Got schooled on lift bag sizing after a near miss in the Gulf

I always thought a 50-pound lift bag would handle any small job, but last month off the Texas coast, I tried to bring up a 90-pound anchor and it shot to the surface way too fast. Scared the hell out of me and nearly took my arm off when the line snapped. Anyone else learn this lesson the hard way or have a rule for sizing bags to load weight?

2 comments

2 Comments

miles79818d ago

Dang man, I feel that. That's a scary close call and I'm glad you're okay. I had a similar thing happen with a lobster trap off Florida, thought a lift bag rated for 50 would be fine for a 70 pound trap and it came up like a rocket, hit my hand and nearly broke my fingers. Now I just double the bag rating for anything heavy, like if the anchor is 90 I'd use a bag rated for 150 or even 200. The speed difference is huge when you oversize it, and that extra margin keeps everything controlled. Plus those anchors are dense and hard to judge weight when they're all muddy and crusted over. Always better to have a bag that's too big and just bleed some air out slowly than to undersize and risk getting hurt.

marywells17d ago

Yo @miles798, did you ever try using a carry bag for something you found that was way heavier than you thought? I had this one time in the keys where I grabbed what I thought was a small concrete block and it turned out to be part of an old mooring, probably 120 pounds. I didn't have a lift bag at all so I just tied a line to my kayak and tried to drag it up, almost flipped the whole boat. Ended up leaving it there and told myself next time I'd just bring two bags and take my time like you said. That line snapping thing you mentioned gives me chills just thinking about it, glad you're still kicking.