In general, a single point anchor, like a CQR or Deepset Plow, should be best in hard and rocky or grassy bottoms where initial penetration is difficult; a fluke type anchor, like a Danforth will usually work best in softer bottoms, soft mud and sand for example, because of it's greater blade area. I have talked with several people who just love their Bruce.
I found in my long summers from NY to Maine and back that I had to switch between my 55 lb Deepset and my T4000 Danforth, and I even had my paper charts marked with the anchor I last used. Each of these anchors is one size larger than recommended for my 49 Hatt YF.
For example inside Cuttyhunk,Mass, and in Nantucket Harbor, both grassy bottoms, and just outside the Sag Harbor,NY breakwater where the bottom is extremely hard, maybe even shale, the Deepset plow worked best...but not necessarily after the wind shifted substantially.
On the other hand I could not get my Deepset Plow to ever hold in Ebencook Harbor near Boothbay Maine...that was the softest most watery mud I have ever come across...my Danforth must have gone down 10 feet!!!! The Danforth worked here just fine;but the Danforth would not even penetrate rocky bottoms....it just skidded along the bottom repeatedly.
When I anchored for weeks on end, for example in Nantucket Harbor, the only way I could hold in grassy conditions without worry was placing two Deepset Plow anchors so that as the tidal currents switched four times daily, each anchor took its turn being up current....I left extra scope so if strong winds came perpendicular to the regular currents, I'd hang with good effect on both anchors.
Whatever anchors you choose they have to be able to penetrate initially and then have a surface area adequate for the relative holding of that bottom.
