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10-11-2009, 06:29 AM | #1 |
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Pulling mooring ball for winter, why?
First year with a mooring ball. I see the navigation markers etc in lake year round with no obvious harm. Well at least the no rafting marker in front of house. Should I pull ball, why? It has very heavy duty tackle.
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10-11-2009, 06:55 AM | #2 |
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I have seen the ice trap mooring balls and release them some distance from where they started. Even heavy chain may not act heavy when the ball is entrapped in a solid block of ice the size of the Lake.
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10-11-2009, 11:32 AM | #3 |
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The ice flow can move the mooring ball and could even snap your anchor chain.
If you don't want to pull the mooring anchor you might run a cable on the lake bed from the anchor chain where it attaches to your mooring ball and run it to a tree or something on the shore then remove the float. That might be a way to protect your mooring now and it would be dryer for you when you want to reattach the mooring ball in the spring. |
10-11-2009, 11:48 AM | #4 |
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I would hate to see an unsuspecting snowmobiler hit a mooring ball while riding on the lake...
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10-11-2009, 04:12 PM | #5 |
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Pulling mooring ball ...
Pulling the mooring ball makes good sense for all the reasons listed in previous posts. However, I always found that pulling the mooring ball gave me a good chance to inspect the mooring tackle at the end of the season and make whatever repairs were necessary before using the system the next spring. Running a cable back to a tree or a piling is good sense, a lot better that trying to grapple for it in the spring when the water is sooooooooo coooooooold.
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10-11-2009, 07:56 PM | #6 |
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We always pull ours, I did mine yesterday in the wind. We tie a rope to the chain, remove the ball, drop it to the bottom and tie it off to a tree on shore or the dock. This year I got smart and weighted the usually floating poly rope to sink it and keep it from getting clipped by the typical boater cutting the corner by our house.
Some people just drop them with rope and milk jugs however these make perfect targets for snowmobilers. Using poly is smart, if the rope is cut by a prop it will still float off the bottom and is usually reachable a few feet down. |
10-12-2009, 02:53 PM | #7 |
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Based on our extensive collection, I assume we probably all find free boat bumpers floating in the lake. We swap the mooring ball for one of these floats. The weight of the chain pulls the float under to a level where the float displacement is equal to the weight of the chain. If you pick the size right, this could be about 3-4 feet below the surface. A rope loop is tied on the top end of the float. The float can be grabbed with a hook in the spring. We were always concerned with the standard line to the shore being pulled away by the ice flow but our location is a bit tough.
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10-12-2009, 03:33 PM | #8 |
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Right On R-Guy!
Yeah - what R-Guy said.
If you are in an area that has ice flows in the spring, you should definitely remove it. Our neighbor out on The Broads did leave his in for a few years, but then the ice stole it away. |
10-13-2009, 02:10 PM | #9 |
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Clorox Jug
Seems to be a bit thicker and sturdier than a milk jug. I also float the jug about a foot and a half below the surface tied to the chain with an old water ski rope. Retreive it easily with a boat hook. Works like a charm for years out on the Broads.
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10-13-2009, 08:38 PM | #10 |
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jugs under water bad idea
Jugs that mooring owners float a few feet under the surface present HUGE problems for spring fishermen. These are often unseen when trolling and catch lures being trolled. I'm not sure it's legal to use this technique anyway. Moorings must have an approved tag. Winter jugs are a fisherman's nightmare and quite possibly a navigational hazard. Any legal beagles out there who may know more on how the law defines/allows this winter jug usage??
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10-13-2009, 10:43 PM | #11 |
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I thought the mooring balls and winter jugs a few feet below the surface would be to close to shore to pose a risk to a fisherman that is trolling. Am I wrong in thinking this way?
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10-21-2009, 05:45 PM | #12 | |
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Quote:
I can't see how fisherman trolling would be an issue. As pointed out in the inital post there are plenty more markers in the middle of the lake year round, where these are close to shore. Unless a fisherman is 25 feet off my dock (which would also be very difficult to troll by) I think you would be fine.
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10-21-2009, 07:31 PM | #13 |
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Although I have plenty of water off my dock, my moorings are 90 feet from shore. I have had boat during the normal season cut inside my moorings as they round the corner of Mark. Fisherman are always out trolling by within 30 feet from my dock. Two years ago I got a fish hook in my hand pulling up my mooring to install the ball. It was stuck in the rope tied to the chain.
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10-21-2009, 08:13 PM | #14 |
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winter jugs
spring fisherpersons (how's that for PC?!?) fish close to shore as that's where the fish are. Fishing in 4 or 5 feet of water, close to shore, is common. Why couldn't a mooring ball owner run a sinking line from the mooring along the bottom towards shore and have a weighted end laying in 4 feet of water. Wouldn't that be just as easy to retrieve as a winter jug 4 feet under the water a hundred feet from shore?...and it wouldn't be a fishing line catcher.
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10-22-2009, 07:03 AM | #15 | |
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Quote:
I drop the end of the chain in about 3' of water near my shoreline and pull it up with an iron rake in the Spring. |
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10-22-2009, 07:27 AM | #16 | |
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Quote:
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10-22-2009, 07:56 AM | #17 |
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