Decoy Question

[ilhnter]

This will be my first full duck season. I went a few times last year with some buddies, but this year I'm ready to go. I bought some decoys, but my only question is how long should I make the line with the weight? Should I make it as deep as the water i'm going to be hunting in or does it not matter how long it is?

[dogdoc]

I always add extra decoy string. I then use a "Decoy Depth Adjuster" below the weight. That way I can adjust the depth of the my weight for the depth of water I am hunting.

The way I do it is tie the cord to the decoy then slide the weght onto the string/cord. Then I put the adjuster clamp on and tie and slip not on the end of the string. The weight is put on like a Texas rig worm weight--so the weight can slide up and down the cord. Then you just move the adjust up so that there is an extra foot or two of cord. So if the water is 2 feet deep I like to have my line about 3 feet so I get good movement on the water (as long as there is wind). I usually put about 4 to 5 feet of line on my decoys. Here is what the depth adjusters look like. You can buy them at any sporting goods store that sells waterfowl decoys. I got mine at wal-mart:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20712-cat20829&id=0029292224270a&navCount=4&podId=0029292&parentId=cat20829&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=XH&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat20829&hasJS=true

[camoman1]

Alot depends on what kind of water you are hunting over... The same rules apply to decoys as with boats. When its really rough out, more anchor rope is usually needed to keep your boat from lifting the anchor off the bottom a bit and then drifting a few inches.(with each wave). I normally hunt over about 5-6 ft of water, and my anchor lines are about 8-9ft long. This keeps them put in rough water, and allows me to hunt the deeper spots as long as the water isnt rolling.

[Guest bigalt78]

we always adjust for the water that we're hunting.

[Leo]

You really need to have no less than 1.5x the depth anchor cord on your decoys. IME, that's absolute minimum. Even then if the wind picks up you could be chasing dekes.

2x is a better average to shoot for. IE. 5ft water 10ft cord.

If you're mostly chasing puddle ducks you generally won't be throwing out the dekes in more than 5ft of water. Puddle ducks can't feed in water deeper than 18inches. Shallow sets have always worked better for me on puddlers.

Divers like the deeper stuff.

5ft cords on puddlers and 10ft cords on divers has long been my standard.