Reef anchor trials

[getadog]

Last weekend I lost another 4 pronged reef anchor outside north Stradbroke island and am hoping if some s/e qld fishos could let me know if or how their set ups may work. I'm thinking of trying a Mooloolaba pick next as I see them on a lot of rigs but don't actually know anyone who has one. I do prefer to drift however some spot x's do work better anchored with a good berley trail going. The bending prong type are cheaper to replace but is the mooloolaba pick with the front eye attachment worth the extra coin outlay? Thanks for any feedback

[shakey55]

1. What size boat
2. What size anchor

Tell us how you do it before being told how to do it.


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[getadog]

My boat is a plate cuddy cab made by Bajcraft around 5.2m and approx 1.2t on the water. My method of retrieving anchors is to drive off in the direction the anchor rope lays out with a ball float running down and lifting the anchor and chain to the surface when free. Been doing this as long as I've been boating and very rarely have problems with picks or plow anchor. I do attach my chain to the front of the plow and cable tie a breakaway to the end in case it snags as I assume can be done with the Mooloolaba pick. I'm really asking if people using Mooloolaba picks would ever go back to using the pronged bending reef anchor set up. Thanks

[rtp1984]

Hey mate.

I use a mooloolaba pick, as I mostly fish on gravel.
The pronged anchors are a night mare to grab on the gravel, and the Mooloolaba pick is much better.

As as a flip side, it’s very easy to retrieve out of gravel, and rarely break my trips ties.

Cheers
Rob

[shakey55]

I mostly anchor up in reef areas. I retrieve the same as you. Drive back up along the rope/chain, using a ball float.

Lost maybe two reef anchors over the years, but I think these were more bad luck with the anchor just getting wedged in to tight with strong current/wind pulling it in tighter.

Good luck with whatever your choice.


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[Noelm]

As long as you have the right size reef anchor, you should lose very few, unless you are anchoring on a wreck or something that can "snag" the rope or chain, I reckon in decades of anchoring, I would have lost maybe 2 anchors.

[Chimo]

getadog

I do the same with my pronged anchor and chain and also use a ball float with a stainless steel split ring on the warp.

With a heavy Seafarer Vagabond (6.2) I found I could make life much easier by reducing the size of my prong (reef) anchor but still keeping the chain the length of the boat (about 6 m)
I never use my large prong anchor any more and find the small one with the chain holds fine.

Usually one or two of the prongs are well and truly straightened when I get it back to the boat and they just get straightened before the next use.

I suggest you consider a smaller prong (reef) anchor with your usual chain and see how you go with that and the ball float before buying more stuff.

Cheers
Chimo

[getadog]

Thanks for the replies. I will get another pronged reef anchor and continue with the regular setup. As the saying goes If it ain't broke don't fix it, and it doesn't hurt to ask a question. Thanks

[scottar]

It wasn't until I started diving that I came to the realisation that you are simply not going to get every anchor you drop into the wrong sort of country back. They are way more imaginative at finding ways to get stuck than we could ever contemplate. Stick with the cheapest option if it actually does its job properly.

[Chimo]

And smallest cheapest too!
Its amazing how well my tiny little reef anchor holds with 6 m of chain. (home welded four reo rods onto a short length of gal pipe with a reo loop opposite the hook end, to fasten the chain to)

[myusernam]

yeah long chain on normal prong reef anchor. Never lost it. Rope is strong enough that it will straighten the prong way before breaking.

the bottlewasher in darwin was an anchor snagging dream. you could see where the anchor would hit then bounce through and weave into the wreck. I guess in that scenario you are never getting back. there were hundreds of anchors there.

[Noelm]

Just another thought, sometimes, instead of brute force to get the anchor up, if you get directly above it, you can sometimes just "jiggle" a stuck anchor out of a snag, done that a few times now when the anchor ball failed.

[Watto79]

Mooloolaba pick, drive off with floating ball as per normal and love it..

Chain attached to top of anchor and then run down the side of anchor and attached with cable tie to base so that it hangs as you would expect it too..

Drive off cable tie breaks and it is removed from above/top.

Never failed me and will often catch on ground where old style wouldn't however as stated there is a price tag attached!

[gazza2006au]

Noel is on the money u need the right pick anchor for your size boat, i purchased a 14 foot Quintrex Fishabout very light tinny and it came with a 10-11mm pick anchor it was a nightmare to retrieve we would tie it up the front and floor the throttle the nose would dip than it would spring us backwards and almost submerge us because it was the wrong size anchor i really needed something in the 6mm range

i had a SwiftCraft 18.5 footer huge bloody glass boat had wrong pick anchor again because of the boats weight we were unable to grab the reef the pick anchor kept straitening out just from the wind and tide

experiment mate the cheap anchors do work or they wouldn't sell them, when u lose a anchor, 5-6 meters of chain, whole roll of rope = one pissed off fisherman i have been there and done it quiet a few times

plus trying to explain to maritime u just lost the anchor that day doesn't sit well with them u will likely cop a fine

[scottar]

An example as to how ancors are lost. In really rough territory - limestone reef country, the number of cracks, crevices and chimneys into caverns can be quite astounding. If you mange to drop your pick into a chimney or a crevice or crack that then narrows to a point it jambs and isn't wide enough for the anchor to pass through - 99.9% of the time you aren't getting it back. By the time you try and drive it out, the weight of a boat in any sort of offshore swell will have wedged the thing into the highest part it fitted in the crack and it simply drop down. A traditional pronged reef pick may come out with sheer brute force as it can be deformed and made smaller but anything else is staying put. If it's happening regularly in your spot X, there is half a chance it's this sort of country. We were diving a heap of this sort of country in Perth and it never ceased to amaze me at just how adept we became at dropping picks into areas they simply would never come back from without assistance from a diver before surfacing. Found some bloody good cray spots purely by accident when we dropped the pick straight into chimneys that turned into big caverns.

[Noelm]

Yep, agree 100%, I fish a spot regularly that has a kind of sandstone bottom, made up of kind of small almost groove like furrows with right angled gutters running across them, these run mostly NE to SW (I have dived there many times). Now, if the wind is just right (or wrong) your rope comes from the gutters, and along these furrows (which are quite deep, but narrow) and unless you can pull your rope and chain directly up and along them, your anchor is staying right where is it, in NE wind, you never use your anchor ball, but instead, just motor along and pull the rope straight up by hand, it's a pain, but better in the end.

[shakey55]

Just another thought, sometimes, instead of brute force to get the anchor up, if you get directly above it, you can sometimes just "jiggle" a stuck anchor out of a snag, done that a few times now when the anchor ball failed.

We always try the jiggle method first. You’d be surprised how often it works.


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[ranmar850]

From long experience as a diver and crayfisherman, I know what Scottar says is true. Too much chain is also a problem in reefy areas, it tends to hang low and get snagged itself. Divers who recover lost anchors in Perth comment on this. I just refuse to drop a pick into that kind of bottom, ie, stuff which is obviously riddled with deep crevices and caves. It's really easy to pick on a good sounder. Just go a bit further, if you have to, look for less gnarly stuff. I've only ever lost two anchors, and I anchor a lot , always around reef. Firstly, obey the above rule, it may mean having a it more rope out, and also don't drop on the far side of a big lump. I fish a lot of very lumpy bottom at times, particularly when I go north, stuff which will come straight up from 20 fathoms to 14 or 15, then straight down again. If you drop on the far side and hang back over it, you risk either dragging the anchor up into the heavy structure on the face, or actually chafing your rope off as it is rubbing on the top lip. These accounted for both my losses.
I actually prefer either a sliding shank kind of danforth, hard to get in larger sizes, or a sarca. These mean I can drop on really light or rubbley ground, and hold well, to hang back over where i want to fish. While a danforth sounds like a really bad idea around reef, the sliding shank type has a built-in trip. I had one for years,(6kg) always came back up, often bent, just straighten it out again. This was using an anchor ball. Until it got chafed off well above the chain, over a lump. With a 4 prong and an anchor winch, you will be straightening it out every time it comes up, and climbing up the bow to do it.

[gazza2006au]

Also for guys using those beefed pick anchors take a long a bit of steel tubing to stick over the prong and leaver it back around, you wouldn't believe how tough some of them are to bend in the boat...

[Chimo]

The little one that is in use on the reefs off the Gold Coast and the bigger one that really does not like to let go.

One is on the boat the big one is on the fence in fact as opposed to hypothetically. The little guy bends easily and unbends the same way which is probably the crux of the story.

The small one has always provided all the holding power the 6.2 Vag needs no matter what tide is running or wind is blowing, go figure?
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[Marchy001]

I fished the reef’s off Townsville for 10 years and it cost me one bruce anchor. I used a ball to retrieve and a very long but light chain 12m 6or8mm normal link. One day it just wasn’t coming up so cut it off. I never considered where I threw it just threw it in and let it do its thing. The Bruce style picks work very well when set up as a trip with cable ties.

Bought a KYZANKA stainless Mooloolaba style actually one of the first he made before they were named and still use it. Not set as a trip as I’m very lazy since getting my anchor winch and so far it’s been very stuck twice but managed to get it back both times.

Have a look at the KYZANKA stuff on the book face he does a bloody good job and all Aussie made in Townsville or possibly Bowen now. He’s created some new designs and they work very well. I grabbed another one just as a spare but never used in anger yet.

[tunaticer]

Has your kyzanka started rusting yet?

[Marchy001]

Still looks like the day I bought it to be honest.

[tunaticer]

I am a firm believer that reef picks need very short tines on them.
They hold better and snag less.
I made a collapsible reef pick years ago and it works perfectly.

[scottar]

I am a firm believer that reef picks need very short tines on them.
They hold better and snag less.
I made a collapsible reef pick years ago and it works perfectly.

I tend to agree. Mine are usually a 180 degree bend with a radius of 50-60mm and with a lead filled centre so they sink faster than the chain.