I wrap every decoy line. Some lines are 25'. Last four weeks of season we were throwing 120 plus floaters daily.

 

Holy $^%#% batman. KK is the man. haha. Kidding aside, I would think you would want a faster method. Although,with lines at 25', probably the only way for you.

 

Usually only takes 20 minutes between 2.5 of us from boat. I'm not joking. It's impressive.

 

i use just normal for 59-110 decoys

 

Texas rig is awesome if you always hunt shallow water. If you hunt deeper or tidal water even once a year they are worthless.

 

This being my first year duck hunting I started off with Tx rigs. I have a buddy who I invited on a hunt and he has the "J" style weights that rap around the keel and hook in place. I see pro and cons to both. The only problem I have with the Tx rigs is during transport they can get tangled up. When its time to throw them buggers out I find its easier to unhook all lines from the carabiner and then grab a decoy and pull the loop out.....not the other way. Its natural to want to pull on the loop....pulling the decoy thru.
Tying an overhand not in the lines close to the decoys....still experimenting on that. The J hook seems to keep things neat and tidy but you gotta reel and reel.

 

I could NEVER see myself using a Texas rig all the lines tangled up in the wee hours ,wrapped around one another ,if the water is that shallow and its a pond where you have access to all of them[wading or small boat] I wouldn;t even put a line on them.

 

I see pro and cons to both.

So do I.
I've used both and have settled on the conventional method of wrapping the line (braided nylon) around the decoy's keel or its neck.
The only way to determine which method will work best for you is to try them; rig a dozen decoys Texas-style and a dozen decoys conventionally. Then, after using both for a season, see which you prefer.

 

I texas rigged all mine last summer.

I'm down to two dozen left that way. The rest are back to j hooks.

Only time I really notice a difference is if its only one guy picking up.
With two or three, its pretty quick.

 

We usee TX rigs and I can't see going back to wrapping decoys. We exclusively hunt shallow water in lakes though. We have no problem with tangling. The decoys go onto a carabiner and the lines are knotted in a way to where there is no slack .

 

Texas rig mine with 6.5' of mono. For transporting them I tie a over hand knot at the base of the line by the decoys,but I then take the clip and hook it on to the over hand knot. This cuts the length of line in half, prevents tangles, and allows you to carry the texas rigs like one strap backpack. Also, if your getting tangles in your texas rig you need to take a moment and think about what your doing that is making a tangle. As mentioned above, when you take the lines off your clip grab a decoy and pull the line. The other day my hands were so fozen I said screw clipping my decoys and just grabbed all the lines in random places and thre about 15 decoys in the back of the truck. My buddy told me it was going to take forever to untangle, we got back and I had it untangled and clipped how I described above in a minute or two.

 

Usually only takes 20 minutes between 2.5 of us from boat. I'm not joking. It's impressive.

I do that with some of my longer lines, none are 25'.....but I wrap it around the BODY which is fewer loops then the last few I do around the keel to lock it all in....goes quicker.... :thumbsup:

 

Good idea! I'll use it next season.

 

I've done a lot of learning the hard way... My first hunt last season was a walk-in refuge hunt, I used about 15 of my fathers old decoys he used to hunt in the bay with. They were the standard homemade wrap rigging with 1 lb weights. Holy crap was this a mistake. The crappy decoy bag was so weighted down it was extremely difficult to transport through the marsh..

Obviously we had to shed some weight. We cut the 1lbers off and attached whatever we could find, usually metric socket heads etc.
This worked fine but carrying the crappy mesh decoy bag still was a giant pain..

We found out about texas rig, and figured carrying them over our sholder would be easier, and it was. Us being cheap we decided to make our own. The first major mistake we made was having excess lines or "tails" hanging off past the crimps. Other riggings would get hung up on the tails and this was what formed the massive tangles.

Once we removed the excess line past the crimps, we haven't had a tangle yet.

Why the texas rigs work best for me is because hunt both small potholes in walk-in hunts and bay hunt where I can use my boat. I can remove the rigging and replace it with a rigging with a different amount of weight without cutting line. And it's easier to keep species separate, just clip all of one group to one carabiner.

 

I've done a lot of learning the hard way... My first hunt last season was a walk-in refuge hunt, I used about 15 of my fathers old decoys he used to hunt in the bay with. They were the standard homemade wrap rigging with 1 lb weights. Holy crap was this a mistake. The crappy decoy bag was so weighted down....

I believe it! A one pound weight is way more than necessary for a duck decoy.
I use 4oz mushroom-type weights on all my duck decoys. I've never had a problem, even when rigging out in 5mph river current, or in 40mph winds. I look at it this way; if I need an anchor that weighs more than 4 ounces, I'm hunting the wrong place at the wrong time.

I don't even use more than 8oz mushrooms on my large goose floaters.

 

I've done a lot of learning the hard way... My first hunt last season was a walk-in refuge hunt, I used about 15 of my fathers old decoys he used to hunt in the bay with. They were the standard homemade wrap rigging with 1 lb weights. Holy crap was this a mistake. The crappy decoy bag was so weighted down it was extremely difficult to transport through the marsh..

Obviously we had to shed some weight. We cut the 1lbers off and attached whatever we could find, usually metric socket heads etc.
This worked fine but carrying the crappy mesh decoy bag still was a giant pain..

We found out about texas rig, and figured carrying them over our sholder would be easier, and it was. Us being cheap we decided to make our own. The first major mistake we made was having excess lines or "tails" hanging off past the crimps. Other riggings would get hung up on the tails and this was what formed the massive tangles.

Once we removed the excess line past the crimps, we haven't had a tangle yet.

Why the texas rigs work best for me is because hunt both small potholes in walk-in hunts and bay hunt where I can use my boat. I can remove the rigging and replace it with a rigging with a different amount of weight without cutting line. And it's easier to keep species separate, just clip all of one group to one carabiner.

One tip when walking in with decoys slung over the back....I took a heavy duty zip tie and attached it to the bottom of my shotgun where the sling is attached....making a loop. Take the carabiner and hook it to the loop while the decoys are still slung over your back. Frees up a hand. If you have long lines, say over 4 ft you will need to take out some slack though. Even 4 ft line (which all mine are) I tie a knot or two to take up slack.

 

USE A MOTERCYCLE INNER TUBE CUT 1/2" WIDE MAKES SMALL BUNGY ATT. TO WEIGHT KEEPS WT IN PLACE & BANING ARROUNR BEATING UP PAINT :huh:

 

What SlackTide said............ :thumbsup:

 

Texas rig is awesome if you always hunt shallow water. If you hunt deeper or tidal water even once a year they are worthless.

Thats why the Link n Sink rigging system from boondock outdoors is so effective, its like a texas rig but you can extend the length of the rigging or remove a link for shallow water. this rigging is great for hunters that dont always hunt the same spot.

 

I have both depending on where I am hunting.

I have found that with my Tx rigs if I set them up with a loop at the top and then put the weight in the loop at the bottom so the weight doesn't slide the do not get near as tangled.

 

I use texas rigs but, I usually hunt ponds and only put decoys out in no more than 5ft of water because I can get a boat in and have to be able to retrieve them. if you are hunting over 6ft of water you would be better off with normal weight it would cause a lot less tangling. when rigging then decoys I crimp a big swivel on one end of the 6.5ft of mono line and put a 4-6oz egg weight on and crimp a good size loop at the bottom to hook a clip on. works pretty good for me.

 

I use a style of Texas rigs wiith 10 foot of weed wiper line and custom made weights. And I store all my decoys in a leaf bag in the boat

 

I can't imagine how TX rigs cause more tangles than trot line. :huh:

We hunt water <3 feet and use nothing but TX rigs. It allows us to deploy, move, pickup rapidly. No knots to mess with.

To each their own....I'll never wrap a line around a keel again.

 

I use a style of Texas rigs wiith 10 foot of weed wiper line and custom made weights. And I store all my decoys in a leaf bag in the boat

What kind of "weed wiper" line you using hillbilly? I may be hunting anywhere from 10 feet to inches of water with my Mallard gear, still wrap most of mine. I do have some short "texas" rigs I have used for 30 years but they don't do very well with long line. Just wondering.

 

I dont use texas rigs. One dimensional. I hunt anywhere from 6" of water to 30ft. All my loose decoys have at least 20' of cord. I use the pvc decoy line and have never had a problem. I use the keel grabber weights with the avery bungees and it works awesome to keep those weights from getting loose and tangling up. When you have several dozen rigged that way its pretty pricey but to me that cost is worth it and i can use the decoys anywhere i go without having to change rigs. The line is attached to the decoy with a nice big stainless swivel. i can remove it and put a long line clip on if need be on the fly in the boat in a matter of seconds if i choose to. Thats what works for me anyhow.