Fixing to rig up anchor to my ascend. Would it be best to have it deploy from front or back of kayak?

It would be best to have it deploy from your anchor trolley, then you can move it wherever you need it.

In my opinon, best thing I've put on my kayak, especially with the wind North Texas gets.

I have to agree with one of the best additions you can make to your yak. Fished for a couple of months without one, but now don't think I'd fish without it

I haven't installed a trolley yet, I have a snap latch on one of the rearward eyes. Keep in mind while using it, try to tie it off in a quick release knot. I have a float tied to the loose end and if anything were to happen, a quick tug and it will come loose, but the float will keep the rope up where you can find it later

The "trolley" installation is the most advantageous approach because it allows you to let the wind position your boat according to the direction you're wanting to fish. If you need to fish down wind, you move the anchor's trolley ring to the back of the boat. If you need to fish into the wind, you move the anchor's trolley ring to the front of the boat. And for some reason that whole trolley install and how to use it thing just had my brain stumped at first. Then the light turned on. The trolley is basically nothing more than a rope in a big circle or loop and where the two ends meet you tie each one to some kind of a ring. Then, whereas you could feed your anchor rope right through that ring, best is to feed the rope through a carabiner and then snap the carabiner onto the trolley ring. That way,like Jtrussell says, tie a float to the other end of the anchor rope so that you can disconnect from the anchor line if needed and the float will hold it there. Depending on how elaborate you want to build your trolley (some go with pulley's, etc.) the rope or cord used can make a difference. I didn't use any pulleys but just padeyes and a ring. The kind of cord supplied in the anchor trolley kit from Academy slides through the padeyes and ring quite smoothly. Other kinds of marine rope I've used didn't slide so well in that type of connection and thus it really took some strength to slide the trolley back and forth. Plenty of youtube illustrations on building and using one. Has been a necessity to say the least whenever I get to fish (always working the nice calm days!). An anchor trolley system and a brush grabber get a ton of use on most of my excursions. I never thought of attaching my brush grabber to the trolley till someone mentioned that on this forum the other day. But that sounds like a good idea in some instances.

I have a trolley on both sides of my Cuda. I've had days where I hate the things. I've had days where they worked great. I've seen a couple rigs, where they have a half barbell, with a rope that goes through an eye placed at the bow, and some with a rig at the bow, and stern. It's permanently routed to drop from this locations. It looks like it may be a very convenient set up. It does, however, limit you to anchoring form the end of the boat, and they kind of have to be on one side, or the other.

I like the Native trolly package. It has a nylon ring, which is much quieter, and lighter than a brass, or steel ring.

I have clam cleats on both sides of my boat, and hate tying to my trolley ring to deploy my anchor, so I'm going to try this. Of course, if you need a quick release I guess you're kind of screwed. I really like the idea of the camjam, but haven't found one to handle anything but really small diameter rope.

I use the devices in the link below. They come in 2 sizes to accomodate different rope sizes.
http://www.niteize.com/product/Figure-9-Carabiner-Small.asp

I found out that a carabiner is a poor choice in this setup if you are fishing BTB (beyond the breakers in the surf). The constant wave action caused the carabiner to open and release the anchor line a few times for me so I switched to a metal circle. A locking caribiner would work, too.

It's probably not a problem if you are fishing the bay or lake. Just my experience

Yep I use the same niteize figure 9 carabiner attached to a nylon ring as Jerry... I use the floating marine anchor rope... I don't bother with attaching a float it just gets in the way for me personally but a lot of guys like it. I think if you went after big cats and gar and the like it might make sense but in bass fishing it's not an issue. I have had it come undone and the floating rope was easy to retrieve. I use a 5 lb dumbbell for light wind and a 10 lb for over 15 mph... I'm not a big fan of the grappling style anchors because of the way they collect grass and get hung up in tree rots and rocks, but they are much lighter and capable of holding in spite of the light weight. Just a personal preference thing... I keep waiting for a kayak accessory company to come up with a floating plastic rope wind that you can quickly 'crank' the excess anchor line into but no one's come out with one yet.... The dog leash is a great idea but the springs rust pretty quick, the length is very limited and that rope doesn't float...

My anchor line came on a winder from Walmart that floats. Good to know about those figure nine biners, I didn't think they'd hold an anchor line.

Caught a good deal at acadamy today. Was browsing around and noticed they had the yak gear deluxe anchor trolley kit marked for19.99! I was thinking they usually run for 30-40. So I pick one up. Go to checkout, it rings up like$36! I tell the cashier no way it's 19.99. Sure enough he goes and finds it, calls the manager over and gives it to me for 19.99. Seems the stocker put it on the wrong peg . Tried to buy another but they said it would have to be at full price. Sorry about their misfortune, but it's nice when things go your way sometimes.

James