Colorado Kayak Fishing -- Anchors, Anchor Trolleys

As you get into kayak angling, sooner or later you're going to want to be able to anchor your kayak. Because of their long, narrow design, kayaks present a few challenges when it comes to anchoring them in a safe and stable manner. Fortunately, the solutions are pretty simple.

Your basic anchor system consists of four items: an anchor, an anchor line, a line storage device, and a cleat to attach the anchor line to your kayak.

Most anchors used for kayaking weigh either 1.5 or 3 pounds, and are available through paddle sports retailers or outdoor sporting goods shops. In order to increase the effectiveness of these relatively small anchors, many kayakers add a 12" to 15" length of stainless steel chain between the anchor and the anchor line; this helps the anchor lie flat and dig in to sand or gravel lake bottoms. An anchor line of fifty feet should cover most Colorado fishing. Anchor lines can be stored in nylon bags, reels, or plastic winders such as are used to store extension chords.

Once you have your anchor and line, you'll need a cleat to secure the line to your boat. Options include "clam" cleats, T cleats, and no-tie cleats. Whichever you choose, the cleat should be mounted inside the boat in the vicinity of your knee where it can be easily reached.

Now that you've got your boat anchored and secured, you may notice a problem: due to the location of your cleat at the center of the kayak, your boat is frequently broadside to the breeze. Regardless of which way you'd like it to be facing, you're at the mercy of the wind. To remedy this, you need to install an anchor trolley.

Anchor Trolleys

An anchor trolley is a line (1/8" or 3/16" braided chord) that runs along your kayak and enables you to shift the anchor point from bow to stern with one hand. After the anchor is dropped, the anchor line is snapped into a carabiner that can be moved along the boat simply by pulling the trolley line. Using a simple bow-to-stern trolley system, you can rotate your kayak 180 degrees without even setting down your fishing rod. The system can also be used with drift socks and tie-out poles.

As with all rigging, you'll want to do some testing and tweaking to determine the best placement for your boat.

A few words of Caution: Anchoring a kayak in strong currents, big waves, or extremely high winds is not advisable and could lead to your boat getting swamped. Use common sense and always be prepared to pull up anchor or even ditch your anchor line if necessary.