I read about it on here and see it on plenty of boats. What is the purpose of it? I dont have the years of experience in life or on the river as some but Im on the water alot and have never had an issue with not having one.
the main reason is to keep the rope from getting cut and frayed on sharp rocks 
Adds weight to the anchor itself and depending on the style of anchor it could help it lay flat and dig into the bottom sediment better.
Keeps me in the house at night. 
X2 
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Adds weight to the anchor itself and depending on the style of anchor it could help it lay flat and dig into the bottom sediment better.
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X2
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Adds weight to the anchor itself and depending on the style of anchor it could help it lay flat and dig into the bottom sediment better.
x3
Actually it does help A LOT. Keeps the points digging vs angled more upward due to the upward pull of the rope/boat, where they can’t dig into the rock, sand, whatever…
I don’t know how many guys do this, but here’s an additional idea. For the six years I lived on the WI River, I had a quick-link on my chain to the anchor. For drifting down the river, I would disconnect the anchor and drag the chain from the bow. Back then, I had a Lund Alaskan 18 with a transom trolling motor. Worked great for slowing me down to just slightly less than the current speed, kept the boat very straight as I drifted which let me worry more about fishing than boat control.
I posted this on another post a few days ago but thought it would go good here to. It is a guide to safe anchoring. A lot of it pertains to anchoring larger boats but some of the info is interesting.
There is some information in there about how much chain should be used for anchoring.
On the powered anchor mate and or Deckhands by Minnkota, they are called saftey chains and serve two purposes, one is for traveling, so you can secure the anchor with a clasp. And the second is it trips a switch in the housing when you bring it up s you don’t pull it up to far and wreck your unit, or burn out the motor.
Picture your anchor laying on the bottom and the anchor rope is straight up and you pull on it. Obviously the anchor will not hold.
Now picture the rope is being pulled parallel to the bottom. The flukes dig in and the anchor holds.
Obviously the water has depth so getting the rope parallel to the bottom is impossible. The more rope you let out the closer it gets which is why most manufacturers recommend a 5:1 scope (or an 11.3 degree angle).
This is where the chain comes in. The chain has a lot of weight and so even though the rope has pressure on it the chain sags which decreases the angle from 11.3 degrees to much closer to zero. Remember the closer to zero the better the anchor holds.
The next thing the chain does is add weight. The more wieght is laying on the bottom the harder it is to move.
The chain also acts as a buffer against rocks, zebra muscles etc. It takes the abuse of the bottom structure so your anchor rope does not have to.
The negative is storage and retrieval. Chains can do damage to the exterior of your boat if you are not careful. That is why it is important to get a rubber coated chain. This will protect your boat. The other drawback is the shear weight it adds while retrieving the anchor.
This is where it gets interesting. Say you have an 18lb Richter with 7lbs of chain or a 25lb Richter with no chain. Both set-ups weigh the same but which will hold better?? With the Richter, it will be a wash. If you use a Water Spike, Digger, Danforth or similar fluke style anchor the lighter version with the chain will hold better.
There are many types of bottom and many different types of anchors. It is hard to find one anchor that works great on every type of bottom. I personally don’t use a chain anymore but I make sure to check the anchor rope for any damage near the anchor.
I hope this answers your question.
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