Depends on boat type (NE Dory, right?), type of bottom and depth of water.

Any hints?

Laszlo

   Yes a NE Dory. I don't even have a guess I'm depth. But it's all man made reservoirs, so lot of debris on the bottom.

I've been using the 3# version of something like this:

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/attwood--5lb-folding-grapnel-anchor--6695217?recordNum=11

...for my Passagemaker Dinghy with 100' or 150' (I forget just now--100' would be plenty for 20' depths) of 1/4" three-strand nylon bent on.  These things seem to set okay without any chain in the mostly mud/clay bottoms of the reservoirs where I've used it.  Not what you'd want for secure anchoring in a gale, but it should hold her in moderate breeze or current.  For your NE Dory, you might want to go with the 5#.

A small Danforth type would work well, but would be a whole lot bulkier to store, and would need maybe 6' of chain to set reliably.

   I use a 5# galvanized grapnel with 6' of chain. There is a special way to hook the anchor to the rope and chain that can allow it to break loose from some snags without loss of the anchor, so google it if you go that route. 

The lake bottom is usually rock, but with some muck and debris.

��As kids, we used an old cast iron pump housing tied to 100 feet of clothesline to anchor our Jon boat in Currituck Sound when fishing or crabbing. The nice thing about an iron weight is it is near impossible to snag. Get a cheap 20 lb iron weight on cheap 100 foot braided line. If it snags hard, you cast it off and don't worry about losing it. If you are after bottom fish in deeper water then worry about serious anchors but I would probably drift fish that deep.

���West Marine sells anchor bags but if you can find an old gym duffle, that might make a good bag to hold line and anchor and control mud and mess. The soft sides might sit better in the bottom of the dory than a bucket.

Our family does a lot of lake fishing in Quebec in 13'-16' outboards. My favorite is an 8-lb mushroom anchor. It's the "expensive" way to toss overboard a rope tied to a rock. Easy to throw out and retrieve, hard to snag. It won't hold when the wind is really honking unless you put out tons of line so it can lay sideways and dig in. When the weather is like that we usually want to change locations anyway.

The rest of my family prefers the folding grapnel anchors. Lots lighter and they don't hold as much mud when you pull them up. But, boy howdy, you don't want to put them down in a pile of debris.

 I used to use an empty bleach bottle filled with sand and about 50-100 lf  of cheap rope on canoes and row boats. Sure it drags on rocks, gravel, etc but most of the bottoms I was at were silty. The "anchor" dosen't rust and/or scar the boat.   

.

Anchor in a stiff wind?  Heck no, I'm going in.

   I've used a coffee can filled with concrete, with an eye-bolt cast into the concrete. It might drag a little but it's cheap.

A good anchor is a safety system just as much as a good PFD.  Mushrooms and their home made cousins may work fine in benign conditions but will fail to set in rough conditions when you really need it.  Grapnels work well on rocky bottoms but are horrible otherwise.  There are numerous anchor tests online.  For my Goat, I bought the Mantus Dinghy Anchor Kit and added 6' of 1/4" chain.  The anchor only weighs 2# and comes apart for easy storage.  As always, when you anchor in an area with a lot of debries, a trip line is a good idea.

Well, the video is impressive:

https://youtu.be/zPbIMoV1uNI

...especially in regard to setting in heavy grass further into the video.

.....Michael

Lots of great information has been given here. Thanks to everyone for your input. A lot of this is well beyond my usage…yet. Right now, I just need something to hold my boat quasi still while I bait fish. I think I will try an inexpensive mushroom style. They sell for around $20.00 locally. If it hangs up and I lose it I won’t cry too much. Someday if my boating adventures ever get more adventures. Then I will look to something more advanced.    

   How does a tripline work?

  Hi all !

I  have a number of views concerning anchoring. 

A bad experience I had was fishing in an eddy with an anchor out and then decided that I should move out about 10 feet to fish new water. I have a trolley system on my kayak and just put the anchor overboard and was going to adjust it as a matter of fact. Unfortunately, when I lowered the anchor the current was strong and the kayak immediately spun with the anchor up stream and the kayak down stream with the anchor rope around the kayak. To make things more interesting, the anchor became stuck in the rocks and I could not move it.

The time of the year was early March and going for a swim was not a desirable option. After giving the situation some thought, trying to manuever the kayak, trying to retrieve the anchor all to no avail, I decided to cut the anchor line. That fortunately got me out of the situation.

I guess that about 2 years have passed since that event when I decided that an anchor was more trouble than it was worth. I did buy an achor system from Bass Pro but had not used it until 2 week ago.

I again decided that I needed the anchor. This time I decided to stay close to shore. I established the line that I wanted to fish and let the anchor out with the trolley in the fully established rear position. I was able to drag the anchor each time I moved to find a new fishing position. I did not experience the problems that I describe of the earlier trip. That I am thankful for.