anchor question

How do you anchor when facing opposing forces i.e. current flowing one direction at 2 mph wind blowing opposite direction 12mph?

The first word that popped into my head was “poorly”.

I know a lot of guys will anchor up and then use either the outboard or a transom mount trolling motor to pull themselves up tight against the anchor.

I struggle with this one a lot, especially when I’m trying to pitch a wing dam. I always end up in the wrong place.

Anchor off bow, drift sock off stern.

I have heard of guys using one anchor off the front and a drift sock off the back. I use a anchor front and back which normally works on the river for me. If I am solo I will let extra line out on the front then drop the back and tie it off with some slack in the line. Then pull the boat forward tell the line on the rear tightens up.

I’d say if your walleye fishing, just hit spot lock and let your boat dance around. It’s not like your set line fishing anchored in a boat.

So, my question to better answer your question is….what fishing method are you using while anchoring under these conditions?

This will give me an idea of how “anchored” you need to be to work your presentation properly.

Timmy wrote:

Anchor off bow, drift sock off stern.

Drift sock is used to keep the boat from swinging back and forth or…? Something else?

Being I have a cable drive trolling motor I don’t have spot lock, and in the situation described in the OP thank god for that, because spot lock in that situation would lock my spot in a 100 yard radius. Look at the best walleye fishermen on the river and you’ll see a cable drive trolling motor.

Anchor and drift sock if there is enough current, wind is not to strong. Next is just running the main motor in reverse pulling against the anchor. Done this for hours on end some days.

crawdaddy wrote:

Being I have a cable drive trolling motor I don’t have spot lock, and in the situation described in the OP thank god for that, because spot lock in that situation would lock my spot in a 100 yard radius. Look at the best walleye fishermen on the river and you’ll see a cable drive trolling motor.

I have spot lock; and i think 12mph wind is childs play. Surely spot lock initialized correctly, will hold your position quite well.

Assuming your in some flow, drop anchor and throw drift sock out the back. That works until the wind is greater than the pull on the drift sock. IN that event, either swing in the wind or drop a second anchor out the back.

I run a pretty heavy anchor ( 34 lbs) so that I can tie tight and not have to leave slack in the line. With a current/wind like that I would tie off on the upstream side cleat and try to have that anchor straight down if I can get away with it. If I do move it is only a few feet one way or the other.

If I was fishing walleyes or cats with set lines and needed to stay put I would use my drift sock regardless of wind. This will keep me in one spot and not let other boats wake or cross winds move me around.

If I am near shore I carry a little brush hook that I can toss on the rocks or in the bank/brush and use this to pull the boat tight to the anchor. This works great in some situations because I don’t have a second anchor line or drift sock in the water. One less thing that can get in the way and make something go wrong anyways.