Selecting Your Waterfowl Rigging

The following can be used as a general guide for selecting proper rigging.

Weight

Estimate are based upon moderate current.

For heavy current or foam filled decoys, increase 1-2oz.

For minimal current/wind, decrease 1-2oz.

3oz: - Duck butts, teal

4oz - wood ducks, gadwall, pintail, wigeon, standard sized mallards

5oz - oversized mallards*, pintail, black ducks, bufflehead

*this is the standard size for Avian-X, Dakota, GHG pro-grade, Lifetime, and Divebomb.

6oz - bluebill, goldeneye, ringneck, canvasback, light geese

8oz - Canada goose decoys.

12oz - semi/permanent spreads, coastal/tidal water, rivers, and all merganser decoys.

Length

24" - Thigh height (flooded fields, rice, controlled water)

30" - Hip height (timber, controlled water)

36" - Navel (most common for flooded timber and potholes)

48" - Wader height (shallow lakes, marshes)

60" - Eye height (lakes, river backwater)

72" - Above the head (mostly lake and boat hunters).

Long Lines

36” LL drops is by far my most common. This allows adequate depth for a dog to swim over without catching, or an outboard motor to not catch

Anchor should be adequate weight for your conditions. Most people find 3.5lb grapnel per side or 5lb per side as plenty.
120ft is my standard length mainline. Swivels every 6ft means 1 dz decoys on the line (1 per section). This leaves 20ft on either side for the anchor line.

GrindFest Outdoors hunts predominantly in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Hunting conditions vary from 12" sheet water, to Mississippi backwater with moderate current.

GrindFest Outdoors uses:

Teal: 48" 3oz
Wood Ducks: 48" 4oz
Gadwall, Wigeon, and standard sized mallards: 60" 4oz
Oversized mallards: 60" 5oz
Oversized foam filled divers: 72" 6oz
Honker decoys: 72" 6oz

Main Line: 120ft
Anchors: 5lb grapnel
Long line drops: 36"
12" full body tail loops
8 foot 10oz adjustable rigs on motion decoys