Thread: Blue Cat Lake
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Old 03-28-2013, 12:31 PM
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Reel Tune Reel Tune is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Old Hickory
Age: 43
Posts: 2,173
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Yep, it's that easy unless you are in deep water, or over hard ground. They come in many sizes from 3'-10', and longer. Just find where you want to park jab the stake out pole in the bottom, have a 4'-6' piece of rope tied to the stake out pole and then secure to your vessel. It also works in rivers, you can jab it into a bank wall and tie off to it. A stake out pole can also serve many purposes (push pole, duck decoy retriever or method of personal protection from snakes, geese, and other encounters).

For rivers I use drag anchors that I make. I take logging chain cut it in 3.5' sections and take a bicycle inner tube and slip it over the chain, then double up the chain and secure the two tag ends together. I use a retractable dog leash with a carabineer as my rope.
I also have a grappling anchor I'll use in rivers, but I rig it up differently than most. I tie my rope to the bottom and then zip tie the top, and use electrical tape to wrap the grapples in the non-deployed position so they don't get snagged on anything. If it does get snagged the zip tie should break and then I'm pulling the anchor from the other end (bottom) and the grapples will naturally fold up.

For deeper lakes I use a grappling anchor that weighs 3-5lbs, and a lot of rope.

A drift chute is another option I use on windy days (8 mph+). It still lets me move but very slowly, and I can control it with a paddle stroke or slight rudder adjustment.

These are all my personal preferences, and others have different ways, but these work best for me. One thing I would definitely recommend is an anchor trolley that runs the entire length of your vessel. This allows you to anchor from any part of your vessel from front to rear.

Jeremy
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