Kayak Anchoring Wind Over Tide

Kayak fishing at anchor can be difficult when you are trying to use two rods one each side of the kayak and the wind is slightly stronger than the tide.  The ideal situation is to the have the anchor deployed from the stern with the kayak sitting nicely in the tide and your two fishing lines positioned down tide.  The angler sits in the kayak facing the bow and plays any hooked fish up tide towards him or her.

Problems arise when the wind is stronger than the tide and coming from the opposite direction.  This causes the kayak to sit more down wind instead of with the direction of the tide causing the tide and the wind to push the kayak slightly side ways on.  The fishing lines drift down tide causing one line to cross over the kayak following the path of the other, which can cause all sorts of problems and is very annoying!

In this situation, a drift chute or drogue can be very useful.  A drift chute deployed at the bow will sit just under the surface and act like an underwater parachute.  The push of the tide opens the parachute and pulls the bow of the kayak with the tide overriding the strength of the wind.

To be able to do this it is easier to use two separate anchor trolleys.  The main anchor trolley runs from the bow to the stern on the right side of the kayak.  This is used for either the anchor when anchoring or the drift chute when drift fishing.  On the left side of the kayak, a detachable half anchor trolley runs from the centre of the kayak to the bow.  When there is a wind over tide situation, it enables the use of a drift chute in conjunction with the anchor.

Deploying the anchor with the main anchor trolley at the stern and the drift chute with the half anchor trolley at the bow should keep the kayak facing the direction of the tide and more into the wind. 

I recently had a trip with a wind over tide situation.  The wind was coming from the North East and the tide was running from the South West the opposite direction.  The wind was stronger than the tide.  I wanted to fish with two rods therefore; this was the time to make use of the drift chute.  With the anchor deployed at the stern and the drift chute at the bow, the bow of the kayak turned more into the wind and the direction of the tide enabling me to fish two rods.

Drift chute keeping the kayak more into the wind and with the tide.

An alternative to using a drift chute in a wind over tide situation is to anchor at the bow instead of the stern and fish only one rod.  Anchoring at the bow will turn the kayak into the wind and more into the direction of the tide however, not enough to fish two rods because of the tendency of the kayak to swing more when the wind is stronger than the tide.  This does not cause a problem with one rod as the line will stay clear of the kayak.

Anchored at the bow turning the kayak more into the wind and with the tide.

Fishing at anchor from a kayak can be more problematic than from a boat because we are seated facing the bow and unable to stand up turn sideways or turn around however, by using a drift chute in certain situations or changing the position of the anchor problems can be overcome.