First, What are some thoughts on this way to rig your decoys? Are they that much better that the wrapped up ones?
Second, if i wanted to build my own what materials would i need?
Thanks

Tx Rig. You can do it yourself easily. 400lb mono, crimps and egg weights and your covered..

TX rig for sure. Cheapest way is to order through SNL corp. 300-400lb mono, crimps, weights.

If you hunt in water more than 3 foot I would not recomend this set up. If you tote decoys on a 4 wheeler I would recommend to use a decoy bag with this set up.

Go to ebay and buy your egg weights that is the cheapest I could find.

I also used 250lb mono, we'll see how it holds up.

Tire weights free from tire store, melt and cast into any weight you want

Ok thanks. I hunt mostly public and many times its walk in spots. Are they easier to tote that the big decoy bag?

Heck yes!!

I have all of mine texas rigged and i throw them in a decoy bag when I am on a 4 wheeler but they are as easy as any other way to carry and much quicker to set out and pick up.

TX Rigging Video by Danno

Easy and efficient in the field. As fast as I can walk I can gather the decoys at the end of a hunt. Hope this helps

It depends on how many you are carrying in.

I have a good decoy bag that will hold 3 dozen decoys, it has padded back pack straps and fits well.

I wouldn't want to walk in with 3 dozen texas rigged dekes.

I went back to old style rigging last year because of high water levels. I got tired of chasing down decoys after a hunt.

I think Texas rig is the way to go if you are hauling in a boat, but I go as far as I can on a 4 wheeler and walk the rest of the way and they just didn't work well for me.

I ended up using a bag anyway.

Um, no. Just make your lines longer. We walk in some places on the coast well over 1/2 a mile and use tx rigs anywhere from 3-6 feet. Throw them over your shoulder and clip your carabiner on your wader belt loop. Go TX rig and never look back. If you are serious about waterfowling, and set your dekes up any other way you are wasting your money. I guarantee you will go to TX rigs at some point.

Um, no. Not true for everyone.

...and I am pretty sure duckkiller is serious about waterfowling.

There is no better way to rig your dekes for puddle duck hunting than TX rig. BTW you can fit more than a dozen TX rigs, on a carabiner, in a regular decoy bag. If there is, please show me the pros vs cons of TX rig VS your way

...I never said he wasnt serious. Run along now...

The mono takes a set after several seasons and curls up. The mono looks like it has been sanded and is no longer clear but a milky color. You end up with the non weighted end of the mono sticking up in the air like a shiny little plastic flag. That just what Ive seen.

True PJ. I have to agree. But do your alternatives (PVC decoy line, other rope type lines) not deteriorate? IMO after several seasons its not a big deal to put new line on your decoys. Its not a bad idea no matter how you are rigging.

I love TX rigs for many reasons. Ease of setting/picking up spread. No tangles. Easy to mix & match in a hurry at 3AM in the dark. If you decide you want to move to a diff spot you can effectively pick up/set out a spread in less than 5 minutes. Whereas if you were wrapping 2 doz dekes(even with surg tubing and the J shaped weights, which I like very much, but still 2nd to TX rig) it would take quite a bit longer.

BTW im not here get in a heated argument. To each his own. Just trying to pass time on a slow friday with some quality discussion on my fav. subject

Last year we went to texas rigs in our commercial operation. Over 300 decoys total. We had more headaches with them than I can tell you. I will admit the 80% of the time they worked properly, they were nice. The other 20% of the time was miserable. We had high water last year and had a couple of spots where we they would not touch the bottom in places. We would end up with floaters all over the lake. Also when you get them tangled they normally all tangle together. Instead of one or two decoys it is the whole spread. Not to mention that it seems to be twice as rough on the decoys as carrying them in a bag as far as paint chipping.

Yeah they are quicker to put out and quicker to pick up than the old methods, but the old method is more dependable as far as being functional.

My TX rigs dont get tangled, really. Ever. Clip the carabiner, tie a single loop knot as low down as possible. Get to the spot, untie the knot. If they are tangled just give it a slight tug and they come right out.

Agreed on the paint chipping part. We put a few coats of clear matte on a few last season and they held up alot better. But duckiller, with your 'old method' its the same deal, isnt it? If you dont make the line long enough then they arent going to touch bottom either way. We rig our TX rigs (mostly) from 4 to 6 feet. It was more than enough on the coastal bays and will be fine for most of the spots we hunt here. Now if I were hunting divers out on a main lake I might have to re-rig some diver blocks.

Here's a thought, has anyone ever tried making extensions for the TX rig? You'd have to have some kind of clip to connect the two loops but just make another line with loops and a sliding weight. I think it'd still be easier than the 'old method'. Just one more clip to connect/take off when setting/picking up.

wlgorman....that last paragraph is a dang good idea. You could rig your extentions with bigger weights too. Good thinking!

So let me get this straight, y'all that TX rig your decoys don't use a bag? All of mine are TX rigged and then I clip 12-15 on each clip and tie them as mentioned above. Then I put them in a bad and clip them to a loop on the bag...when I get to where I am going to set them I unclip and pull them out of the bag and then take the overhand knot out and get to setting.

To me there isn't any way in the world I am going to wrapping after using both.

If I hunted out of a boat in the bay where we were putting out large spreads of decoys. I would go texas rig.

But I don't hunt in those conditions. We normally throw out 2 dozen decoys on average. I find that the extra 10 seconds to wrap the decoy is well worth the dependability of the old style and no decoys in a bag do not chip as quickly as decoys flouncing around everywhere. We had a few hunts last year where the tangles in the tx rigs were so bag we were unable to use a group of them for those hunts.

I guess according to you I am not a serious waterfowler.

I dont know why you would use mono. I use grey weedeater line. Its just as strong. Won't hold a crimp in the line if you tie it in a knot. It allready has a dull-ish finnish and its not so stiff that it sticks up out of the water. Not to mention its super cheap!!

OH....and they dont tangle..... ever

Judd, sometimes we use bags, sometimes we dont. Usually if we are walking in with layout blinds on our backs, we dont use the bag. We just throw the over the shoulder and clip to our wader belt loop. On the coast we perfected the long range walk-in game. Weightless keels=light weight. Had a spread just for this and used Lightweight layout blinds that pack up real small (yall already know my fav.)

duckiller. The only thing that makes me think you arent hardcore is the fact that you just used the word 'flouncing'. JK, like I said, to each, his own. I still will never be convinced that TX rigs arent superior to anything else. Unless we're talking diver spreads, then doctari long lines are the answer.

I like Tx rigs, Mine are any where from 32 inches to 48 inches. Most the water I hunt is not more then foot deep if that.

If its any deeper then that I'm probley hunting a tank and if they blow across then no big deal walk to the other side and pick them up.

They arent the best when water is deeper, and duckkiller is right on the paint thing.. They take more of a beating.... But i hear those GHGs paints last forever