longlines question

[Mike Repp]

I have question for all those who use longlines. Do you tie your drops to the longline and then clip to your decoy? Or do you tie to your decoy, put a loop on the longline and clip to the loop? Whats worked best for you?

 

[Nate Grace]

Tie or hog ring and shrink tube attach to the decoy (about 3 ft. of line), and then long line clipped to the motherline. When you are pulling in the dekes, you want to be pulling the long line in only, and not the decoy line. Works better that way and not as much pulling and yanking on the decoys themselves.


Nate

 

[Troy Fields]

I have my droppers and clip attached to the decoys and then clip to the loop in the longline.

 

[Mike Repp]

Troy and Nate do you make a loop on the long line to clip too? If so how do you make your loop?

 

[Bill Burruss]

Mike,
I use 5" longline snaps that are tied to a 3' dropper, which are tied to the deke. Main lines are 1/4" braded nylon rope. The clips hold tight to the rope, so there is no real need for loops. I do put in an overhand knot at 20' from the front so that I know about where to start clipping dekes on. If you do a search, you can finde some older posts where members have demonstrated how to tie the droppers to the mainline without use of a snap.

-Bill

 

[Mike Repp]

thanks everyone I made some longlines last year but left the decoys attached and used tote pans to put them in. not the greatest way of doing it. I bought new longlines from Doctari and they just came in this afternoon, Bill I see exactly what you mean about the clip holding tight to the 1/4" rope. Makes sense now that I have the lines in hand. I wanted to start out right since I plan on using 3 - 5 longlines this year for the divers and I am hunting alone I wanted to see what other people were doing so I could make it as easy as possible. Just have to make anchors for the longlines, something a little better than using dumbbell weights like I used last year.

 

[Nate Grace]

Hi Mike,

No loop. Just clip right to the straight long line. My only experience is with putting out sea duck decoys. Space them about every 4-5 feet. Toss the long line with anchor, let out some scope, after about 40 feet, start clipping birds off to the long line as it pays out. You can make a loop at the very end of the long line and clip a last bird or sled. Makes it easier for picking up the rig once you are done. Just feed the lines into a 5 gallon bucket.



Nate

 

[Mike Repp]

thanks Nate I will be making up the rigs next week. I made a very crude attempt at making lines last year, just using regular decoy line. It worked but wasnt the best way. Thought I would do it right this year. I have hunted puddlers all my life and just used a 1/2 to 1 dozen divers periodically on the outskirts of the puddler spread on larger bodies of water. but never had tried longlines till last year. this year I wanted get serious and really do things right. thanks for the help

 

[Capt. Jack Passie]

I used to use dropper loops, but now I've improved on our lines. When Sea Duck gunning I run 4 strings of 24 stool each. I use #120 tarred line for my main lines and droppers from my stool. I start out with a long line clip tied at each end of my string. Simply tie 2 overhand knots about 2" apart every 6'o.c. and your stool wont slide and come out of tangles in a breeze. I use a very short lead from my stool to the main line about 8" including the longline clip. This eliminates may tangles I dont worry about my dogs tangleing up in them as I wait to send the dogs when the bird has drifted clear of the stool. We gun in a lot of tide here in Montauk so leaving the drops long serves no purpose. When the tide is running everything is on the surface. Get your longline clips from SNL Corp. in Sabastian Florida, and your tarred line from Memphis Net and Twine.

 

[gcs]

I'm the odd one out as I use no droppers, the main line is tied fore and aft of each decoy about 6' apart, the decoys are permanently attached and go into and out of the totes in order. Each fish tote holds about a dozen oversize decoys. There are NO tangles this way. I've tried short drops with longline clips, (on 3/16, 1/4" mainline they don't slip) and a friend tried some 30" drops on some of his last year, they were more trouble then they're worth.

You don't cross the lines with the boat anyway, you go up and down the lanes, and we don't use dogs, even if we did, the birds drift out of the rig fast enough with the tide that it wouldn't matter. Jackie is also right that in a current or tide, your line is on the surface anyway, doesn't bother the birds at all.

You can deploy and pick up a rig like this as fast as you can haul. They just need to go out and back in the proper order to be ready for the next set.

 

[Mark Welinski]

On Lake of the Woods where water can be 40' deep, I use a 300' braided polypropylene rope as my mother line, with net weights to hold it down so the dog can swim among the decoys on retrieves. I can motor among the decoys as well - attach 4' droppers with a loop tied at end on each decoy. I insert into the braided rope shower hooks every 10' or so - set upwind anchor on mother line, drift down and attach looped decoy droppers to shower hooks as boat drifts along. Drop downwind anchor in appropriate location to create straight line, J hook or whatever suits my fancy.

Store mother lines with shower hooks on large extension cord reels found in electrical dept at Home Depot, Lowe's, Menard's etc.

Not too bad setting the decoys - even easier picking them up.