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I don't know where the decoy forum is, if there is one but this gets more traffic anyways. So,what is your favorite type of line to rig your decoys with? I'm looking for something better. I used to use cabelas mono but it got too many kinks when wrapped around the keel. What do y'all like to use?

Texas rig!

400lbs mono fishing line Texas rig

I went to all Texas rigging. I'd say if you hunt 6' of water or less, this is DEFINITELY the way to go, hands down.

Never use nylon string. I like the green tangle free stuff. If you Texas rig I know guys who like a light cable.

Tanglefree is awesome. Never kinks...

Bad17 wrote:400lbs mono fishing line Texas rig

This for sure.

Yep

Does the mono kink?

I either have Texas rigs or the regular decoy line for longer rigging. Don't usually worry too much about knots, just tighten then up to be tiny and keep going.

Pintail wrote:Does the mono kink?

No, not 300 or 400 pound.

assateague wrote:

Pintail wrote:Does the mono kink?

No, not 300 or 400 pound.

X2

Texas Rigging. Here's who I bought mine from:
http://www.decoyweight.com/

Jim Porter is a great person to deal with and makes a quality rig. I bought my first dozen from him last year and Was really impressed. Just ordered 3 more dozen for the rest of my dekes, this year. Should be getting them sometime next week.

SNLcorp sells bulk 400lb mono. It does have some memory if you wrap it around the keel. Mono works best for Texas rigging.

My decoys are rigged up about as "whiskey tango" as decoys can be rigged.
I haven't seen where Texas rigging would work or be beneficial to how I hunt.
I don't bag my decoys. I built a "compartment" between my back bench seat, and the middle seat and they just get thrown in there. I think Texas rigged decoys would make that a pain.

So, I've always used tangle free.

If you're going to wrap the keel I like the PVC decoy line. I know a lot of guys don't like it, but I've never had a problem. Doesn't tangle and has a bit of stretch to get the weight tight to the keel. It will break if you pull to hard, but it takes some pulling to do that.
200# dracon line works good, but it's hard to find in non-fluorescent colors. It's used a lot for bowfishing, and I use it all the time on my bows. Knots come undone easy, and it has almost no memory. But they would have to be tarred to dull down the color.

If anyone else stores their Texas rigs like that, I'm all ears. I'm always looking for ways to simplify, but I just don't see how it'd make anything easier when I just throw them in the boat..??

Quick funny story...
My son has duck hunted with me since he was just a little shit, and he absolutely detests picking up decoys.
So, a few years ago, he concocts this decoy retrieval plan...
He grabs the coil of rope I keep in the boat and has me hold one end, we then walk out past the furthest decoy and walk toward the boat basically "bulldozering" all of the decoys toward the boat!
He got points for ingenuity,...but,...epic fail!!

R. Chapman wrote:Texas Rigging. Here's who I bought mine from:
http://www.decoyweight.com/

Jim Porter is a great person to deal with and makes a quality rig. I bought my first dozen from him last year and Was really impressed. Just ordered 3 more dozen for the rest of my dekes, this year. Should be getting them sometime next week.

I disagree with you, swivels and clips are a pain in the butt and get caught on things and snagged on the lines. 4 oz egg weights aren't big enough in the wind and won't hold well on a hard sand bottom.

Use 400 lb mono with a loop on one end that you can put four fingers through. Drill a small hole just over the size of the mono in the keel of the decoy and stick the mono through. On the non loop end of the mono use a 6-8 oz mushroom weight. Use aluminum sleeves and crimp the loop and anchor. If you prefer a larger hole in the keel (line runs through better) you will have to place a small washer on the line on either side of the hole in the keel.

Don't disagree with Rex and his Texas rig craftsman Jim Porter.

Tanglefree works great for me. Especially where I hunt, there is lots of lava rock and snags at the bottom, so if a weight gets stuck in deep water I can just break it off.

RonE wrote:

R. Chapman wrote:Texas Rigging. Here's who I bought mine from:
http://www.decoyweight.com/

Jim Porter is a great person to deal with and makes a quality rig. I bought my first dozen from him last year and Was really impressed. Just ordered 3 more dozen for the rest of my dekes, this year. Should be getting them sometime next week.

I disagree with you, swivels and clips are a pain in the butt and get caught on things and snagged on the lines. 4 oz egg weights aren't big enough in the wind and won't hold well on a hard sand bottom.

Use 400 lb mono with a loop on one end that you can put four fingers through. Drill a small hole just over the size of the mono in the keel of the decoy and stick the mono through. On the non loop end of the mono use a 6-8 oz mushroom weight. Use aluminum sleeves and crimp the loop and anchor. If you prefer a larger hole in the keel (line runs through better) you will have to place a small washer on the line on either side of the hole in the keel.

the loop sticking above the water line would drive me nuts

RonE wrote:

R. Chapman wrote:Texas Rigging. Here's who I bought mine from:
http://www.decoyweight.com/

Jim Porter is a great person to deal with and makes a quality rig. I bought my first dozen from him last year and Was really impressed. Just ordered 3 more dozen for the rest of my dekes, this year. Should be getting them sometime next week.

I disagree with you, swivels and clips are a pain in the butt and get caught on things and snagged on the lines. 4 oz egg weights aren't big enough in the wind and won't hold well on a hard sand bottom.

Use 400 lb mono with a loop on one end that you can put four fingers through. Drill a small hole just over the size of the mono in the keel of the decoy and stick the mono through. On the non loop end of the mono use a 6-8 oz mushroom weight. Use aluminum sleeves and crimp the loop and anchor. If you prefer a larger hole in the keel (line runs through better) you will have to place a small washer on the line on either side of the hole in the keel.

Ron,

I'm not using egg weights. He's making me 3.5 feet line with 6 oz mushroom weights. The clip itself is clipped onto the decoy. Works for me.

R. Chapman wrote:

RonE wrote:

R. Chapman wrote:Texas Rigging. Here's who I bought mine from:
http://www.decoyweight.com/

Jim Porter is a great person to deal with and makes a quality rig. I bought my first dozen from him last year and Was really impressed. Just ordered 3 more dozen for the rest of my dekes, this year. Should be getting them sometime next week.

I disagree with you, swivels and clips are a pain in the butt and get caught on things and snagged on the lines. 4 oz egg weights aren't big enough in the wind and won't hold well on a hard sand bottom.

Use 400 lb mono with a loop on one end that you can put four fingers through. Drill a small hole just over the size of the mono in the keel of the decoy and stick the mono through. On the non loop end of the mono use a 6-8 oz mushroom weight. Use aluminum sleeves and crimp the loop and anchor. If you prefer a larger hole in the keel (line runs through better) you will have to place a small washer on the line on either side of the hole in the keel.

Ron,

I'm not using egg weights. He's making me 3.5 feet line with 6 oz mushroom weights. The clip itself is clipped onto the decoy. Works for me.

You will rue the day you selected clips and swivles but I wish you all the luck in the world. The link you posted showed egg weights. You are hunting pretty deep water with three and a half foot lines.

Have I missed the post where Pintail's told us how much line she needs on her decoys?

Texas rigging can be a fine thing for shallow water, but I'd draw the line at 5' and prefer them shorter, because even that's a pain to toss and complicates transport and storage.

I've also found Tanglefree problematic. Though it doesn't seem to break in the cold like GHG pvc line, rodents think it's spaghetti. Once told Rod Haydel they'd cut it on decoys stored in my blind and shed, and he reckoned that explained the decoy weights they'd been finding on nutria mounds.

Best thing I've found for deep water is heavy gauge braided nylon or tarred twisted nylon of approximately the same diameter as Tanglefree or slightly larger. Thinner line is a tangle waiting to happen - and be cut out when it won't untangle.

Rick wrote:Have I missed the post where Pintail's told us how much line she needs on her decoys?

Texas rigging can be a fine thing for shallow water, but I'd draw the line at 5' and prefer them shorter, because even that's a pain to toss and complicates transport and storage.

I've also found Tanglefree problematic. Though it doesn't seem to break in the cold like GHG pvc line, rodents think it's spaghetti. Once told Rod Haydel they'd cut it on decoys stored in my blind and shed, and he reckoned that explained the decoy weights they'd been finding on nutria mounds.

Best thing I've found for deep water is heavy gauge braided nylon or tarred twisted nylon of approximately the same diameter as Tanglefree or slightly larger. Thinner line is a tangle waiting to happen - and be cut out when it won't untangle.

Sounds like you have an Assa sized rat problem.

Best thing I have ever run on my decoys ,tanglefree pvc line ,the bungee at the end and a j weight .

Pintail wrote:I don't know where the decoy forum is, if there is one but this gets more traffic anyways. So,what is your favorite type of line to rig your decoys with? I'm looking for something better. I used to use cabelas mono but it got too many kinks when wrapped around the keel. What do y'all like to use?

Wrap it around the neck instead of the keel... rounded surface should equal no kinks

Goldfish wrote:

RonE wrote:

R. Chapman wrote:Texas Rigging. Here's who I bought mine from:
http://www.decoyweight.com/

Jim Porter is a great person to deal with and makes a quality rig. I bought my first dozen from him last year and Was really impressed. Just ordered 3 more dozen for the rest of my dekes, this year. Should be getting them sometime next week.

I disagree with you, swivels and clips are a pain in the butt and get caught on things and snagged on the lines. 4 oz egg weights aren't big enough in the wind and won't hold well on a hard sand bottom.

Use 400 lb mono with a loop on one end that you can put four fingers through. Drill a small hole just over the size of the mono in the keel of the decoy and stick the mono through. On the non loop end of the mono use a 6-8 oz mushroom weight. Use aluminum sleeves and crimp the loop and anchor. If you prefer a larger hole in the keel (line runs through better) you will have to place a small washer on the line on either side of the hole in the keel.

the loop sticking above the water line would drive me nuts

The loop doesn't stick above the water line on mine, not sure about Ron's.

Rick wrote:Have I missed the post where Pintail's told us how much line she needs on her decoys?

Texas rigging can be a fine thing for shallow water, but I'd draw the line at 5' and prefer them shorter, because even that's a pain to toss and complicates transport and storage.

I've also found Tanglefree problematic. Though it doesn't seem to break in the cold like GHG pvc line, rodents think it's spaghetti. Once told Rod Haydel they'd cut it on decoys stored in my blind and shed, and he reckoned that explained the decoy weights they'd been finding on nutria mounds.

Best thing I've found for deep water is heavy gauge braided nylon or tarred twisted nylon of approximately the same diameter as Tanglefree or slightly larger. Thinner line is a tangle waiting to happen - and be cut out when it won't untangle.

I typically hunt water about 5 feet deep which may be pushing the texas rig style.