Anchor retrieval is the skill of getting your anchor back aboard quickly and safely by using the boat and the angle of pull rather than brute strength, so a stuck or buried anchor comes free without wrecking your back or your day. In this How 2 Tuesday I break down the simple techniques I use to retrieve an anchor every time, from motoring up over it to using the boat's momentum to break it loose, so you spend your time fishing instead of fighting the anchor line. Press play above and follow along.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
The easiest way is to let the boat do the work instead of pulling with your arms and back. You motor up over the anchor so the line goes straight up and down, then use the change in angle to break it free from the bottom. Pulling at a low angle from the bow drives the anchor deeper, while a vertical pull lifts it the way it was designed to release. Position the boat first, then retrieve, and most anchors come up with very little effort.
You idle the boat forward toward the anchor while someone takes up the slack in the line, keeping it from fouling the prop. As you move up and over the spot where the anchor is set, the line goes from a long, low angle to straight up and down. That vertical position is what lets the anchor release cleanly. Going slow and communicating with whoever is handling the line keeps it safe and keeps the line clear of the engine.
If it is buried deep or snagged on structure, you use the boat's momentum and the changing angle of pull to work it loose. By positioning over it and applying steady, vertical pressure, often with a short bump of the boat, you reverse the direction the anchor dug in, which breaks the hold. The key is changing the angle, not just pulling harder, since a buried anchor is designed to resist a straight backward pull but releases when you lift it the other way.
Pulling by hand at a low angle does two bad things: it can drive the anchor deeper as it digs in against your pull, and it puts a lot of strain on your back for very little result. It is one of the most common ways people hurt themselves on a boat. Using the boat to get directly over the anchor turns a heavy, awkward pull into an easy lift, which is safer for you and easier on the gear.
Yes, current and wind change how the line lies and where the boat sits relative to the anchor. You have to account for them when you position the boat, approaching so that wind and current help hold you over the anchor rather than pushing you off it. The principle stays the same, get over the anchor for a vertical pull, but you adjust your approach so the elements work with you instead of against you while you retrieve.
Keep someone managing the line the whole time, taking up slack as the boat moves forward so there is never a loop of loose line near the stern. Move slowly and stay aware of where the line is relative to the engine. If the line ever goes slack and drifts toward the prop, pause, clear it, and reposition. Good communication between the person driving and the person handling the line is what keeps it out of the prop.
Fighting an anchor is one of those small skills that quietly eats up a day and hurts a lot of people's backs. Once you learn to let the boat do the work, it stops being a chore. The whole thing comes down to angle, get over the anchor and pull it straight up. I walk through how I set up that pull in the episode, so press play in the player above.
The biggest mistake I see is someone standing on the bow heaving on the line at a low angle, which only digs the anchor deeper. Motoring up and over the anchor first changes everything, turning a brutal pull into an easy lift. I explain how to position the boat and time the retrieve in the episode, so press play in the player above.
When the anchor is really stuck, the answer is still angle, not muscle. Reversing the direction of pull with the boat breaks the hold that a straight backward pull never will. And through all of it you have to keep the line clear of the prop. I cover how to do that safely in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Here is the sequence I use to get an anchor up easily every time. I demonstrate the timing in the audio.
I walk through each of these in the episode. Press play in the player above and follow along.
Anchor retrieval is not glamorous, but doing it well saves your back and keeps you fishing instead of wrestling a line. The trick is always the same, change the angle and let the boat lift the anchor for you.
Practice positioning the boat over your anchor a few times in calm conditions and it becomes automatic. Then a buried anchor in wind and current is just another easy pull. Press play in the player above.
anchor retrieval · anchoring · boat handling · anchor line · prop safety · current · wind · seamanship · How 2 Tuesday · Saltwater Experience
How 2 Tuesday is my weekly series where I break down one fishing skill at a time, from knots and casting to gear, tactics, and the habits that make you a better angler. Watch and listen to every How 2 Tuesday episode from Tom Rowland.
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's How 2 Tuesday series I break down one practical skill or lesson at a time, from fishing technique and gear to the habits that make you a better angler, in short, focused episodes you can put to use right away.
Tom Rowland Podcast — Episode 78: Anchor Retrieval, How to Get Your Anchor Up Easily Every Time
In this episode: the anchor line twist tip from captain jake perry, how a welded ring and poly ball pull the anchor to the surface, why you are not lifting the anchor from 250 feet of water, where the twists come from on the way up, the anchor swivel between line and chain, stainless versus galvanized and picking one strong enough — in the exact words spoken.
Tom Rowland: Hey, everybody. Welcome to How-To Tuesday this week. A lot of times when I'm filming Into the Blue, I'm sitting on the anchor, um, and w- waiting for something to happen. A lot of times that time is being spent with some of the other crew members, one of which being Jason Stemple, another being Captain Jake Perry.
Tom Rowland: Jake Perry is a firefighter, career firefighter, as well as a charter guide, and we, on the last trip, we spent a lot of time talking about different things that we could incorporate into this show. One of the, one of them that I took note of was how to eliminate twist from your anchor line, and some people might not experience this because you're using a certain type of anchor, and you're only anchoring in a certain depth of water.
That's kinda how it is with me on the bay boat or the skiff. I don't get a lot of twist in the anchor line because I'm anchoring in, uh, shallow water for the most part, and, and, and it just doesn't have time to get severely twisted. But one of the things that happens when you're fishing offshore in the Florida Keys, we use an anchor retrieval ball, and if you don't know what that is, the way that works, it's also pretty cool.
Tom Rowland: We should probably do a How-To Tuesday on the anchor ball. But let's just say you get set up in a couple hundred feet of water, and you have, you know, several hundred feet of anchor line out there as scope And so it would be very difficult to get right over the top of that anchor and then just start pulling.
Tom Rowland: You're gonna be pulling the anchor from the bottom up to the top. It would be, it'd be a lot of work. So some smart person a long time ago figured out that if you took a big welded ring and you clipped a poly ball onto it with a short piece of line, that if you just drove kind of back to the anchor and over the top of the anchor and kept going, that you could use the flotation of that ball and the large welded ring to allow the line to slip right through there, and you would be pulling at almost a right angle as the ball floats at the surface, and you're pulling away from the anchor.
You're actually pulling the anchor right up to the poly ball. And the chain goes through the ring, and it just sits there right on the surface. So then once you see that the anchor is all the way up, you simply turn around and, uh, start pulling in the line, and you're just pulling in line across the surface of the water.
You're not pulling the weight of the anchor from 250 feet of water. Much, much, much easier. It makes it really, um, certainly not effortless, but it makes it a lot easier than, than trying to pull up an anchor off the bottom or having to use a windlass or something like that. So the poly ball anchor retrieval ball is a very common thing in the Florida Keys.
Tom Rowland: You might be able to use it in your area if you're not currently using it already. But one of the things that happens as that anchor is both being dropped to the bottom sometimes, but definitely on the way up It's twisting and turning, and those twists and turns will go into the anchor line itself. And the more it gets twisted, just like your fishing line, it, it starts to behave badly.
Tom Rowland: It starts to want to knot. It starts to get twisted, and, uh, it, it just doesn't lay properly in the anchor hatch. So twists are kind of a problem, and, you know, you've either got it attached permanently or, or it's kind of a pain to take the, take the anchor off and try to get these twists out. So what Jake had done is put in an anchor swivel, and you put this between the anchor line and the anchor chain, and it will drastically reduce those twists that you're getting when you're pulling up the, the, uh, anchor using an anchor retrieval ball.
And I'm looking online right now, and I'm seeing them advertised for anywhere from $2.85 to well over $100. And obviously, that goes into, uh, the quality, the strength, the, uh, material that it's made out of. Um, some of these are stainless steel. Some of them are galvanized. Makes a big difference. But you obviously want to pick the one that works for your size boat, the anchor that you have.
Make sure that it's plenty strong. And, uh, if you put this into your system, you'll see that it will drastically reduce the twists in your anchor line, making, making, uh, the line behave a little better on the deck and behave a little better in the hatch. So, uh, thought that was a really good tip from Jake.
Tom Rowland: And also, if you don't know about the anchor retrieval ball, we will, uh, put that in the show notes as well, and you can check that out. And maybe if you're not in the Florida Keys or if you're not using that in the Florida Keys, you should be. But if you're not using that in your area, maybe it's something that you could incorporate to make that anchor retrieval much, much easier.
All right. That's How To Tuesday for today. If you like this show, send me an email, podcast@saltwaterexperience.com. I get so many of those emails. I like it very much to get your suggestions on further shows. That's awesome. Also, if you like it, we've been getting a lot of ratings and reviews on iTunes. That helps greatly.
You could go to iTunes and give a five-star rating and review. That would be awesome. And until next week, we'll see ya
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