09-06-2013, 01:59 PM
I have been waterfowling for more years than I would care to admit and I have seen more than my fair share of gadgets come and go in that span. Sometimes, though, there are things that are more "localized" and not considered common knowledge -- herein lies the topic of Texas Rigging. This method of rigging has apparently been used along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana for years!
There are several companies that claim that their rigs are tangle and/or trouble free. I have spent countless hours and dollars believing in those ads. My decoys over the years have been strung with heavy woven cord, light (20lb) mono, hollow plastic tubing and solid plastic line. I have used various types of anchor weights, from pencil-type, heavy strap-type and torpedo shaped (even had a few lines with old spark plugs tied on them). All lines still had to be wrapped around each keel, one by one -- or they would wrap around each other in the decoy bag, causing a tangled mess for the next hunt.
Now for the newly discovered REVELATION ... Texas Rigging is the easiest, most tangle-free, fastest decoy setting and fastest decoy retrieval method of rigging for shallow water (about 3 feet deep) ... BAR NONE! I have just totally re-rigged my main puddler set of about 50 decoys -- I will no longer rig them any other way ... ever!
There is no wrapping line around the keel and some guys don't even use a decoy bag anymore! You use 3-4 foot long piece of 400lb clear mono slipped though the keel hole, then loop and crimp. The other end holds a 3-4oz egg sinker, either sliding or fixed in the loop, then crimped. The loop at the top allows one to turn a floating decoy over on its side and clip the loop into a carabineer hook and walk on to the next decoy ... without getting the hands wet. When setting up, use the same loop, just grab two or three off of the carabineer and flip them out in the water from shore -- fast and easy, all the way.
Do a search on You-Tube and you will find a handful of videos showing how to make this rig (there are a few different methods -- I prefer the non-sliding sinker with a loop up by the keel). There has recently been offerings from some companies that make partial kits and complete sets, also. I found it to be more economical to buy all the things I needed from Walmart (3oz. sinkers) and off of Ebay (400lb line and crimps). Try it, you might really like it!
(I'll post a photo of my Texas Rig, soon.)
There are several companies that claim that their rigs are tangle and/or trouble free. I have spent countless hours and dollars believing in those ads. My decoys over the years have been strung with heavy woven cord, light (20lb) mono, hollow plastic tubing and solid plastic line. I have used various types of anchor weights, from pencil-type, heavy strap-type and torpedo shaped (even had a few lines with old spark plugs tied on them). All lines still had to be wrapped around each keel, one by one -- or they would wrap around each other in the decoy bag, causing a tangled mess for the next hunt.
Now for the newly discovered REVELATION ... Texas Rigging is the easiest, most tangle-free, fastest decoy setting and fastest decoy retrieval method of rigging for shallow water (about 3 feet deep) ... BAR NONE! I have just totally re-rigged my main puddler set of about 50 decoys -- I will no longer rig them any other way ... ever!
There is no wrapping line around the keel and some guys don't even use a decoy bag anymore! You use 3-4 foot long piece of 400lb clear mono slipped though the keel hole, then loop and crimp. The other end holds a 3-4oz egg sinker, either sliding or fixed in the loop, then crimped. The loop at the top allows one to turn a floating decoy over on its side and clip the loop into a carabineer hook and walk on to the next decoy ... without getting the hands wet. When setting up, use the same loop, just grab two or three off of the carabineer and flip them out in the water from shore -- fast and easy, all the way.
Do a search on You-Tube and you will find a handful of videos showing how to make this rig (there are a few different methods -- I prefer the non-sliding sinker with a loop up by the keel). There has recently been offerings from some companies that make partial kits and complete sets, also. I found it to be more economical to buy all the things I needed from Walmart (3oz. sinkers) and off of Ebay (400lb line and crimps). Try it, you might really like it!
(I'll post a photo of my Texas Rig, soon.)
