Sea anchor?

Need help rigging a sea anchor aka "drift chute".I've seen pics of guys mounting these to the bow and to the sides of their yaks to slow their drift in the wind.



Where do you mount your sea anchor and what do you use?

Aaron:

I go for the simplicity factor with my drift chute.  I always have it with me and use it fairly often.

No pulleys, chocks or mechanisms.

I use about 30' of rope to the chute, and put a loop in it about 10' from the tag end.

I thread the loop with my bow line which is tied off to the handle on the side of my yak, then usually push the loop up to the bow of my boat with my paddle so the bow wil point mostly into the wind.  The chute is now deployed at a slight angle off the bow of my boat.  The tag end I loosly secure in the cockpit, so I can pull the main chute line back to me when it's timee to get it in.

Allen

Thanks Allen.That sounds like the way to go. I think your way is much simpler and easier to set up than I imagined.I sure could have used one of these last Sat. at Moss.

Oh yeah.

Though in the afternoon when I was pkepoling, it seemed super calm.....around 3-4:30pm?

BTW pokepoling fizzle for me.  I think my hooks were too big.  I got a couple god ratatat hits from the eels but coldn't hook em up.

Allen

Oh yeah.

Though in the afternoon when I was pkepoling, it seemed super calm.....around 3-4:30pm?

BTW pokepoling fizzle for me.  I think my hooks were too big.  I got a couple god ratatat hits from the eels but coldn't hook em up.

Allen

Yeah. The offshore wind died down after 11:00 or so, but it was blowing pretty hard in the AM and it was difficult to get a good drift.

Alex and I pokepoled two eels a piece in about 30min off the jetty.I've been using an 18" leader of 20# maxima with a splitshot about 6" above a 2/0 Owner octopus hook and I've been killing them before minus tide.Last week I poked out three grass rf and a bucketfull of eels.It's funny how sometimes you can pull three or more fish out of the same hole. 

yes, i was very impresssed by the pic of your full bucket.  I was using octopus hook, but it was too big.  Whereabouts on the jetty were you fishing?  and also, you hit it on the outgoing tide?

Were you working the edge where the rocks met the channel, and just wrorming into the holes and slots between rocks?

allen

aaron, if it's real rough, I prefer it off the bow on a long long rope (20') with some stretch.

to pull in the sock, just paddle up to it, don't try to pull it in.

I have fished it 10' waves and more off scott's creek that way (cause my fishing partner did not want
to get up early before the wind,  ). not so easy to feel the bite, but
those rockfish will bite on squid even then.

you are more streamlined like that in the wind too, not the whole side of your kayak to the wind.

if the wind is lighter, I run a shorter rope off the side of the yak.

Best,
J

yes, i was very impresssed by the pic of your full bucket.  I was using octopus hook, but it was too big.  Whereabouts on the jetty were you fishing?  and also, you hit it on the outgoing tide?

Were you working the edge where the rocks met the channel, and just wrorming into the holes and slots between rocks?

allen

I pretty much just hop around and look for holes between rocks.Sometimes you can see suction or water movement pulling into holes.Somtimes the most unlikely looking holes are actually windows into larger caves under the rocks.Where the rocks meet the channel is a good place to start.I usually try and hit it about an hour or two before the peak of low tide and fish through low tide.I think they're there all the time though.I was reading on the MB Aquarium website that monkeyface rarely travel more than 15ft their entire lifetime.

Spikes Kayak Fishing video shows a great way to use a drift chute with a bow line.

Spikes Kayak Fishing video shows a great way to use a drift chute with a bow line.

I think I'll see Spike at the FH show.I'm not sure he will be discussing rigging,but I'm sure I'll have the opportunity to ask some questions of the kayak pimpmasters there.

I'll have to check out that video too.Spike is one of the OGs.

Need help rigging a sea anchor aka "drift chute".I've seen pics of guys mounting these to the bow and to the sides of their yaks to slow their drift in the wind.



Where do you mount your sea anchor and what do you use?

I use the same one as in your photo. I attached a few feet of elastic cord to the end of my drift chute line. Without it, you can get whiplash from the sea anchor in a big swell. It can even make the boat unstable when it jerks. It makes a huge difference, absorbing most of the shock.

Ganoderma, Thanks for the tip.So...say I use a 30ft line with a loop 10ft from the tag end attached to my bowline as scallen suggests.Should I just splice in a 5ft section of elastic chord to attach to the chute or should the entire 30ft anchorline be elastic?

aaron, what I use is a surf board leash attached to my bow. it is about 8 to 10 feet.
it is made of 1/4" urethane. has a slight slow dampened stretch to it.

then the chute is on 10' of 1" webbing with a brass clip on the end.

if I want the chute off the side (for lighter wind), I attach the brass clip to a padeye.

if I want the chute off the bow (for higher seas) I attach the 1" webbing to the
surf leash ankle cuff.

if the wind really comes up, I sometimes attach the surf leash to my ankle.
reason is that boats have blown away from capsized paddlers.

I always paddle out with my drift chute like scallen.

It think it kind of doubles as a safety device if you hurt your shoulder or whatever
in a wind.  stops you from blowin away.

J

.....and, like jmairey, I sometimes use a surf leash.  Long paddles when I'm likely to be far offshore, like salmon fishing off Moss, i'll tie my surf leash to the bow handle and attach it to my leg, "just in case" I get knocked off, the boat will not get away from me.

i don't mention it often, because of the flak i recieved some year ago from gusys who thought I was launching and landing while leashed to the boat.  Nope.  just when I'm going way far out and the weather can change, and I'm alone.

Allen

Ganoderma, Thanks for the tip.So...say I use a 30ft line with a loop 10ft from the tag end attached to my bowline as scallen suggests.Should I just splice in a 5ft section of elastic chord to attach to the chute or should the entire 30ft anchorline be elastic?

I just use around 4 feet of elastic cord at the end of the bow line, which is around 10 feet. I think 30 feet may be too long for a sea anchor line. It takes a while to pull it in and makes it more likely that a fish will snag on it.