Stretch Decoy Line Question

Bill Burruss

Bill Burruss

Well-known member
All,

What makes a good elastic/stretch piece to go on decoy lines? I was considering going to J-shaped decoy anchors when I noticed that mushroom anchors will lock into the keel when the decoy line is the exact right length. I figure some shock tube or some other elastic section could make this technique even easier. Any thoughts on what to use? Hows the durability (both throughout the season and over the years).

Thanks,

Bill
 
You can make decent shock cord by cutting a bicycle inner tube with sissors into pieces about half an inch wide.
 
You may get one season out of the j-anchor/stretch cord setup, the ones on the market loose their elasticity rather quickly.
 
What about surgical tubing?

I've never bought the stuff, but it is stretchy. When I was younger I had a slingshot made of the stuff and boy howdy would that thing propel a ball bearing or a rock...

Charlie
 
Personally, I don't like the "J" shaped anchors for cold weather applications. They tend to freeze and with heavy gloves can be a real bear to deal with. I was always the guy that did figure eights around the body and then wrapped the strap around the decoy neck but NONE of my hunting friends do it this way and wrap the keel and then try to wrap the strap around the keel. About 50% of them fall off the keel several times before they end up in the bag and then when they're being transported they do the same thing....I'm sure we can all relate. I've been using the GHG decoy line with the crimps(which fail occasionally if the anchor gets hung because if you crimp them super tight the line snaps and if you don't crimp them tightly they slip but I'm still using them because the tangle free line they sell makes the most heinous knots-I think a little super glue may mitigate this "issue")and the other day I broke down and bought 12 of the "stretchy cords" they sell for this application. I was really impressed and for 6 bucks for 12 you can afford to replace them if they get brittle or weak after a season or two. It's so much easier...so much easier. I've used the intertube and the surgical tubing etc but for $6 and 10 minutes these are designed for the job. I used to use the scoops with the shock cord on some of my decoys and think this arrangement is an improvement.
 
Hey Jason, how are the ducks treating you? Gonna hunt the York blind tomorrow. There are some bills up stream and some of the guys have been hitting them pretty hard. I'm hoping my rig will give them a new place to go if they feel pressured. give me a shout.
 
Have never used the stretch system but have considered it. Our way is about 6 inches of line with a fishing snap swivel att. on the decoy and a old railroad spike with a loop in the end of about 6 feet of line. The line is rolled around the spike and stored in a box. When setting out we just open the snap and clasp it in the loop and drop or toss the rig. Very easy to set and pick back up and as long as you close the snap before bagging the decoy it never hangs up in the bag. I can drop 4-5 dozen in about 20 minutes this way by myself.
 
Sorry this does'nt answer your question Bill, but I never liked that set up. I have been using the H style over the head anchors for 15 years now and will never go back. The cord wraps around the anchor. You simply pull the weight off of the head and toss the deke. The weight unfirls to the bottom and continues to do so as the tide rises. They never come off during storage because I turn the heads in the sleeper position which locks the weight onto the neck. I have friends that wrap keels or the entire deke and they can't deploy or retrieve the decoys as fast as me. I just makes sense to me to use them. I don't understand why more people don't. Kevin
 
Bill,
Avery makes a product called Stretchee Cords. They will allow pretty much any anchor to do what you want to do. I have used them on all types of weights just experimenting and they are great. Hold up well too. I never relieve the tension during the off season and haven't had any problems.
 
Bill

I have a lot of my decoys rigged with J anchors and use a 12" strip of 1/4" bungee cord for securing the anchor to the keel. I drill a hole through the anchor and poke the cord through it and tie an overhand knot to keep it from pulling through. I make tie a loop with the other end and feed and tie off the decoy line to it. In the past I bought good quality bungee from The Rope Dope (http://www.theropedope.com/). Be sure to store them unstretched in the off season for years as it will help them retain their elasticity for many many seasons.

Did you get the message I left for you Saturday? We were pooped after hunting all week and under pressure to get back home so we dropped Sunday from the trip and made a short hunt of Saturday. Let me know how you did.
 
Kevin,

Hunting non-tidal water, I'm not ready to go down that road, but am curious. What type of decoys are you using, and what anchors? Are you casting your own?

Thanks for the suggestion- I'll keep it in mind.

-Bill
 
All,

Thanks. Any issue with the nylon coating on the bungee freezing up? That would be one arguement I could see for getting the stretchee cords. Since it rarely ices here in MS, and I may try some bungee for the tail end of season here as it seem much more economical.

Thanks again for the suggestions,

Bill
 
Bill

It stays pliable at all temps that I've exposed it to. You might want to keep it away from dry ice though :) I will say the ACE anchors I've seen that use a rubber tube type cord all seem to dry rot within a season or two. So far bungee seems like the best solution and I've not had any issues using it.
 
You may get one season out of the j-anchor/stretch cord setup, the ones on the market loose their elasticity rather quickly.
Click to expand...


I know guys say they dry rot, but I have some that have been on for 6 years when I started using them. I hunt about 60 days, decoys are used 45+ days/season, many of them 60 days. I only use the ACE anchors, with Tanglefree line. The Avery/GHG line and anchors aren't near as good in my experience. I think i've replaced less then a dozen since I started using them and I have them on 150+ decoys. We run pretty big spreads most of the time. Between 3 of us that use this system and each have about that many decoys. 200 ducks and 50 geese we (2-4 guys) can put out/pick up in 20-30 minutes. I'm going to try putting some of these on longlines (permanently attached) to see if we can make things even simpler and quicker, otherwise this system has worked very well for us. And they work good in the ice, we get plenty of it. Coldest I've use them has been right around 0 deg and they were fine, it's just hard doing anything with your hands in that temp!

We don't leave them out in the water all season (or even overnight) as we can't in MN. Other than that I don't do anything special to them. Some guys take them out and unhook the anchor to relieve the pressure for storage, but I haven't even done that.
 
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Bill, I use Herters decoys both cork and foam. All of the heads swivel. I use anchors found in Cabellas listed as "over the head". There are a few different sizes but I like the bigger ones, 16oz. I have casted my own in the past but have not had to replace any "ever". You can also dip them in rubberized coating if you're afraid of scratching the dekes. They also make a much smaller version of the H-anchor which will not fit over the head but will still deploy in the same way. I also hunt some small, non-tidal water with these weights and simply check them up to about two feet or so of line and make a simple half hitch over the end of the weight so that all thirty feet does not deploy. This makes pick-up much faster. The smaller weights are about 8oz. Kevin
 
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