Rigging puddlers

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Phil Boyles

Member
Does anyone texas rig their hand carved puddle decoys or is that a major faux pas? It seems, even with individual decoy bags there are times when the rigging gets tangled and the weights beat up the decoys. What's the solution? Thanks
 
I don't see why you couldn't texas rig them. What kind of anchors do you use? We use "H" style anchors. We wrap the line around the anchor and leave enough line unwrapped that the anchor can sit on the bottom of a slotted bag. They basically never tangle and don't cause damage to the decoys. For a little extra money you can get bags with sewn down pouches so anchors can't slide from one pouch to another: https://customdecoybags.com/products/6-pouch-standard-duck-bag

Mike
 
Well, I have a mishmash of weights, but most are j-style weights I have taken off of the plastic decoys as I make wooden ones. I hunt 90% of the time in water waist deep or less, so I don't need a lot of weight generally. I like the idea of wrapping the cord on the weight, but I don't need a 7-8 oz for these decoys. If I could find a 4oz weight in the "H" pattern that would work I think. Thanks for the input!
 
I use a modified version of the Texas rig with a cord lock on the free end of the decoy line (opposing the weight). I snug the lock up to hold the weight tight against the keel of the decoy. Picking up is still pretty quick, and I can put the decoys in a single bag with minimal tangling.
 
Awesome! I teach at Northwest. I'm not biased or anything, but it's a great school and environment up here. What's he going into?
 
Awesome! I teach at Northwest. I'm not biased or anything, but it's a great school and environment up here. What's he going into?
My sister, brother-in-law, and nephew went there.
Click to expand...
 
Phil,
I run into people all over the place that either attended or have someone close to them who did. I worked here for a few years before going back to school and had lots of other places I could have gone, but chose to come back. I remember during my interviews the first time around, one of the faculty members said "I only planned to stay here a few years then find a 'better' job....28 years ago." That really said a lot!
 
It does work well but will beat your hand carved birds up quickly if not taken special care of....


I hunted the Texas Prairie around Eagle Lake for 5 seasons in rice fields. Most of the guys on our lease had plastic decoys rigged in the Texas style. I ended up doing this to a Teal Rig that was carved in my second season. The one caveat of this was that I purchased through Ebay a bunch of Maker's Marks felt bags to cover the birds after the 3rd hunt. The one joke about that season was the number of Maker Mark bags that appeared out of nowhere after the 3rd hunt. Guys would bring down Maker's Mark to fish/hunt camp because they thought I loved Maker's Mark. I wish Pappy Van Winkle or Willets had a bag I would have went that route. The birds were painted in both acrylics and some in oils. Both due to banging and rubbing caused some problems with the paint when they banged together either through throwing and just being clamped to the gate on the trailer or ranger during travel. The one advantage to Texas rigs and not trying to sound elementary is that you can with the motion of an Olympic Hammer thrower deliver one to two dozen birds with one throw. The unfortunate side to heavier birds unlike the plastic counter part is that they still rub during this motion. I do recommend slinging one at a time if you go this route. Of course I also recommend using your preferred length of clear .080" "Weed Eater" line (the 400 lb Fluorocarbon is better but far more expensive) and when hunting deeper lakes I had to unclip the 2/0 Barrel clamp swivels that I used and switch to 2/0 barrel clamps with either short lobster clips for long longs or would just add the deeper water lines on h-weights when hunting the gulf or tanks in south Texas.




Regards,
Kristan
 
Maybe I'm oversimplifying this but why not rig your weights/lines with snap swivels at the end? Connect them when you're ready to throw. That way the weight doesn't beat up the decoy.

All my decoys now are plastic so it's not a major concern for me.
 
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