Sea anchors. Anyone use them?

[Birdsnest]

I am very interested in doing some over nighters for tuna but my boat just likes to sit sideways in the wind and chop. I have been looking for sea anchors but I know little about them except that they probably would make an overnighter far more pleasant if there was wind and chop and be very useful if one was to stop and jig up tuna on a school.

Just wondering if anyone out there is using them.

 

[trophywife]

we used one.... 3m swell during the night ripped it off....


other than that they work great.

 

[TunaDon]

yea they are good just don't tie it where it will wear. We had tied it to bow cleat and rubbed on rail overnight but worked good. my boat does the same sideways and can be calm swell and still bounce a lot. Am picking up new one Monday in Blaine 6' fiorentino offshore model, hope it will hold up.

 

[Sculpin]

I think the right one would work great for over night offshore. Osama had to deploy a large one on the big rig (40' something I think) he ran last year and it was apparently quite interesting to deployl. He was successful because they didn't drift much during that night. We drifted about 10 miles during the same night. I have a couple of small parachute anchors that I sometimes tie to my rear cleats for halibut fishing when the tide isn't slack. They work good for that purpose when the lines are down on the bottom etc. I think you should invest in one that will do the job for an overnight fish but I think it would be a pain for drift / jig fishing for tuna. Just going from experience with the live bait thing down South with Shawn. They like to go everywhere once hooked up! IMO just keep drifting and don't have the sea anchor out. They will follow your chum trail and won't have anything in the way to tangle your lines or get caught up etc.

 

[GDW]

I am having trouble picturing how this would work. Will it really slow down the drift?

In my mind if the current is moving 2kts your boat AND the sea anchor will be moving 2kts how can the anchor slow you down when its being pushed at the same rate as the boat?

If the boat is moving due to wind then that is a different story.

 

[finaddict]

I am having trouble picturing how this would work. Will it really slow down the drift?

In my mind if the current is moving 2kts your boat AND the sea anchor will be moving 2kts how can the anchor slow you down when its being pushed at the same rate as the boat?

If the boat is moving due to wind then that is a different story.

They manage the wind drift, not the current drift