ever lost there anchors?

Went on a drift last Friday afternoon with my Brother in-law. I knew the water was high and wanted to go anyway and show him the river. I anchored in one of my favorite holes and let my line out. When I went to go pull the anchor up, it got stuck. I tried for 20 minutes to yank, jerk, pull the anchor up to no avail. I nded up cutting the rope and went on my merry way. The water was going really fast and decided not to fish any more and just did a nice drift trip. It took no time at all to reach to Lewis and clark and we wanted to go further. Well we did, We ended up at Chinook Landing. It was nice to see the lower stretch and I have been on the Columbia at the mouth of the Sandy before. So that part was not scary. We did have to row a spell to get to Chinook landing even though it was going down river. There seemed to be dead spots in a couple of places or big eddies. It was a new adventure for us that day.

So how many lost anchors in the river before?

Smily

I lost mine on the Sky a couple of years ago. The river was way up and I dropped the anchor in some fast water that I really had no business anchoring in anyway. I knew I was in trouble when I felt that tell tale sudden deceleration as the anchor hit the bottom and immediately hung.

I tried yanking some, but every time I gave a good pull the rear of the boat would threaten to go under, so I decided a new anchor would less expensive than a new boat so I cut it loose.

I've gotten it hung several other times but have always gotten it back after a bit of work. One time I had to let all the slack out, tie the boat to the bank and then get out, hike upstream and yard on it from shore.

Its always a good way to work up a sweat and practice all the curse words in your vocabulary.

I've lost two ...

One last Spring in the Columbia off the mouth of the Kalama. Tried to "Hog up" at the urging of Rivertramp and Smurf. It hit the bottom and never moved. The five horse kicker was not enough to get that BigAss driftboat turned around with the rope pulling on it, so we could never get upstream.

Two weeks ago the kicker was pukin. I was dragging anchor just below Mill Creek on the Cowlitz. When it caught, it just about pulled us down. We dinked around with it for a bit and let her go.

Moral of the story? Don't anchor in water that is too fast. I am sure this is a different speed for every boat. Know your boat and be careful when anchoring. The heavier the current, the more cautious you should be. Please be prepared to abandon your anchor. (No knot in the end! Not tied off in the boat! Have a knife to free yourself!) Be smart.