How many people with drift boats drag anchors?

Bad, BAD thing to do, IMO. I'm sure plenty of folks will tell us why, too.

BTW: H2H, "shoot" should be "shot"..

But, if they weren't shot, I would be glad to shoot them!

Mike

How about a button for "rarely" or "almost never?"

I'm with Stam. Not on purpose.

Ditto. It's hard to stop the boat sometimes.

Ditto-It happens. I try my best but an anchor doesn't just stick when it hits the bottom.

You all probably know this, but you aren't supposed to use the anchor to stop the boat! Stop the boat with the oars, then settle back slowly to let the anchor catch.

I've heard of dragging a chain or something like a chain, to slow down your downriver speed so that you move at less than the speed of the river...is this basically what you mean by "dragging anchor"? If so, it seems to make sense, but there seems to be some serious reasons why folks don't do it...I'd be interested in knowing the pros/cons, but mostly just what you mean also.

Seplilng has never been my srtnog point.

I watched a guide doing this today.

If I only had a spud gun!

I'm with robj on this one. my buddy taught me to use a chain to slow down and keep direction. this is on the gentle sky however. maybe more danger on other rivers?

I would never do this for two reasons:

1) That chain (or anchor) can hang, giving you and your passengers whiplash..on top of that considering that you could sink your boat it isn't worth the risk IMO.

2) More importantly, this time of year there are plenty of steelhead already spawning...ever consider that your dragging that chain right through their redds?

Not intending to be critical, but I think these are very vaild reasons not to drag something along behind, especially reason #2.

I think all of us are guilty of the anchor dragging a foot or two after being dropped...but that is not a long, contigious drag right through the area.

Mis Dos Centavos..

Mike

Well, that is why I wanted pros and cons....but, still not sure if that is what was originally meant about dragging an anchor?????

As far as the specific reasons you mention...1. I learned the hard way about dropping anchor in fast water....in my case, it was intentional, but I still can't remember why...cut that rope pretty dang quick. But I think in some very slow runs, the risk of whiplash is pretty non-existent, and I believe those who drag chains, do so knowing they will occassionally lose one. I don't think it would be wise to just keep the chain dragging in all types of waters.

As far as #2, if the waters you are in are prone to being used for redds, I would agree....but most steelhead don't spawn in the larger waters, so I think the key is selective use.

But don't get me wrong....I am definitely not advocating...just trying to get clarification of something I had once heard, and still wondering what the original post meant about dragging anchor...heck, I haven't even gotten the new (ok, old, but new to me) drift boat onto steelie waters yet....hoping for this weekend tho.

Rob

Dragging anything means altering the habitat.

Personally I prefer to do as little damage to it as possible while still enjoying the resource.

In the salt, there is a movement to not anchor in the eel grass beds for the same reason.

No use in tearing up more thatn we already have. Just anchor in deeper water!

Port Townsend has a no anchor zone now along the waterfront. You're "Asked" to anchor a little furhter out to protect the eel grass beds.

Jeff the eel grass is important herring spawning habitat not much of it left in puget sound thats why they don't want it torn up with anchors.

Isn't any boat dragging it's anchor, a drift boat?

Today I watched a sled dragging a anchor.

He made a number (4) of drifts that I saw.

Two of the areas were spwaning area!

Idiot fishermen =

I do know there are 5 Gamies working the river right now...not sure of the legality of anchor dragging.

Mike

I'm not the sharpest knife in the draw and have done some stupid things in my life but in 27 years of using a drift boat I've never used the anchor to slow down while fishing or going thru fast water.

Anyone who does has no understanding of safety or fishing ethics.

Clanking and banging something along behind the boat doesn't sound very tactical to me, even if it wasn't damaging anything...

I have dropped the anchor in faster water that it could hold me in once...and my eyes got real big ! Didn't like that feeling at all...