Size of buoy for anchoring

[BigBadBrad]

Hey guys I have an A2 scotty and plan to anchor for halibut off of bamfield this summer. I’m in a 17.5ft boat with a 14lb anchor 25ft of chain and 600ft of rope.....do you think the A2 is large enough?

Cheers

 

[halimark]

Only anchored off Bamfield a few times, slower currents normally but those big swells and a little current could pull a small Scotchman under. Personally I would not use an A2, would not take much current to suck that under, I have an A5 and its good any where and at any current I dare to anchor in. Never goes down, holds anchor and easy to see when re hooking. Seams to be safer. I do fish JDF and our "fast" currents but also north Island. Down side of a large anchor ball is stowage in boat. Mine sits on a never used jump seat in back but boat is 18.6 DE.

For a couple $$$ I recommend getting a bigger float. An A4 if your only on west coast and slower currents. Better safe than loosing anchor or worse.

HM

 

[Stosh]

A2 is too small. Minimum A3

 

[Fixit]

id recommend an a3 and a smaller claw anchor. i use a 11lb claw with my 20 ft boat.

 

[BigBadBrad]

Right on! Thanks. How much chain?

 

[Fixit]

Right on! Thanks. How much chain?

Ive got 100 feet (I think, maybe it was 80?) of 1/4” chain which is a lot but it works well for me

 

[Mike_W]

Ive got 100 feet (I think, maybe it was 80?) of 1/4” chain which is a lot but it works well for me

100 feet is a pile of chain. Rule of thumb is 1 to 2 times boat length.

 

[walleyes]

Been watching this one as well. I’m not all that familiar with Hali anchoring either and am setting up a system for the new boat. The boat is a 26.5’ with twins I would say wet running weight is in the 6000lb range. I went with a 20lb galvanized Claw/Bruce anchor,, is this over kill. Planning on going with 30’ of 3/8 galvanized chain and floating it off of a A3 Buoy. Have all my ropes ready to go I have one rope at 300’ then I have 3 more at 100’ each. All rope is 3/8 nylon with braided loops on each end. I’m planning on fitting it all in the anchor box in the floor of the boat that’s the reason for the ropes being in segments as I won’t have on what I don’t need and will store it away in totes the portions not in use.

Thoughts on this system, sufficient for my rig ?

 

[ryanb]

I'm certainly not an expert on anchoring for halibut, but I do have a setup and started doing it last year. So take my advice for what it's worth.

My opinion on a halibut anchor is you want it to be as light as you can get away with. You do NOT want to be securely anchored. You want it to be just heavy enough to hold you, and no more so it is easier to free in deep water and potentially less than ideal conditions. 1 to 1.5x boat length chain should be plenty. Scope doesn't need to be anymore than 2:1.

If you're dragging your anchor, there's probably too much wind, current, and or waves and probably not a great time to be anchoring for halibut anyhow.

 

[michael_reiber]

On our 20ft double eagle we have about 60-75 feet of chain, and 600 feet of rope with a 16.5 lb anchor attached with the zap-strap break free method, and I believe its an A4 or A3 bouy. We've always wanted to be securely anchored, we had less chain before and an 11lb anchor and if you fished heavy currents or with some chop you were dragging and it was annoying to keep gear in the water. So we added some chain and bumped up the anchor and have not had a slipping problem since. With that said we could probably anchor in some pretty heavy seas, but you have to know when to decipher that its not safe to be anchoring, because as ryanb you wont slip, or at least we haven't yet seen ours slip with the added chain. The thing we did notice when adding the chain and anchor, when we would pull up the bouy would sometimes go under because it just wasn't enough flotation when pulling up so that is why we bumped up our buoy size but I cannot remember what size it is.

Hope that helps a bit,

Michael

 

[bpsuls]

Bigger buoys are always better. One of the reasons i like the biggest you can get is when you are dragging the anchor while you are pulling it up, if your buoy is too small it goes under and gets buried and you cant tell when the anchor has slid all the way to the ball, which if your buoy is floating is really easy to tell. That way you are not wasting your time towing the setup when the anchor is already up or worst yet you stop too quick and it drops back to the bottom.
Using the Zap tie method is very effective for halibut anchoring. I do it, and quite honestly most of the time the zap tie does not break because it comes out easy but i have had a couple times when i was glad i had it. Sometimes the weather turns ugly quick and you need to do a quick egress and its nice to know it will always come up.

 

[Ceilidh69]

Hey guys I have an A2 scotty and plan to anchor for halibut off of bamfield this summer. I’m in a 17.5ft boat with a 14lb anchor 25ft of chain and 600ft of rope.....do you think the A2 is large enough?

Cheers

Go see or call the guys at Trotac they built mine and it has worked perfect. They can help you design for the length and weight of your boat.

 

[trophywife]

Been watching this one as well. I’m not all that familiar with Hali anchoring either and am setting up a system for the new boat. The boat is a 26.5’ with twins I would say wet running weight is in the 6000lb range. I went with a 20lb galvanized Claw/Bruce anchor,, is this over kill. Planning on going with 30’ of 3/8 galvanized chain and floating it off of a A3 Buoy. Have all my ropes ready to go I have one rope at 300’ then I have 3 more at 100’ each. All rope is 3/8 nylon with braided loops on each end. I’m planning on fitting it all in the anchor box in the floor of the boat that’s the reason for the ropes being in segments as I won’t have on what I don’t need and will store it away in totes the portions not in use.

Thoughts on this system, sufficient for my rig ?

honestly, i would run more chain, the chain is what keeps the anchor digging. minimum 50' with that size of boat. i run 30' of 3/8 and 30' of 1/4 and an aluminium danforth.

 

[Tailwalker]

Hey guys I have an A2 scotty and plan to anchor for halibut off of bamfield this summer. I’m in a 17.5ft boat with a 14lb anchor 25ft of chain and 600ft of rope.....do you think the A2 is large enough?

1/4 inch galvanized chain weighs 3/4 lb/foot, 5/16 inch galvanized chain weighs 1 lb/ft. Assuming you are using 1/4 inch chain, your current set up weighs at least 33 lbs (14 + 19). If you are using 5/16 inch chain, your total weight is at least 39 lbs. A Polyform A2 buoy has lifting capacity of 68 lbs. So I would think an A2 would be sufficient. Having an A3 will take up a lot of room in your 17.5 ft boat. Don't forget the quick release and a sharp knife in case you have to loose the anchor quickly.

 

[walleyes]

Post resurrection.

Tried out my anchor system today on my home lake, set it in 200’ of water. Note to those wondering, an A2 - 15” ball is not big enough for a 20# anchor and 30’ of 3/8 chain. It pulled it off bottom ok but when the anchor and chain laid in the bouy it sank it like a rock right to bottom. Had to use the trap puller to get it up lol.
I was planning on a A3 but couldn’t find one locally so went with the A2. I will have to wait until I get out west to get the proper one, might even go with an A4 just to be safe.

Just thought I would post and hopefully let anyone wondering on doing the same. Thats why we practice and try stuff where it’s easy, wouldn’t have wanted to be in a 4’ chop and ripping tide today with what happened lol.

 

[Fixit]

Try a smaller anchor. I run a 11lb claw with an a3 and I’ve considered going one size smaller for the anchor. My thoughts being that it’s not holding the boat fast in a storm, and I’d rather have it pull out if shtf than be oversized and have it glued to the bottom plus it might solve your a2 problem

 

[walleyes]

Try a smaller anchor. I run a 11lb claw with an a3 and I’ve considered going one size smaller for the anchor. My thoughts being that it’s not holding the boat fast in a storm, and I’d rather have it pull out if shtf than be oversized and have it glued to the bottom plus it might solve your a2 problem

Much cheaper to go with the bigger Scottsman at this point. It’s not exactly an easy sell to get rid of that 20# Claw/Bruce anchor in my area.

But you do bring up a good point.

 

[Rayvon]

"Walleyes",you should be good with the new big as you can stow Scotsman.Type of anchor makes a big difference too,Danforths suck, get a Rockna,best and not cheap or delta claw style work better.