Moynagh: How Important Are High-Tech Shallow-Water Anchors?

The evolution of fishing gear continually evolves to further enhance our enjoyment of the sport. For example, shallow-water anchors (Minn Kota Talons and the Power-Pole) that mount to a boat's transom have in recent years become real popular.

And the trend now is to mount two of them so that they hold the boat in a fixed position, preventing any bow swing. And, of course, this doubles your cost! I have used them myself now for several years, and I often get asked questions about them by fishermen.

They want to know if the expense of shallow-water anchors justifies what they provide the angler. So allow me to address that from my experiences.

It all boils down to how serious you are about bass fishing and what's in your bank account, I guess. Shallow-water anchors provide advantages in certain niches of bass fishing and are a must for serious tournament fishermen when such conditions arise.

Here are some prime examples where they allow an angler to better their catch:

Bed Fishing

Catching bass off of a spawning bed is an art that requires among other things stealth. Some bass are easy to catch off beds, but many are a bit wary and these anchors often make the difference between a catch and a non-catch. By deploying the anchors, you won't have to touch your trolling motor again until you catch the bedded bass and move on to the next one. This is key because every time you operate the trolling motor around a wary, bedded bass, that bass will be on alert and not very cooperative. I think the movement of the boat and the noises from the trolling motor both contribute to the bass's wariness.

And making matters worse sometimes is when the trolling motor blows silt and debris off the bottom and clouds the water. That's maddening as you strain your eyes to try and see the bed and bass through the murky water! However, by staying off the trolling motor, the bass often grows accustomed to your presence, calms down, and begins to actively respond to your angling presentations. An angler could use traditional anchors fore and aft on the boat and accomplish the same thing, however, this old system is less efficient and more cumbersome. With the switches on shallow-water anchors, they can be deployed the instant a bed is spotted and prevent your boat from encroaching farther onto the bedding area.

Shallow, Windy Grass Flats

As good as trolling motors are these days at chewing through grass, they still can get bogged down in heavy vegetation. An angler will cause a lot of disturbance as the trolling motor chugs through the grass along with the occasional lift-clear-and-redeployment of the trolling motor. Plus an angler has to fish into the wind to avoid blowing through productive areas before making enough casts. Even more, fishing into the wind is a bit more challenging as compared to fishing straight down wind. What the shallow-water anchor allows you to do is be stealthier in this situation.

First, set up the bow of the boat so that you can cast downwind. Then you simply deploy the anchors, make the necessary casts, pull-up the anchors, let the wind push you along a bit, and then redeploy the anchors. By repeating this cycle, you will cover a windy grass flat with much better efficiency and stealth. This will result in a better catch! This same process can be achieved with a traditional anchor hung off the back of the boat; you'll just need a gullible buddy with strong forearms to keep lifting and lowering it!

Rivers

In many rivers, bass often school up on shallow current seams. Having shallow-water anchors allows you to achieve better efficiency at catching these bass. Oftentimes when fishing current, a very specific angled cast through the target area is greatly more effective. If you figure this angle out, by deploying the anchors and holding your boat in a fixed position, this will allow you to continually duplicate the cast angle that seems to be preferred. Additionally, your boat will not drift away whenever you need to step down from the deck of the boat to re-rig, grab a tool, deal with a fish, or whatever. Again, a traditional anchor can achieve the same thing here, but won't be nearly as hassle-free.

Saturating a Shallow Area With Multiple Casts

Often times in the case of flippin' and pitchin', anglers will want to flip every conceivable nook and cranny of the cover when they feel they have discovered a sweet spot or zone. By locking your boat in position, total dissection of the cover can be accomplished without the boat accidentally drifting up too close and spooking bass.

Besides providing advantages in specific angling situations, shallow-water anchors also provide some general boating conveniences as well.

Advantages of Shallow-Water Anchors

• Docking - Shallow-water anchors are super handy when you are launching/loading your boat by yourself. It is so easy to pull up to a dock and simply deploy the anchors. Go ahead and leave those ropes in the compartments.
• Beaching - How many times have you beached your boat only to discover later that wave/wind action has carried your boat offshore! I've had to swim and retrieve my boat more than once because of this! This is no longer an issue when you deploy the anchors after beaching the boat.
• Staging - In tournaments, contestants often have to stage and wait before tournament take-off and then again at the end of the day while waiting for dock space or a launch ramp to open up. They are very convenient for this because instead of staying on the trolling motor, you can anchor up and relax and tend to other matters like your thirst, hunger, and/or equipment.

Disadvantages of Shallow-Water Anchors

So are there any disadvantages to shallow-water anchors? Yes, and here they are:

• The Cost - People have been catching fish for years without these things, so if you have limited funds, and don't have more than $1K to spend on one, use the funds towards other more important types of fishing equipment first.
• Limited to Shallow Water - If you rarely fish shallow water, then obviously you don't need them because they aren't going to reach bottom.
• Affect Boat Performance (maybe) - Bass boats are touchy about how they perform and I know when the weight from these anchors is added to my transom, my hole shot lags a bit more.
• Hinderance/an Obstacle - These things stick high off the transom and can get in the way of an angler fishing from the back deck. They also catch on low overhanging tree limbs, dock cables, and whatnot. A couple of years ago I finished well in a tournament on Grand Lake, Oklahoma when the water levels had risen to flood shoreline trees and bushes. I removed my shallow-water anchors so they wouldn't keep hanging up on the overhanging branches. This allowed me to more easily slither through tighter spots in the trees and bushes. Ironically, in the same event, the winner praised his anchors for allowing him to better saturate prime sweet spots he was targeting in the flooded shorelines.

Determining whether to buy shallow-water anchors (such as the Minn Kota Talons or the Power-Pole) comes down to budget and your level of seriousness with bass fishing. They offer strategic advantages in niche situations for tournament anglers, so just about every professional has them mounted to their transom.

If you aren't presented with the fishing scenarios highlighted above and need to hold costs down, then I would skip from purchasing this equipment. Put your money towards your other gear first. After all, how many millions of bass had been caught before these high-tech anchors ever showed up?