It seems like 90% of the time I anchor from the back of the boat anyway, why not just run the anchor line around the pulley on the stern and be done with it? When it am fishing a shore line, or maybe a bu ch of piers, I seem to always be dragging the line to the back of the boat, cleat it off, pull the line back and move down 20 yards and do it again. Instead of pulling the anchor back on the boat during moves, why not just pull it up to the back pulley and be in position to drop it at will when I get to the next stop? What am I missing?

If you are the type that might pull the trolley to the forward position, why not have a second anchor and some parachord going to the front pulley?

Depends.

Mine is very useful in wind. If I am trying to fish a spot on a spot and the shifts I can make a small adjustment and keep the casting angle I like.

Also you can go from anchoring off the front to the back in 10 seconds. I LOVE mine.

But be aware anchoring a yak is always a bit sketchy. My anchor has the first 4 feet as bungee. You want this in case of a swell. If you get an anchor stuck hard and a big swell hits you... its all bad. Some guys will never anchor for that reason.

I like the heavy duty clamp on a carabiner as well. Works great clipped to a tree, doc, stick under the water, a rock etc. etc. and then use the trolley to get the angle you want no matter what the wind direction.

I don’t disagree with you, but if you have your cleat right by your side, just give it some slack when you see the rollers coming and then dog it back down when it’s safe.

It would also be easy to have a second anchor off the bow pulley. Just drop the one you need.

I use mine every trip, but not so much with an anchor but with my stakeout pole. I have a 6' tether on my pole, clip it to the trolley and can position the yak pointing upwind or downwind, or somewhere in between. I have a light chain anchor that is off the stern that gets used in deeper water a separate heavy chain anchor that gets used with the trolley if its too windy for the light anchor or if I really want to position the yak into the wind on a deep spot. Most of the time the big anchor just stays in its bag.

If used right they can be a huge plus. I won't have a kayak without one. I actually prefer one on each side for when I'm drifting and dragging a drift sock.

This^^^

I fish mainly open water structure in lakes, and even a slight wind will blow a kayak around unless you are fishing in still protected waters.
With an achor trolley, It's easy to just clip in and clip out using an anchor trolley.
My anchor line is wrapped around a float so that I can unreel how much line I want out, and then clip the line so it doesn't continue to unwind depending on the depth, and then clip the float to the anchor trolley.
If you hook a good sized fish and want to keep it from getting wrapped in your anchor line, all you do is unclip and having a float already attached to your anchor line you can then drift away and fight the fish, and after landing it you paddle back to your float and reattach by clipping in to your anchor line and continue to fish.
Nobody says you have to have an anchor trolley, but I prefer fishing over wrestling with an anchor rope.

Yes, one is worth it. After 11 yrs of kayaking, I installed mine this past November and I did not know why I took so long. I actually purchased one a few years ago but was too scared to drill the holes. As someone mentioned, it's great because you can position the yak in a safe position when the wind and tide are a factor. Also, do not forget about boat wakes.

I will not chime in on anchors because I don't use one for my fishing habits. However, I will give a +1 to Dan on the clamp idea. I really like my clamp.

I fish primarily for bass and crappie. When bass fishing, I am almost always on the move... I used my flippers (I'm a Hobie guy) to hold a position for a few casts and then move on down the bank. At times I would like to hold over submerged cover... but not enough for me to commit to an anchor (yet )

However, when crappie fishing, I often want to hang in one position for extended periods of time... 95% of the time this is surrounded by standing timber, tall grass, bridge piling, etc. This is when a clamp shines.

I keep this clamp ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000AZ9UR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) tied to about 25' of paracord in my center hatch. It stores easily and grabs way tighter than it looks. I can even grab grass with it and "jam" it into cracks in concrete pilings. Also, if the piling is smallish, I can sometimes "whip" it around the piling to wrap it around the piling... to be honest, I have hit myself in the head more than once while doing so... LOL!

If my fishing habits change, I might install an anchor trolly at some point in the future. For now, I'm sticking with the simple clamp.

I had hoped to go out tonight and see if my anchor off the back idea was flawed but I did not get to go. Maybe tomorrow, I can see if cutting the trolley line was a mistake. I can always rig it back up. I will still be using the pulley I installed but instead of having to slide the line to the back of the boat, I will be dropping the anchor straight down from the same place I normally end up cleating it off. Normally in my yak, I approach my target with the wind at my back. My way of thinking is if I always anchor from the back, why have to slide the trolley to the back each time I drop anchor? Going pier to pier to flip a jig, the water depth typically doesn’t change that much so I keep using the same 15 feet of line over and over. Why not just drop the anchor straight up and down instead of having to pull the anchor back in the boat? The fancy talon types of power poles are always on the back of the boat, why not just use the anchor back there?

Don't get me started on anchors... I despise them. Started carrying one around again after banning them from my kayaks for many years. Rarely use it. Prefer brush clip, stake out pole or just letting wind blow me against something versus dealing with an anchor and rope. Carried an Alabama rig for first time in years that I had also banned from my kayak, the other day. It has been banned again.

Who was it that borrowed my heavy anchor on Palestine?

no anchors for me

I'm just now outfitting my kayak for, mainly, crappie and blue gill fishing. I've researched anchors on the net and really am a bit confused. What I've read is that your anchor line should be 5 to 7 times your depth. So if your crappie are holding in 30 ft water, your anchor line needs to be, 150 ft long? So you move off 50 yards up wind, drop anchor and then paddle back to the fishing spot? This just doesn't seem right. And then there's the issue of managing 150 ft of line. What am I missing? Thanks.

if you do it by the book.. yes. If you don't, you still have to manage your anchor line and changing wind/current. Its why I rarely anchor to fish. Once dropped a 10 lb anchor with less line than depth. Once had fish tangled around anchor line in shark infested waters. Once had 4 feet of anchor rope tied off in three feet of water when big boat made huge wake. Couldn't detach anchor line as I was handcuffed with three prong in hand while attached to fish.. other hand busy strangling thrashing fish. I prefer to fish a different way that doesn't require an anchor. I do use brush clips and stake out poles with short bungee to anchor trolley. An old timer many years ago told me to never use an anchor in a kayak. I didn't understand why such an experienced guy would say that. Now I know.

Yeh, sounds like an anchor can be a real pain. But something else I've considered, thinking out of the box, is to use a deep sea, bait casting fishing reel and spool it with 500 pound mono as the anchor line. Have to find some way to attach it to the kayak, but another draw back, on the less expensive reels, is that you are only retrieving about 3 ft of line with each crank of the handle. I guess short term, I'll be fishing without an anchor.