Setting up your anchor means matching the anchor type, chain length, and line to your boat so it holds when you drop it and releases fast when you hook a running fish. In this How 2 Tuesday I walk through the anchor systems I run on my three Yellowfins, a 17 skiff, a 24 bay boat, and a 36 offshore boat. The recipe is the same idea scaled up: a plow or rock anchor for the bottom you fish, chain roughly the length of the boat, and a manageable anchor line that clips to longer sections so you can deploy an anchor ball and leave the rig to chase a tarpon or sailfish. I also cover the breakaway rig and the safety mistakes that sink boats.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
Build it as a system. Pick an anchor that suits your bottom, often a plow style, and carry a rock anchor too if you fish rocky areas. Use chain roughly the length of your boat, since more chain lets you get away with a lighter anchor. Then run a manageable utility line, about twice your typical depth, that clips to longer sections. Finish with an anchor ball so you can untie, clip on the ball, and leave the rig to chase a fish.
A good rule of thumb is roughly the length of your boat. On a seventeen-foot skiff I use about twelve to seventeen feet of chain, on the bay boat about twenty to twenty-five, and on the thirty-six about thirty to thirty-six feet. More chain helps the anchor lie flat and bite, so you can run a lighter anchor and still hold. I do not mind pulling a slightly heavier anchor if it means it sets the first time and rarely slips.
Because you do not want a thousand feet of line piled in the boat when you hook a fish you have to chase. Run a manageable utility line, say fifty to sixty feet on the skiff or eighty to a hundred on the bay boat, with a clip on the end, then add longer hundred- and two-hundred-foot sections as needed. Splice the connections smooth rather than knotting them so an anchor-ball retriever can ride over them cleanly.
An anchor ball is a floating poly ball you clip to the anchor line so you can drop off the anchor and chase a running fish, then return and pick the rig back up. The size depends on current and scope, since a hard tide can pull a small ball completely underwater and hide your anchor until slack tide. A bigger ball on the offshore boat, a small one on the skiff, and a mid-size on the bay boat works well.
It is a rig that lets you free a stuck anchor by pulling it out the same way it went in. You attach the chain solidly to the bottom of the anchor, then secure it loosely at the top with zip ties, monofilament, or strong nylon string. When the anchor hangs up, pulling hard breaks the top attachment so the anchor pivots and slides out backward, just like backing a hook out of your finger the way it went in.
The biggest one is anchoring from the stern in a small skiff or kayak under a strong tide. The anchor sets, the current loads the transom, and it can pull the stern straight underwater and sink the boat. Always anchor from the bow, and carry a knife so you can cut the line free if the wind or tide builds and you cannot pull the anchor. An anchor can swamp a boat shockingly fast.
I anchor a 17 skiff, a 24 bay boat, and a 36 offshore boat, and the recipe scales: the right anchor, chain about the length of the boat, and line matched to the depth. I explain how the requirements shift between the three in the episode, so press play in the player above.
The whole point is being able to drop off the anchor and chase a tarpon or sailfish. Modular, spliced line sections and an anchor ball let me untie and go in seconds instead of fighting a thousand feet of rope. I detail the retriever and the ball sizing in the episode, so press play in the player above.
From plow to rock to Danforth anchors, plus the breakaway rig and the deadly mistake of anchoring a small boat from the stern, this is where setup becomes safety. I cover why a knife is mandatory in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Anchoring has a lot more to it than most people think. Pick the right anchor for your bottom, use enough chain, build a line system you can clear fast, and never anchor a small boat from the stern, and you will hold where you want and be ready to chase the fish you came for.
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.
anchor · anchor ball · plow anchor · rock anchor · Danforth · anchor chain · Yellowfin · breakaway rig · tarpon · skiff · How 2 Tuesday · Saltwater Experience
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 46: How to Set Up Your Anchor for Any Type of Boat
In this episode: the three boats I fish and how each one anchors, as much chain as the boat is long, the breakaway rig that frees a stuck anchor, and why you never anchor from the stern — in the exact words spoken.
Tom Rowland: Hey, everybody.
Welcome to How To Tuesday today.
We're gonna talk about anchors today.
We're gonna talk about how to get your anchor set up for pretty much any boat that you're gonna fish out of.
Tom Rowland: Personally, I fish out of three boats.
I fish out of a 17 yellowfin skiff, your typical kind of flats boat type boat, 17 feet lightweight.
We do need to anchor that occasionally.
I'll also fish out of the 24 bay boat, Yellowfin 24, which is similar to any any style kinda bay boat in that in that size range, and then 36 yellowfin, offshore.
So the the three boats have, obviously, have different anchoring, requirements, different types of bottom, different different, lengths of line, different, amounts of chain that you have to have, and even different types of anchors.
The one thing that holds true in any of these boats is that when I put my anchor down, I want it to hold.
I don't want it to slip.
When I put my anchor down, I also want to be able to, get off of the anchor and go chase down a fish in the event that we actually go out there and catch the fish we're after, a tarpon or a sailfish or some big running fish that requires you to, get off the anchor and go chase that fish down.
You wanna be able to do that quickly.
Alright.
Tom Rowland: So here's the here's the recipe.
Whether it's the the skiff, the bay boat, or the offshore boat, what you wanna do is you wanna have a a an anchor an anchor road chain that has a length of line on it that is your utility line.
That first length of line is going to be about where you generally anchor.
So in the skiff, I'm anchoring in shallow channels.
It's too deep for the push pole.
It's too deep for the Power-Poles.
And if I find myself in that situation where I'm up uptight of some tarpon, I want to be able to drop an anchor.
It's a very light boat.
Usually, don't need a real heavy anchor, but when I put it down, I want it to stick.
Tom Rowland: Because, oftentimes, it's one shot deal, and if I start sliding through that school of tarpon, it's over.
So one rule of thumb is that I'm gonna use about as much chain as the boat is long.
So a 17 foot boat, I might use, you know, anywhere from from 12 to 17 feet of of chain.
With more chain, you're gonna be able to get away with a little bit lighter anchor.
But if you really like to stay put, use the regular anchor, use a little bit more chain than some other people might use, and, when it go when it goes down, it's gonna stay there.
Tom Rowland: I like, for the skiff, I like to use a, what I call a Bruce anchor.
It's a it's a kind of a plow style anchor, and that's going to hold me very well in the turtle grass, which is kind of the bottom where I'm gonna anchor for the most part.
You might hit a rocky bottom, but a heavy anchor with a lot of chain on a small boat is gonna hold you there.
So I'm gonna use that that small anchor.
It's usually around, eight to 10 pounds, about 15 feet of chain, and then my line.
Tom Rowland: This is the crucial part.
The anchor line that I'm using, I want that to not be super long.
Right?
So I might I might want it I want it to be manageable.
And the reason I want it to be manageable is because I want it to, I wanna be able to get off of it.
I wanna have an anchor ball, a floating, poly ball that I carry in the in all the boats, and I wanna be able to, untie the anchor and leave that ball right there and go and fight the fish.
So this, if I'm anchoring in about 20 feet as at the deepest, for the most part, I'm gonna want about twice that length of line, plus a little bit more.
So, I'm gonna have a an anchor line that's 50 to 60 feet.
K?
And it's gonna have a clip on the end.
And then what I can do with that is I can clip my anchor ball onto the end, and in the event that we actually do catch the tarpon and it takes off running, we have to go chase after it, which is the case at the bridges a lot of times.
I can have this anchor line, off the boat and out very, very quickly.
Now 60 feet is a little little more than I might like.
I'm I might like it, you know, like 40.
And if you're fishing the same kind of spots all the time, you're gonna know what that what that length of line is.
If you've got to, manage with you know, mess with a whole bunch of line to get it out of the boat, you basically wanna untie the cleat and throw the ball, and now you're you're good to go.
You're you're you're floating away from the anchor line.
Tom Rowland: Now in the bay boat, it's a little bigger bigger boat, little heavier.
We're gonna anchor in some different situations.
We're gonna certainly anchor in those same channels.
We're we're also gonna anchor on the nearshore, you know, spots that we have and may find ourself offshore.
So what I wanna do there is I want to, I wanna have a same type of anchor, the plow style anchor, with about 20 to 25 feet of chain, about the length of the boat.
And then, I'm gonna have a my utility line.
My anchor line is going to be, you know, twice as deep as the water that I'm planning on on anchoring in very often.
So let's say I'm anchoring those 20 feet 20 foot channels.
I'm also anchoring in 40 feet of water offshore.
So let's just say I had a anchor line that was, you know, anywhere between 80 and a 100 feet.
K?
And it's gonna have a clip on the end.
And then, of course, I'm gonna find myself anchoring in deeper water.
I'm gonna find myself needing to have more scope.
I'm gonna find myself, wanting to kind of use my anchor line to get back to some tarpon that are that are a little further down the channel.
Tom Rowland: So I'm gonna have another line in in my hatch that's gonna be, a 100 feet or 200 feet.
And then probably another line under that that's another 100 feet.
So what this does is I don't have you know, if I have a thousand feet of anchor line in my boat and I hook a tarpon, I've gotta get either pull the anchor, which you don't wanna do, or I'm gonna have to get all that anchor line out of the boat.
So you want this in sections, and you want it in sections where it's not knotted.
You want it spliced so that you have a smooth connection.
Tom Rowland: And that comes into play when you start using the anchor ball retriever.
It's a it's a ring that has one of these poly balls on a on a little small piece of line, and you put that over the anchor line.
You drive up the anchor line, and it actually pulls the anchor up to the surface for you, and then you just pull in all the line.
It's a very good way to retrieve your anchor with a lot of line out.
It it makes it much easier.
Tom Rowland: So the same thing holds true on the 36.
We're gonna want about 30 to 36 feet of chain.
We're gonna have several different types of anchors that we can use, a Danforth kind of fluke style anchor.
You got a rock anchor, and you also have this plow style anchor.
All of them work well.
All of them work well for different types of bottom.
So depending on the type of bottom you wanna have, you probably most fishermen that I know have two styles of anchor in their boat.
They have a rock anchor, and they have, they have the plow style anchor or the Danforth style anchor.
This can be interchanged.
You can change them out.
So if you find yourself, getting ready to anchor over a rocky area, you put the rock anchor on, which is like a grappling hook.
Then you have these other anchors, and they may hold, but some will hold much better than others.
The grappling hook, you can get away with a very light grappling hook with a lot of chain.
The plow style anchor for me still is my favorite, and you wanna make sure that these anchors are attached the way that they should be.
Tom Rowland: And for most anchors, there you can attach the chain right to the top or you can attach it to the bottom, and then there's another place that looks like it where where it should attach at the top.
But that's for a quick release.
You either use tie wraps or monofilament or, string, you know, strong strong nylon string, and you you tie this up.
Right?
So what happens is it's a breakaway so that when you get your anchor stuck as you're pulling, you break that away, and then you end up pulling the anchor from the bottom straight out the way it came in, just like, the the way you get a fish hook out of your out of your finger.
If you if you get a fish hook in there, you wanna pull it out the same direction that it that it came in.
Somebody got really smart a while back and made a way made this breakaway anchor system.
So the the anchor is attached at the very bottom with, you know, some hardware, and then it's just kind of loosely attached at the top with tie wraps or monofilament.
That's definitely the way you wanna go.
Man, once I start doing this anchor show, it seems like there's a lot more to anchoring than than, than I originally thought.
Right?
Because there's a lot of different kinds of anchors.
There's a lot of different kinds of chain.
There's a lot of different kinds of of line and links, and there's a lot of different types of situations that you get in that require more anchor, more line, more chain, or a different type of anchor.
So we'll we'll go down this road again.
But just for today's purposes, let's think about you need you need to come up with a style of anchor that is the best for your area, and that may not be a single anchor.
You might have to carry a rock anchor and a plow style anchor.
Then, you're gonna want chain, roughly the length of the boat.
You're gonna be safe.
You're gonna be like me.
When you put that anchor down, that thing generally stays.
I don't mind pulling a little heavier anchor if it means that I can, I can make sure that when I put that down, I rarely slip?
And then the lines that you choose, you're gonna want a manageable length of line that you can clip on to a longer length of line that can then clip on to even a longer length of line.
And, that is a very effective way to do it.
Tom Rowland: The other things that we've talked about on this show that, you'll need is one of the poly balls.
And depending on where you are anchoring, how strong the current is, how much scope you have, depends on how big that that poly ball needs to be.
36, you you obviously have more room to keep a big ball, so you might as well have one.
Because when you get out there on a full moon tide, you anchored in 250 feet of water, and the tide is really ripping, it can pull that polyball completely underwater, and you're not gonna be able to find your anchor until slack tide.
So you don't want that to happen.
That's for sure.
On the skiff, just a small poly ball probably work just fine.
And on the, bay boat, somewhere kind of in the middle.
You are somewhat restricted by the hatch design, the hatch size, the hatch configuration to where you're only gonna be able to carry kind of a a a ball of certain size.
Now to get away from that a little bit, you can deflate your Polyball a little bit and, maybe fit it into a hatch that it might not go into if it was fully inflated.
That's a good idea.
So anchoring tips.
I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of questions on the anchoring.
I field those questions at podcast at saltwaterexperience.com.
If you have some, certainly ask away.
For you skiff fishermen, if you are thinking about anchoring, thinking about, you know, anchoring for tarpon, you're a skiff fisherman.
You're a kayak fisherman.
You are a, some sort of small boat fisherman.
Tom Rowland: Don't anchor from the stern.
That is tempting.
But, man, under big tides, you anchor from the stern, and that anchor actually hits with the anchors that we're talking about.
That thing's not going anywhere, and it will pull your stern straight underwater and sink your boat.
So you can you can easily sink a boat with an anchor, and that is one way to do it.
So don't do that.
If you anchor from the bow, you're in much better position, but you always want to be ready in a small boat.
That if all of a sudden you anchor in a situation and the wind is blowing so hard, and something happens that you don't expect, you're not gonna be able to pull that anchor up.
So you also wanna have a way that you can cut it free.
Have a have a utility knife, a fillet knife somewhere to where you can cut that thing free because, believe me, you're not pulling against that current, pulling your boat against that current on a flat transom back up the anchor line enough to pull it out of the out of the deal.
It it can sink you so fast that, it's kinda scary.
So definitely always have a knife, but just don't make that mistake to begin with.
Alright.
So we've covered kind of the the anchor, the anchor ball, anchor chain, and the different types of anchors, and even going into kind of strategies on on anchoring a little bit.
I hope that's good for today.
I'm sure we're gonna go into this in much more detail on how to anchor on in the skiff to, you know, attack these tarpon that are in a channel, how to anchor, at the bridge so that you find yourself in the bridge span that you wanna be in.
And, of course, offshore, this is a big challenge.
How to anchor in 250 feet of water and land on the wreck.
So those are those are shows that can come up.
If we have enough questions about them, I'd be happy to to, go into that.
But, how to Tuesday today, how to anchor your boat, how to pick an anchor, how to get it set up, and, make sure that you can also, get it out and throw it or or or pull off of the anchor line and go chase that fish that you're there for.
So good luck.
We'll see you next week on how to Tuesday.
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