Long lines

[skyler_2010]

When is your favorite time of season to use them, what depth are you typically using them at and how long are you making them?

 

[SoDaky]

Are U fishing or diver hunting?

 

[skyler_2010]

Are U fishing or diver hunting?

Diver hunting sorry should have specified

 

[SoDaky]

Thought so.
Don't hunt water much anymore but used to hunt divers hard.Had(have)many rigs to use based on the lake in question.Most common would be rigged for 10-15 feet of water with snaps for 18-24 dekes per line.

 

[skyler_2010]

Thought so.
Don't hunt water much anymore but used to hunt divers hard.Had(have)many rigs to use based on the lake in question.Most common would be rigged for 10-15 feet of water with snaps for 18-24 dekes per line.

Gotcha

 

[WCB]

I use them whenever I'm hunting divers. I guess that would be late Oct to the end of season. I seem to be on the odd side of long lines. I don't make them very long 12 decoys long spaced roughly 5-7 feet apart. 25ft from weight to first decoy. run two at max 3 lines parallel. Then place roughly 3 doz decoys in a bunch on the upwind end. I keep everything close 30 yards max away to the end of the long line if possible.

 

[skyler_2010]

I use them whenever I'm hunting divers. I guess that would be late Oct to the end of season. I seem to be on the odd side of long lines. I don't make them very long 12 decoys long spaced roughly 5-7 feet apart. 25ft from weight to first decoy. run two at max 3 lines parallel. Then place roughly 3 doz decoys in a bunch on the upwind end. I keep everything close 30 yards max away to the end of the long line if possible.

Cool thanks. Do you worry about what the long line decoys look like or what your diver decoys look like at all? My wife bought me like 6 dozen decoys off Facebook for dirt cheap and there was 3 dozen mallards and about 4 dozen bluebills but all the ones that he had set up for long lines are super rough looking

 

[WCB]

Cool thanks. Do you worry about what the long line decoys look like or what your diver decoys look like at all? My wife bought me like 6 dozen decoys off Facebook for dirt cheap and there was 3 dozen mallards and about 4 dozen bluebills but all the ones that he had set up for long lines are super rough looking

Not really... I have no idea what brand my long line decoys. The ones I use in Minnesota are cheap and very basic looking. They are all black except for a small white patch where the speculum would be on the wing and a light grayish/blue bill. They almost look like a coot decoy. Very generic looking. I have a mix of brands for the rest of my divers and most are really nice looking but honestly I use probably a dozen random old rubber blow up ones still. In my opinion divers do not care. I should be headed out for at least a morning this weekend I'll snap a picture if I can remember.

The decoys I have in ND are mostly a mix of different Avery/GHG models and Higdon. They are all newer (past 10 years) than the MN spread just because I don't want to haul them back and forth.

 

[Bassman]

Funny, I just finished rigging up longlines this weekend with my diver partner this past weekend.

We run 9-10 dozen decoys in our diver rig consisting of scaup, canvasback, old squaw and bufflehead. Longlines are not a tactic to use when hunting puddle ducks on small bodies of water, it is used exclusively on big water. Since divers typically fly low to the water, the purpose of parallel longlines is to create the illusion of a large raft of ducks. We use #120 tarred line for everything (anchor lines, droppers, mainline) with large brass snaps and heavy duty stainless rings. Anchor lines are 50ft long, droppers are 36” long once tied (budgeted 4” for each knot so the cut was 44” long) which are dog and outboard friendly. Decoys are spaced 8ft apart (surgeons loop), droppers are tied with a bowline to the surgeons loops in the mainline and another bowline secures a large stainless snap swivel that ultimately attaches to the decoy. We got tired of having half-assed longlines that were constantly getting tangled or snapped and finally decided to do it right. Everything gets stored in a Roybi leaf bag one the front of the boat and secured with a bungee spider-style cargo net.

In regards to your question about decoys, you can easily convert old decoys into whatever diver species you like. It is very popular to buy inexpensive/old/beat up decoys and convert them. Check Youtube for some specific tutorials but old squaw, scaup and canvasbacks are pretty easy to replicate in an a few afternoons. If you have kids, decoy painting is a great way to get them involved.

 

[SoDaky]

Coot dekes would work.In my big water set I have a mix of old cork/carven ones with assorted others of rubber or plastic BUT I use my best(mostly colorful males)in the long lines.These are the ones they mostly see and follow to the pocket.As long as they float w/out turning over you are fine with almost anything in your pocket group..My practice is the bigger the water,the longer the lines.If you do this using just one line end with a fishhook group of at least a doz.
I prefer more of a 'V' using 2 long lines but again a doz or 2 in the 'pocket'.
Hunted lotsa big water like Lake Of The Woods for decades and 4 doz is plenty if deployed correctly.
Suspect a Youtube search would give you many ideas.

 

[SoDaky]

Didn't see Bassmans post but great point about quality crab pot line and brass snaps.Skimp on decoys,not lines.Twisted,rotten,line is a curse on big water and wind.

 

[Bassman]

Didn't see Bassmans post but great point about quality crab pot line and brass snaps.Skimp on decoys,not lines.Twisted,rotten,line is a curse on big water and wind.

100% agree. Drives me nuts when people recommend using paracord as a mainline since it's cheap. When it comes to hardware... when in doubt, go bigger.

 

[skyler_2010]

Thanks guys this really helps. All the puddle ducks I got are really nice looking ghg and hardcore's with a dozen or so beat up carry lites and a couple magnum mallards. The bluebills are the ones that look pretty rough but they are black bodies with white wings and grey bills. The nicer bluebill Drake's have some green heads and a couple hens that look like they were mallard hens that he just painted brown

 

[skyler_2010]

Anchor lines are 50ft long, droppers are 36” long once tied (budgeted 4” for each knot so the cut was 44” long) which are dog and outboard friendly..

Is that 50 feet of just decoy availability and the anchor lines are something you figure out as you find your spot and adjust depth or do you just plan on being in "x" depth of water?

 

[Bassman]

Is that 50 feet of just decoy availability and the anchor lines are something you figure out as you find your spot and adjust depth or do you just plan on being in "x" depth of water?

We run two anchors (one per side) and each of those anchor lines are 50ft long. We will run those in up to 35ft of water (at least that's the deepest we have run them). For simplicity, we still use the 50ft anchor lines even if we are hunting shallower water; we will deploy the first anchor earlier to adjust for the shallower water and drag the line into position.

The mainline is ~104ft long (12 decoys spaced 8ft apart + 4ft on the end of the first and last decoy) and our anchor lines clip onto the mainline via the brass snaps I mentioned earlier.

I have a mock-up in excel of our longlines, I can dig that up if it's helpful to visualize. Just let me know

 

[SoDaky]

Skyler hope you can see this. (My shed is a dark dingy place). Needn’t be fussy. Mix n match what you have. Here is sample of mine. Carved,old Oscar Quam corks,and assorted plastics/rubber. Many with little color left.
Also note thick crab pot line and heavy duty anchor. Bigger the wind fetch,longer your lines and deeper the water-bigger anchor needed. One shiwn woukd likely hold my boat but is compact and easy to use.

 

[SoDaky]

Sorry for spelling and lousy pic. This one not much better but....

 

[CootShooter]

We have a couple different length lines. Our mainline is roughly 100' long. A couple 30' lines and one that's probably like 60 feet. We use the two longest lines with Bluebills, and the smaller lines with Cans/Redheads/buffleheads/etc. We have a few decoys with singular lines to chuck in spots to break up the look/feel of the straightness of the lines. Water depth is usually under 20' (mostly small lakes in SE Wisconsin and the Mississippi River). The trick is to just get lot's of white out there in a line guiding them little suckers right into your shooting lane.