Gotta talk about it....

[ironman]

Cant do it so we might as well talk about it. In my off season I'm planning on changing all of my decoy wieghts to the "J" shaped ones with the bungie cord. Buddy of mine has those and man are they nice...no tangled lines, no damaged decoy from the anchors rubbing. I think I'll get a mold and melt all the old ones and make new ones. Possibly, take some of my beat up old mallard dekes and paint them black and white and add them to the diver spread. I need more divers. Lots more. Another half or full dozen full body honkers and I'll be happy for early and late season fields. Aaargh, I cant wait!!

[Sartell Angler]

Good idea...they're called Ace Decoy Weights...I like them a lot and would like to slowly start converting as well. Problem is all of my dekes have the regular weights on 'em now.

My off season projects include building a new scissor-style boat blind and also painting the duck boat and canoe with a fresh coat of paint and some spray detail. The waders could use a serious patching job as well if I want to keep my feet dry next fall.

[Thorn]

Heck I don't know where to start much less talk about it...LOL

I have some blowup deeks that I bought at end of season. I better buy some patches for 'em cuz they may sink when I start shootin.

Heck I dunno where to tie a weight to them at? They are prolly gonna just float away...geeeze ok, I'm done talkingh about it, I'm getting depressed! LOL

[BoxMN]

We have the J s on our goose decoys, and they work great. One thing to watch, is that the rubber bungie will get fragile over time, especially if you leave them tight all summer long. We un-tension them in the summer so they are not stretched the whole summer long. Stinks to throw a deke out and it floats away and you get it and find your expensive weight is gone

[Sartell Angler]

Another problem we've had is the knots on our regular strap weights will come undone and the weight will fall off...usually this happens on the cheaper nylon cord but we've started to coat the knot in heavy duty glue to lessen this problem and it has helped.

I haven't gotten into the decoy painting game yet...sort of afraid to start thinking that once I get started I'll never quit

[ironman]

Yup, I've chased a few decoys across a windy lake before. Sucks. I wonder if adding alittle dollop of caulk or rubber cement right at the knot would help. I need to pick up some of those inflatable decoys for an unlta secret, long hike, hard to get to spot I found last year. I cant wait to hunt this spot again. I've never painted dekes either but I have three cheapo wood duck dekes and two cheapo mallard dekes I bought years ago when I got into this again and I never use em. So I figured alittle black and white paint mixed in with higher quality diver dekes should just help add numbers. It seems to me those divers dont care as much about detail as the puddlers. I hope I'm not wrong.

[Ducknut]

Good idea...they're called Ace Decoy Weights...I like them a lot and would like to slowly start converting as well. Problem is all of my dekes have the regular weights on 'em now.

I'm doing the same thing, but making use of my old straps. I'm attaching them to my Aqua-keel to make them more toss friendly. I don't hike in anymore so weight doesn't matter much.

[Eric Wolf]

Greenhead Gear also makes these. In my opinion GHG Stretchee cords are better than Ace's. They last longer without cracking.

[Abrams]

I'll stick with the orginal Ace weights. I've had some on old G&H honker decoys for 7 years and they still work awesome.

[CrappieKiller01]

hey everyone, just wondering went around to some semi shops and got about 50lbs of lead tire weights. was going to make a mold of some sort. anyone know what kind of material i could make my mold out of. making the melting pot easy part. would cutting a aluminum block in half and mill it out to make a weight like the j type that sell in stores work out. two lil handles on it and then hinge it with a filler hole on the the one side? may sound like alot of work but then again saves alot on the heads of the decoys.

[ddsbyday]

If you can cut a aluminum block in half forget the hinge and handles. Mill out two j molds. Place it on a flat surface and pour. One side will have a slightly rounded surface (Until the mold heats up)but who cares. WW lead is hard and not very flexible but would not matter for a j mold. Even if you were able to machine a mold witn a pour spout the ww lead does not cast as well as the soft lead.

[CrappieKiller01]

Thanks for the info found a mold for the j type weight on hsolist for $9 and am goin to try it out. MAybe melt the ww at a lil higher temp to get better melt

[ddsbyday]

In a machined mold the ww lead will work fine without doing anything special. After you pour the first couple the mold heats up and will give you a great result. I usually plan on putting the first couple back in the pot. One tip though is you may want to clean your lead before you start casting.