artificial decoy questions

[Timberdoodle2]

well first off, i want to thank this forum and its staff for the chance to be part of it.. i found it threw google images of decoys and then done some reading.. i have speared pike for many years and never found this much info on the sport before.. so i have some questions for you.

i have always used the bear creek decoys or live suckers and some some other off the wall things, beer cans and spoons for a few.. but after seeing what you folks use i have seen many with extra eyes in them and on the bear creeks i have tried that and it makes them swim wrong.. so what is the reason and secret to getting them right with extra eyes on top?

also my best color combo has been red and white and chartreuse spoons, but i see many varieties here and natural pike is one of the norms. also perch seems to be a good color as is fire tiger in the summer time fishing..so could you folks elaborate on your preference and why? thanks for any input you offer.. also there must be a difference between homemade decoys and the bear creek plastics..

[Early Riser]

I am not a carver, but have amassed well over 100 decoys in my collection. Most are shelved for aesthetics and are true examples of American folk art. I like hearing about other talented carvers and spear makers, and what people are using.

When it comes right down to it I rotate among about a few dozen decoys for use in spearing. My workers are poured resin, or carved from wood that does not swell when wet such as black walnut or cedar. I have a lot of decoys made from basswood that swim well, but would swell and crack if hung for any length of time in the hole.

I bring six or seven decoys each time I go out. I almost always start with a 9" Marvin Johnson red/white. He doesn't make this particular decoy anymore, and refers to it as "big ugly." It is poured resin and weighted such that it is the slowest falling decoy I have ever seen in the water. A close second in line is a Brian Shallbetter (among our own) cisco. Third is either a Dennis Bertram shinier or his black/yellow pike. Fourth would be a Marvin Johnson poured resin sunfish. Fifth in the rotation is a 14" Bertram natural pike. Sixth up is either a Terri Wise red/gold pike, or a Shallbetter red/white.

Others that get mixed in are a Bob Johnson basswood perch that I have had to touch up with paint and nail polish due to swelling, a Rick Whittier Perch or pike, a black/red Terri Wise pike, red/white Bruce/Helen Wakefield Bruell, Shiner colored Thayne Johnson "Wiggle Fish," a 2" Ray Forner red/white or a 2" Jerry Kelm flowered black/white trout, and an old fish chewed red/white Lakco.

On any given day I have the confidence that any of my working decoys will bring in fish. Truthfully some days you could hang a hot dog, or beer can horizontally in the hole and have some action. Other days color and movement really makes a big difference. On the lake I was on last weekend they wanted the natural M Johnson sunfish hardly sitting still at all. On today's lake it was a red/white decoy mostly sitting still that brought them in. Moving it much at all spooked them out if they were hanging outside, or skirting the hole. Some days you can hang them high, other days they will only come in near the bottom. Every day, from lake to lake can be very different, which makes it interesting.

Some decoys have more than one eye, such as a "pig tail" type line tie. The most important thing is to get the decoy to hang as horizontally as possible, and so that it glides smoothy when jigged.

I would love to hear what the "go to" decoys in Michigan and other areas are. I do have a few MI decoys in my collection including a Mike Holmes Smelt, five of Ziggy Obidinski's fish, a Carl Christiansen perch, and a Tom Richards Perch to compliment a Dave Pawlak spear.

Here are a few good sites to check on decoys, spears and their makers:

http://www.thewaysidechapel.org/micarvers.html

http://www.fishdecoys.net/pages/carversbios/FishDecoyCarvers.htm

[Neighbor_guy]

well first off, i want to thank this forum and its staff for the chance to be part of it.. i found it threw google images of decoys and then done some reading.. i have speared pike for many years and never found this much info on the sport before.. so i have some questions for you.

i have always used the bear creek decoys or live suckers and some some other off the wall things, beer cans and spoons for a few.. but after seeing what you folks use i have seen many with extra eyes in them and on the bear creeks i have tried that and it makes them swim wrong.. so what is the reason and secret to getting them right with extra eyes on top?

also my best color combo has been red and white and chartreuse spoons, but i see many varieties here and natural pike is one of the norms. also perch seems to be a good color as is fire tiger in the summer time fishing..so could you folks elaborate on your preference and why? thanks for any input you offer.. also there must be a difference between homemade decoys and the bear creek plastics..

First welcome to the site. The majority of us are from MN, but when it comes to spearing we are all family here.

In most instances a decoy with pigtail eyes is for looks only. The carver will balance to one eye and the others are just for show.

The decoys I make are made with only one eye because that is the one I balanced the decoy to. The eye is in that location because that is where is sat level in the water and swims best. That is why when you added eyes to your bear creeks they swam poorly, you offset the balance points. There are times where I will add a second eyelet at the point where the decoy sits horizontal when hung from a shelf, but only by special request.

Color is a mater of personal choice. There are guys on this site who swear by realistic decoys. Others by "folk art" decoys of more off the wall colors. While I will make a "realistic" decoy from time to time the majority of what comes out of my shop will fall into the folk art working decoy category. All swim and all are made for the water. Its like a tackle box for open water fishing, there is often a wide variety of colors and shapes. Decoys are the same way, some lakes favor realism, others bright non traditional colorations. Shape is another thing. If a lake does not have much for sunfish or crappies a decoy shaped like one may not work well for you. If the primary forage is suckers or perch than that is the shape to look for in a decoy.

Options are endless...

[Timberdoodle2]

thanks for the warm welcome, in response the first guy, around the areas i have speared, all that are available readily is the bear creeks. also most are real closed mouth on what they use.. i have in the last couple years ran heavy jigs tipped with soft plastics.. the soft bodies seem to swim well if you tinker with them and if they get the fish hang on well so you can get a shot after the streakers or a hook up if you want that as well.

many years ago i ran old white with red spots and it looked ugly and was around 12" it worked but my uncle told me that the bear creeks were the one to use so switched it out and ran bear creeks and live for a long time

[Early Riser]

I've got a few bear creeks. I like the small natural pike the best. They will work for you. For a production decoy I like them better than Duey's. I know people do will with those as well. If you can find them, the Lacko's do a pretty good job, but occasionally you will get one that doesn't swim well.

[pikestabber]

With the wealth of information on this site, I would highly suggest starting to carve a few of your own. Nothing beats the feeling of seeing/spearing a fish that came in on something you made. There's no shame in making something that doesn't swim well or look great for your first several attempts...that's just how you learn to make the ones you'll eventually love. From my point-of-view, nothing beats a good hand-made decoy.

[Jdawg sk1]

I agree with pike stabber I can't wait to try mine out this weekend.

[Timberdoodle2]

its very tempting, will have a couple real good templates soon:) have been thinking on trying to fill a bear creek with flotation and then weight it to hang right and see if i can get them to swim