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Layout boat questions Please help!!!!

1K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  duckblind 
#1 ·
This is my first year hunting from a layout boat. I am AL and hunt on Guntersville lake which is a large lake on TN river. I have only hunted my boat two days so far. It is a 4 rivers 11'. I run gang rigs with about 100 deks. There are a ton of coots on the lake so I put out 4 Doz coot, and mix in BB, Cans, Ringbills, and 6/6 buffy's and GE. I use set ups like the ones posted on here. I have notice that the ducks will not dump in. They look but won't commit. Here are my questions

Do you think the ducks are seeing me?

Should I put fast grass around it? Maybe this would hide the dog and me more. I always thought hunt from layout boat is so you look like water. So I am not sure this is the answer.

My lab is with me. Could the be seeing her?

Do people hunt dogs in their layout boats?

Am I sitting to high in the boat? I sit on the rest that came with the boat. If I sit lower I can't see duck comming in.

Last two week ends I was out and didn't have any ducks come in. I went into shore where my brother was hunting from the tender boat. Both week ends while I was in shore I had ducks dump into the decoys. This makes me believe they don't like something about the layout boat. Please help!
 
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#2 ·
first - what color is the boat? If you are laying out in the middle of a body of water, it should be a flat gray (like a battleship) and you should not grass it because that would make you stand out more.

You should stay as low as possible but just high enough to see what is coming. Do you flag? Flagging for divers is very effective, but you don't wave the flag, you flick it when the ducks are at a distance to ge ttheir attention - no flagging when they are coming at you.

I am answering without seeing your setup or your rig, but these suggestions should help. As far as the dog, I would make her lay still as low as you and this should not be a problem.

One other thing we have tried - we hunt a lot of old squaws and painted large white dots (about 10" ovals) on the rig. The gray not only blends in with the open water, the dots seem to make it look like more dekes in the spread.

Hope this helps.
 
#3 ·
The boat is gray. It is the color it came from 4 rivers company.

I have not flaged. Where do you get a diver duck flag? I have flaged geese. Here is my set up.

Shore

Buffy Buffy Buffy Buffy

RB RB RB RB coot coot coot coot coot coot BB BB BB BB

RB RB RB RB coot coot coot coot coot coot BB BB BB BB C
A
N
RB RB RB RB coot coot coot coot coot coot BB BB BB S

/ \
|
Boat (doz Cans)
|
\ /

RH RH RH RH coot coot coot coot coot coot BB BB BB BB C

RH RH RH RH coot coot coot coot coot coot BB BB BB BB A

RH RH RH RH coot coot coot coot coot coot BB BB BB BB N

GE GE GE GE GE GE S

Lake Side

The other think I forgot to metion is there is tons of live ducks and coots around me. They are 300-400 yrds from me. This is where the ducks go to.
 
#5 ·
The best decoy is a live one so that certainly adds to your problem. You may just want to move your rig around to find a more favorable part of the lake and/or that works better with the wind.

You can make a flag out of a wodden dowel and an 18"x18" pice of black cloth. Staple it to the dowel and that's it. Like I said, you flick it up periodically when you see a duck(s) in the distance and once they are coming your way stay still. This might be all the motion you need.
 
#8 ·
The thing with Guntersville the ducks don't hang in one spot. They are all over the lake. We have set up where ducks were dumping in the day before and they land in a different spot the next day. We have so many coots on the lake. I am talking 1000's that is where the ducks like to go. This is the whole reason we got the layout boat. They get shore shy down here fast. They dump in the middle of the lake.
 
#11 ·
do you use a gray rainsuit. the mighty layout boys sell them our columbia makes them. I do not put the dog in the boat and use the tender for getting the ducks. try matching your spread to what you see in the water. unce you get your rig together and bring them in youll be hooked theres nothing else like it dont give up.
 
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