I'd gotten energized over the prospect of moving a boulder on my property that's plagued me for many years. It's been a nuisance during every boat-launch from my steep shoreline. It was once a part of an old rock wall, and delivered by dump truck in the winter. (The delivery predated "bubblers"). The idea of adding "fish structure" as well, was particularly appealing.
"Do it for the fishes"...
So, Sunday, I pried it off the shoreline into knee-deep water that just covered it—wrapped ordinary tire chain around it, and pulled away. (About 15 feet
).
A coal shovel with an open handle was then jammed underneath the boulder, and the rope run through the handle. Any shovel will work using a
timber hitch to keep it aligned.
This "shovel-sled" allowed dragging this tear-shaped boulder (about two bread-baskets in size
) under our dock, where it got stuck again on an existing rock pile. I then brought our aluminum canoe over, turned it sideways, tipped it 'way over, and secured one
thwart to the heavy rope. Another rope was tied to the opposite end of the thwart and pulled, leveraging and lifting the boulder over the rock pile. The boulder was then moved about 100 feet to where abundant rock structure was already located.
If your boulder is in deeper water, one can use the canoe as a float (as suggested above). Lacking a wire winch, you can sink the canoe down to the attached boulder—secure it—and bail it out to lift the rock. The boulder can then be floated to where it's no longer an obstruction—and becomes useful fish "structure".
.