Anchors?

[LEFTUS]

What's the best way to rig an anchor to my kayak. I was thinking about a bow mount pulley fairlead and a small cleat at the front of the cockpit.Is this a good anchor setup?

[Birdman]

No. I wouldn't recommend that, mostly for safety reasons, but fishing reasons too. Having a fairlead in the bow and a cleat means you'll always have an anchor hanging off the bow which is a pain. Also, you'll probably only want to anchor when there's a current and you'll be bow into the current which means you'll be retreiving the drifted fly from behind you and this is really awkward at best. I find anchoring stern to the current is best then cast to the side or back cast upstream then retreive from in front of you works best.

I have a "clothesline" loop of line from bow to stern on my yak with a snap ring (caribiner?) where the ends join. I thread the anchor line through the ring and then can pull the ring to either the bow or stern to anchor "stern to" or Bow to" the current. Time to leave .. I just haul in the anchor then pull the ring back to the cockpit and grab the anchor and toss it behind the seat. I use a cam cleat mounted beside the cockpit to set the anchor line as a standard cleat is a fly line grabber. I usually use a 1.5 # folding grapple anchor (about $9).

Be very careful in strong current or over rocky bottoms. Always safety first. Some other folks have "quick release" gadgets rigged up - probably a good idea.