In parts of the UK, fishing at anchor is never a consideration. Some situations either don’t facilitate or demand it; some species of fish don’t require it; and sometimes, such as when deep-water cod fishing in the North Sea, it’s a combination of the two. But for most dinghy anglers, fishing at anchor is a way of life, and for those situations where it is not, a suitably rigged anchor should always be carried for safety reasons in case of engine failure. You would think there was not much to be done wrong in putting an anchor down. Yet some people struggle getting into all kinds of difficulties. Worse still, some put themselves and their boats at risk.

Perhaps stating the obvious here, the golden rule when anchoring is to have the rope fixed to the front of the boat allowing it to ride the sea bow on. This however is not the same as saying that a boat should only be anchored when standing at the front. A lot of boats these days have hatches through which the anchor can be dropped and retrieved. The drawbacks with a hatch as I see them are as follows

• Water dripping from the rope onto clothing, food and tackle stowed up front in the cuddy
• Unbalancing the boat by having too much weight forward which can be risky in a lumpy sea
• Putting yourself at risk of falling over board by standing up through a hatch in a lumpy sea
• Running the risk of the boat being partially swamped through the hatch through a combination of too much forward weight and rough conditions

This said, hatch anchoring is infinitely preferable to climbing around the cuddy lip to stand exposed on the bow as so many have done in the past before hatches were brought into regular use. Even with grab rails and pulpit rails, standing outside the cuddy up front is dangerous, even in settled conditions. A much easier and safer alternative is to put the anchor down from inside the fishing well using an additional length of rope known as a lazy line both to fix it to the winching eye on the bow, and later to bring it back to the side of the boat when its time to head back.

PHOTO 1 (Rope fixed to winching eye): Fix a length of suitably strong rope firmly to the winching eye at the front of the boat.

PHOTO 2: (Rope draped around side of boat): Take the rope around the side of the cuddy and into the fishing well. It will need sufficient length at least to lie on the deck of the boat.

PHOTO 3 (Stainless steel clip and float fitted to end of rope): Firmly fix in place a quick release stainless steel clip to the end of the rope with sufficient length for the clip to touch the floor when the rope is brought around the side of the boat. Whilst not essential, it is also a good idea to fix some kind of float to the rope just behind the clip in case the lazy line is lost overboard. Without a float the rope would dangle out of reach from the winching eye. With a float, it can easily be retrieved through careful manoeuvring of the boat. When motoring it is good policy either to tie the lazy line to a grab rail, or clip it around a seat pedestal to prevent it going over board.

PHOTO 4 (Lazy line clipped to loop in rope): On arrival at your chosen mark, drop the anchor over the side in the normal manner until there is sufficient rope out to the handle the job. At this point, tie a loop in the rope and quickly clip the lazy line in place before it tightens. It is important to note that there should be sufficient rope left in the boat (several metres), to allow the lazy line to go around to the front where it will take the weight of the boat and orientate it in the tide. It is also a good idea to tie the loose end of the remaining anchor rope around something, otherwise the flow of the tide might take it over board.

PHOTO 5 (Retrieving rope): When its time to go, using the anchor rope left inside the boat, pull the lazy line around to the side and continue on getting the rest of the rope in. There are two additional points worth mentioning here. One is that unless you use the same length of anchor rope every trip, un-tie the loop at the end of the day, otherwise at some stage in the future it will become impossible. The other is that retrieving the anchor from a static boat side anchored is much harder than from a bow-anchored boat as you are actually trying to pull the boat beam on to the tide. Carefully motoring towards the anchor is far more preferable. The person taking in the rope should direct the man on the wheel, ensuring he doesn’t go faster than the retrieval rate, and that the rope is kept rope angled slightly away from the boat where it can be seen at all times.

PHOTO 6 (Other jobs for the lazy line): Outside of anchoring, a lazy line has other uses which can make launching and retrieving a much easier job. When slipping the trailer for example, it can be used as a paynter to prevent the boat sliding away beyond reach. It can also be used as a means of preventing the boat drifting away while waiting for the trailer to be brought back down the beach. And when its time to get back on the road the lazy line can also be used for added on road security by fastening it around the winch post of the trailer to prevent the boat slipping should either the winch or the strap fail.