kayak

Anchor options for bass fishing kayaks

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Photography by
Dave Mull
Captions by
Dave Mull
Wind, waves and current make it difficult for anglers in light plastic boats to thoroughly cover a piece of structure. Anchors are inexpensive tools to stop or slow your yak. Deploy and wind in any of these options with a low-profile Anchor Wizard to keep anchor line out of the way.
 
For rivers, a DIY chain anchor with bicycle inner tubes to avert bass-spooking clanks as it drags rocky bottoms works great. Chains slow you on your downstream float. Put out enough line with extra sections of chain to stop the boat. Chain anchors work in lakes, too. DIY instructions to make one are on Bassmaster.com.
Five-pound dumbbells convert quickly into anchors with a piece of paracord and zip ties. Plastic dumbbells are easy on plastic hulls and fairly stealthy when dragged to slow a downstream drift in rivers, too.
The 2-pound fluke-style Chene Anchor is a top choice for lakes. It holds well on most bottom compositions, especially grass, although it can bring in bushels of vegetation when you retrieve it. The ring on the shank slides forward past the flukes to pull this hook out of rocks and timber. The cost, with 25 feet of rope, is about $35. cheneanchor.com
Grapnel anchors fold for easy stowage and hold firmly in all sorts of lake bottoms. Most provide the anchor line attachment at the nose, while a zip tie holds the rope at the shank’s eyelet. When the anchor gets wedged in rocks, the angler can break the zip tie with a jerk and pull the anchor free. Grapnel anchors weighing 1.5 to 3.5 pounds are popular among yakkers, and most cost less than $20.
Da Bomb is round, weighs 6 lead-free pounds and keeps kayaks stationary without digging in. It also looks kind of cool. The powder-coated black Fuze Style retails for $39.95. Pay $5 more for your choice of eight other colors. dabombanchor.com

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