For long days on the water, I really like having an anchor on my kayak. The obvious use is to hold in a spot to get casts into the right area. I find it just as useful when doing other things in the boat: handling a fish, tying on a new lure, reaching into the tank well for something. It’s really nice to not drift away.
I really like the Anchor Wizard as it makes it easy to deploy and retrieve the anchor. I have the crank positioned where I don’t hit it with the paddle and I can reach it when sitting or standing.
This video shows how I mounted it on my Crescent LiteTackle kayak. I reuse the molded in inserts for the front handle. These are really strong so this is a great use of them.
To mount:
- 3″ long mending plate
- 1/4-20 pan head bolts, 3/4″ long to mount to the boat
- 1/4″ tall nylon spacers to raise the Anchor Wizard chute
- 1/4-20 x 3/8″ panhead bolts to hold the mending plate to the chute
- 1/4-20 nylock nuts for the mending plate
To modify the anchor:
- A bench grinder to round off the neck
- Wire rope clamps to pull the loop tight to the neck of the anchor
I spent way too much time modifying this anchor to go smoothly into the chute, but it paid off. I rebuilt the wire rope section that goes through, poorly I might add, so definitely leave the included one and just clamp it to take up the slack.
All in all, this is a good system that is quick and easy to deploy. Ideally, I’d have a Power Pole at the back and augment with this at the front, but those things are $$$. I also like keeping relatively simple and this goes on and off in seconds.