Divers and Puddle decoys on big water

**scoutlover** · 12-03-2016, 04:09 AM

A lot of our hunting is on big water on the upstate lakes in a scissor rig. We're primarily targeting divers but we do see a good number of puddlers but we're having a hard time getting the big ducks to decoy. We usually run 4 dozen divers on long lines, with a couple dozen singles thrown in to break up the lines and a couple of mojos. We usually throw 4 geese out about 100 yards in front of the blind (that actually seems to work pretty good. Probably going to start moving them in a little closer). I've tried variations of throwing out a couple dozen mallards sometimes, sometimes some gadwall, sometimes some teal, and sometimes all divers but we never get the big ducks to decoy really well. Occasionally we'll catch some coming in too close on the first pass, but not near enough. Is it a lost cause trying to get puddle ducks to land in a raft of divers in the middle of the lake, or is something with our spread wrong? Would it be best to mingle the divers and puddlers all together, or put them out on opposite sides of the boat?

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**Relentlous** · 12-03-2016, 05:35 AM

If you're not hunting out of layout boat, chances are you're sticking out like a porno penis.

**Cypress** · 12-03-2016, 06:45 AM

I hunt with a buddy up there occasionally who runs several gang rig lines with diver decoys on wide open water. He prefers a small group of mallard/gadwall decoys off to the side about 35 yards out. Never had much of a problem working them in

**PBiz** · 12-03-2016, 07:01 AM

Put out a pile of decoys...

**scdiver** · 12-03-2016, 07:12 AM

What kind of boat are you hunting?

**Duckman#1** · 12-03-2016, 08:25 AM

Scissor blind on divers is fine but on big ducks unless your closing in the top your not going to get them to finish. With big ducks if your not hid then forget it. What kind of Camo you have on the blind ?

**codeman216** · 12-03-2016, 09:31 AM

Originally Posted by Duckman#1

Scissor blind on divers is fine but on big ducks unless your closing in the top your not going to get them to finish. With big ducks if your not hid then forget it. What kind of Camo you have on the blind ?

This. We kill mostly puddle ducks over mostly diver decoys on open water. Don't overthink your spread but overthink how well you are hidden.

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**Griffin** · 12-03-2016, 09:34 AM

Layout boat with a shit ton of decoys

**scoutlover** · 12-03-2016, 11:02 AM

We're using a scissor rig, not a scissor blind. Just like they use in North Carolina. It's a rig that sits on top of the boat and then you float it in the water when get where you're going. Cover is in the form of pine trees you place in the floating part of the rig and in an interior blind for double the cover. My boat is a good bit bigger than what most use in NC, so I have been worried about prying eyes from straight above and that sounds like it could be the problem as we have no problem decoying big birds when we use them up there.

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**scdiver** · 12-03-2016, 11:19 AM

Angle pines in from covering board. What size boat?

**Buckin Bronco** · 12-03-2016, 11:33 AM

Originally Posted by scoutlover

We're using a scissor rig, not a scissor blind. Just like they use in North Carolina. It's a rig that sits on top of the boat and then you float it in the water when get where you're going. Cover is in the form of pine trees you place in the floating part of the rig and in an interior blind for double the cover. My boat is a good bit bigger than what most use in NC, so I have been worried about prying eyes from straight above and that sounds like it could be the problem as we have no problem decoying big birds when we use them up there.

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Sounds interesting. Post a pic of this setup.

**scoutlover** · 12-03-2016, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by scdiver

Angle pines in from covering board. What size boat?

Yeah we've done that. But the boat is pretty wide at the back so that could be the problem point. The boat is a 2170.

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**scoutlover** · 12-03-2016, 12:06 PM

These are pictures from last year when I made it. I've made a few changes. The first pictures are not us hunting, but the closest place to my house to practice everything from deploying the long lines and rig. We were timing ourselves to see how long it took to put it up. The next pictures are from our first hunt last year. We've since started closing it in more and we wear facemasks. This was towards the end of the first hunt and I forgot to take some pics.

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