I like the rubber coated river anchors too.Nothing wrong with whatever you want to fab to whatever works for you. I like them because they are fairly inexpensive and they don't take up much space.And you can pick one up at a lot of places.Also....they are really good for anchoring on say a lake without always having to use a lot of line.

When I fished a lot in the dam tailraces and places on the Mississippi,Ohio river and such that were full of snag hazards...especially old cable and ropes and nets and things like that....we always used something cheap because you are going to lose some.An old section of train rail or other scrap heavy metal was always popular around here.Something you could get for next to nothing. We have even been known to just use a rock off the rip rap banks.If the bottom has a lot of old heavy fishing line and ropes,old trot lines,sections of old trammel or gill nets, barge lines,cables...etc. there's no such thing as an anchor that is always retrievable.