Decoy Questions and Discussion

[bowhunt]

Hey guys, I have a few decoy questions and am hoping to get a few opinions based on your experiences. With my current set up I have 2 decoy lines. My first time out I used a live sucker and a fake wood red and white decoy. The live sucker was probably 9" long and the fake decoy right about the same size. I had 5 or 6 smaller northerns come in, all of them went for the live decoy, only one showed any interest in the fake decoy. The one that showed interest in the fake decoy had already taken a shot at the live sucker.

Do you think it would be good to vary the size of the decoy's use a smaller live sucker with the larger fake decoy, and visa versa?

Do you think the smaller northerns would respond better to a smaller fake decoy vs. a fairly large one like I had?

Thanks for any input and feel free to post up any questions or comments you might have.

Bowhunt

[Gordie]

When I use a live decoy its usally 12 inches or bigger and the fake decoy is or can be any size I havent seen a preferacne on witch smaller pike perfer would say that if your only after smaller ones then stay on the small size with all of it. I have and you would be suprised at just how many small pike come tyo the big stuff thou and I have had small pike I mean smaller than my live decoy minnow come up and try to harrass the decoy its fun to see stuff like that.

On the other hand I have seen some really big pike come to the smallest decoys and spoons that I have. So its not always about size that triggers a reaction with these preditors.

When I use the HBS spinning spoons and use a live sucker 90% of the pike dont even lok at the live decoy and one time the pike was stareing so hard at the spoon that it didnt even know that the live decoy's tail was hitting the pike in the side of the gill

[Laska]

I agree with elwood I generaly run the same set up as the "Nord Lord" but not Im running a dbl live sucker harness rig. and then I run a fake. I like to keep things away from being the same size, so either my decoy is going to be bigger or smaller than my sucker, just gives the fish more veriety. Small pike to me seem to have the same general appetite as the big girls but generaly the bigger the bait the bigger the fish. not always true tho I remember merk telling me a 5" decoy brought him in a 14lb fish. I think it comes down to just whatever the pike is in the mood for, a snack or a main meal... They just know that their not going to waste alot of energy eating if it doesnt have the energy in the source of food to gain more energy if that makes sense.

[Gordie]

I dont run the double live suker rig unless nothing else is working and ussally late season for that

[Laska]

I like it, run one smaller sucker and one big sucker, its just awesome!!

[BOUNCED]

I never run suckers and I rarely run more than one decoy at a time and I let the fish dictate how often I jig. I carve my own decoys so it's really hard for me to refrain from jigging so I tend to jig more than I should. But some days I've find they only come in to a jigging decoy.

I find running too many decoys seems to be less effective then a single so I avoid the puppet show. I typically run larger decoys and find the little Pike don't care. They come in and hit things half their size. I've also had the largest one I've ever seen come into one of the smallest decoys I've run? Although I'm still a huge believer in big bait = big fish.

Hopes this helps some, it's worked well for me.

Good luck!

[shamalex72]

I never run suckers and I rarely run more than one decoy at a time and I let the fish dictate how often I jig. I carve my own decoys so it's really hard for me to refrain from jigging so I tend to jig more than I should. But some days I've find they only come in to a jigging decoy.!

This is almost spot on for me too, except I almost always have two decoys down.

[MJ1657]

I always run a live sucker and I believe the bigger the better. I usually have a fake decoy down and experiment with it. Last year for the most part the less I jigged the fake decoy the better. I agree with Sperrhead its hard to leave it alone sometimes.

For you guys running a hbs do you use a swivel or direct tie to a spoon?

[BOUNCED]

For you guys running a hbs do you use a swivel or direct tie to a spoon?

Don't let them suck you in!

[MJ1657]

It's to late I already bought one. I had good luck bringing them in last year using a spoon and just twisting the line and letting it spin. It was a pain but it worked.

[Laska]

Im running a leader, makes it turn reeeaaallll sllloooowww....

[Gordie]

Ive done it both ways and I switched to just a big clip or snap as they call it.

[MJ1657]

It's going to be fun experimenting with different set ups. I was kind of running out of things to buy for spearing anyway.

[BOUNCED]

It's going to be fun experimenting with different set ups. I was kind of running out of things to buy for spearing anyway.

Need a new spear?

[MJ1657]

Actually I do but its not in the budget after I added up what I spent building my new perm house.

[bowhunt]

Hey guys,

So I have another decoy question and I figured I would just add it to this thread. I have a 9 - 10" decoy that is fairly heavy, it has all metal fins and tail. When I bought it they were all straight so I bent the tail fin some to get it to swim in a circle. Right know it swims a pretty large circle and fast, it wips around and then settles to a stop. I am hoping to slow the swim down, but I am not sure how to adjust the fins and tail to make that happen. I would also like to make it swim a smaller circle but I think I just need to bend the tail more to do that. Please let me know if you know how to slow the swim down.

Thanks,

Bowhunt

[glenn57]

YEA BEND THE TAIL MORE, should then swim in a tighter circle, may also slow it down a bit but not mush. some dekes just glide faster than others.