and you avoid the fast stuff, as the fish travel along the shoreline and avoid the fast stuff themselves. So no sweat, whatever sled anchor you have will do fine.

The setup that Silver Hilton describes is exactly the system that my brother uses, and most of the boats in the Vancouver area use when they are fishing the Columbia.

I also use that method when anchoring in the current in my personal boat in any of the PS rivers, minus the anchor buoy, since the water is not as deep.

Is there a website or somewhere I can go to learn what a "hogline" is? I don't want to go down there and be a gomer.

WRT the two sea anchors off the stern, how do you keep from getting wrapped up in them when you have a fish on?

There's nothing to be worried about with the hoglines. It's the polite thing to do, actually, and will teach you things about where the fishing are coming through, as well as tactics. The fishing is easier if people are lined up, rather than spread around, as when you get a fish on, you have room to fight the fish. Don't anchor just below a line, unless you want to meet people under unfavorable conditions. 150 yards is about right for the spacing.

Just pull the sea anchors in before the fish gets close to the boat. I do this after we've drifted out, as it helps the boat get downstream of the line quickly, especially if there is an upstream wind.

To anchor safely into a hog line, pull up next to the boat you're going to anchor next to, and get your boat parallel to him. Note a point upstream directly ahead of your bow, and motor towards that point. About 10 boats length upstream, drop your anchor off the side away from your neighbor to be. Let the rope slide through your fingers, keeping a bit of tension, until you feel the anchor hit. Steer the bow a bit out from the line below, put the boat in neutral, and let the current pull the line from your hands. Don't let a lot of line belly into the current - make the current pull you downstream.

When you get close to the line, slow your boat with the motor and tighten on the line. Kick it into neutral and hold for a second, and see how the boat settles on the anchor. If it's the right spot, ease out the rest of the line until you're in your spot.

The key etiquette point in the hogline is how close you are to boats beside you and above you. A lot of folks are *****ly about somebody's boat beling right next to them. Look at the gap that is already there, and aim for at least that much, until you get to know people. I'm personally fine with 10 feet, but some folks get nervous with less than 30. If you settle in close, pull up the rope manually until you get to the anchor, lift 10 more feet of rope manuallly, steer the boat a boat length further out, and drop it again.

Keep the line under tension, the engine running, and the bow angled away as you're bakcing down, and you'll be fine.

On the Columbia, on our 20' boat, a 25lb. anchor only held maybe 75% of the time....a real pain! But when we went to 40lb. anchor we hardly moved an INCH in 5 days!!

FYI: In crowded conditions, you probably gotta pull it up by HAND, and not "pull it with the motor" like you can with no one around.

Pacific Indusrial supply is a cheaper palce to buy Anchors,chains ,line ,Bouys , trailer /boat stuff etc.

http://www.pacificindustrial.com/

In these anchors, the weight isn't the important variable. The relevant dimension is the width and length of the rocker arms. The 28 lb'r in GI Joes is big enough for many boats. I can measure the tines if anyone needs a specific size to check. You want to use as light an anchor as possible, or getting it back into the boat at the end of the day can be hazardous to your paint.

28#? 40#? Why so heavy?

What about a 15# "Bruce" or "Danforth" style? I can stick a 7# Bruce 50' deep in Puget Sound and have it hold fast in a 1+ kt tide current. What is it about the bottom conditions on the Columbia that calls for a special anchor?

I use a 14lb Delta Fast-Set with about 30' of chain for my SeaSport 24 (6000#+) and stick without a problem anywhere in the lower river below Bonneville. For a sure set I use the rule of thumb that you need chain equal to at least half the length of your boat. I use a windlass, so I have 30' of chain to make sure the anchor is laying flat. If I was pulling by hand, I'd probably go with 12-15' of chain for my boat. I used a 24 lb rocker anchor with about 12' of chain in my 19' sled and never had a problem anywhere.

People don't use Danforths in the Columbia because in many of the gravel bars a Danforth style just plows, due to the large size of rock. Danforths are made for mud and sand. In many of the interesting areas of the columbia, the bottom is egg size rock or larger. The bottom in the lower river is sandier, so they would probably work there. Dunno, haven't tried, mine works. The reputed problems may well be due to people using too small a Danforth for all I know. The above mentioned approach is very reliable and the standard method by the regulars. Probably lots of other ways to catch mice, too.

I see a lot of guys recommend lots of chain. A chain leader certainly won't hurt, but, boy, is it heavy... What's the point of trying to use a lighter anchor if you have to use 50 lbs of chain to make it stick?

The only reason I have chain is to provide the breakaway link. I think a lot of chain is perhaps a substitute for lots of rope. Rope is cheaper, doesn't rust, and is easier to pull in.

Best way to find out what to use is to peek in the front of the guide boats.

Lots of chain keeps the anchor pulling parallel to the bottom, to get it to hook up. Rope just lofts up at an angle and pulls the flukes up with it.

The idea of a Danforth or Bruce is to auger DOWN into the bottom, and bury itself. If the flukes aren't running parallel to the bottom while you're trying to hook up, it will just skate across the bottom.

I can see your point about gravel or egg-size rock bottom -- I guess in this case you just need mass.

I suspect that's what it is. With the Danforth and other plowing style anchors, you need that absolutely level angle of attack. With the rockers, it's not as necessary. I've used the rockers with essentially nothing but rope. If you've got an anchor hoist, no problem with that level of chain. My anchor hoist is an aching 45 year old body, so I try to minimise total lift.

Someone raised the 7:1 angle issue. I think that's more than is needed. I generally do well if I have a 4 or 5 to 1 ratio of rope out.

A big advantage of using lots of chain is it allows you to use less rode to anchor. Using a good length of chain will allow you to pin at 2 or 3:1 when fishing shallow for springers. Much easier when joining a hog line if you are only 3 or 4 boat lengths out than if you are 10 or 12, especially in March and April when so many boats are lined up.

The longer the chain, the bigger the wake or swell you can take without having your bow lift the anchor. Long chain at 3:1 will keep you pinned when the 45' cruiser or the tug without a barge plows by. With little or no chain, you'd have to let out more rode to survive the bounce from some of those wavemakers.

Is there a diagram of how the anchor rope and buoy are set up to throw and how the slide is kept on, without getting in the way of the anchor lift. Seeing is so much easier than trying to imagine, Great info, Thank you guys.

For the marker buoy setup, check out this website:

http://www.camdenboatworks.com/anchorbuoy.php

You can also just do a search for "anchor buoy".

For the buoy that goes near the end of the rode, rig a fender with a SS carabiner. Drop the anchor and drift downstream paying out line. When you get close to where you are going to tie off, but 20' prior, tie off the anchor rode temporarily on a bow cleat. Put a loop in the slack part of the rode up close to the cleat:

http://www.ozultimate.com/canyoning/knots/alpine_butterfly/

Now clip the fender into this loop, and release the rode from the cleat. Finally, make your terminal tie-off whatever way you were going to originally, preferably in such a way as to allow a quick getaway. Your two buoys will now mark the location of your anchor as well as the end of your rode.

When you are ready to get back on the anchor, motor up to the downstream buoy (mind the extra 20' of line and the propeller), retrieve the rode, and tie back up. No sweat

That Chain Always Sounds Great against the side of boats

Here's another trick to keep your boat straight, hang a couple buckets out the stern rather than using stern anchors. They don't tangle with the fish and work just as well when the current is running, if the current is not running hard enough you should be trolling rather than plunking anyway if you want to maximize catch per effort.

Me, I like a heavy anchor that holds me right there, right now, none of this guessing where to set the anchor to wind up with the right amount of scope in the right place in line. My rig has an open top bow pully with a jam cleat on it, so I can throw the anchor line over the side with my buoy as soon as I get a fish on if I want to - which I recommend doing if you have lots of neighbors, gets your fish away from their gear and lets them keep fishing - wish more people would do that for me