Leave that anchor and move!

Tuckertown Lake also has a great population of channel catfish; the better ones are caught in the same river-channel spots as flatheads, but they’re more likely to hit live shad than a crappie.

Former guide Stanley Correll has perfected the art of making small moves to fish new areas without having to pull up the two anchors with which he holds his pontoon boat in place.

Correll keeps anchors with about 250 feet of rope in both the bow and stern of his boat. When he approaches a spot on the main-river channel of Tuckertown Lake that he suspects is holding flathead catfish, he’ll drop the stern anchor well in advance, and when he grabs hold of the bottom, he’ll pay out more line until he’s passed well over the spot he wants to fish. At that point, he ties off the stern anchor and drops the bow anchor. When bow anchor is set, he’ll let out line in the bow and take up line in the stern, tying off both anchors when he’s over the spot he wants to fish.

If he wants to move 25 or 30 yards to fish an adjacent area, up or down or across the channel, he doesn’t have to pull up his anchors. He’ll simply untie the anchor line and use them to pull the boat in one direction or the other, then tie both of them off when he’s over his next spot.

Using this method, he can move his boat along a line approximately 150 yards line, tying off anywhere to put out baits around his boat.

About Dan Kibler 887 Articles
Dan Kibler is the former managing editor of Carolina Sportsman Magazine. If every fish were a redfish and every big-game animal a wild turkey, he wouldn’t ever complain. His writing and photography skills have earned him numerous awards throughout his career.

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