[smartweed]

I need to create a longline rig over the summer months and need some guidelines on what works best. Specifically, I need to know what the best diameter for the mainline is, how long each mainline should be, leads or no leads on the dekes, what size of clip to use, and where to get everything free....

Thanks in advance. I hope some of you fellows more experienced in this area can help me get off on the right foot.

 

[greybeard]

I usally won't reply to these kind of post but I'll give it a try. I've tried about 15 different ways to make longlines and have only come up with one that I really like. I run 125' mainlines made out of 3/8 dia. twisted nylon rope, the droppers are 9/32 and about 12" long and are braided back into the mainline with a snap swivel at the decoy end. After making the rig I soak it in Coprinal and strech it out to dry, this will make the whole setup stiff when dry and will prevent tangles when layed in the boat. I don't take mine apart, once the decoy's are attached they stay that way the entire season, I just pull up one anchor and drop it in the bow of the boat and then pull it in and lay it all in the bow of my boat, to put out just drop the anchor over the side and feed it out, no tubs or anything to fall over later. Hears how we run the setup. X = Decoy and 1 = mainline and yes they are setup cross wind, we let the birds blow out of the rig to pick them up.

x x x x x x
1 1 1 1 1 1
x x x x x x
1 1 1 1 1 1
x x x x x x -------Wind
1 1 1 1 1 1
x x x x x x
1 1 1 1 1 1
x x Boatx x x

 

[robert]

CHECK OUT DOCTARI TARRED DECOY LINES THE HAVE EVERYTHING CHEAP.100 SHRIMP CLIPS 32.00 FOR 6 INCH AND TARRED MAIN LINES.

 

[BFG]

125' mainlines, 7 strand Diamond braid line, 16" droppers (extra deke line) off each deke, long-line clips from Cabelas (3")and 3# mushroom weights on each end of the rig. We normally get about 10 dekes per line, depending on the depth. We'll upgrade the anchors to heavier this year, as we've had trouble with the rigs drifting in the chop.

We wrap the rig lines on extension cord holders (Meijers, like $1.50 each). Trim the tops of the "H's" down to about 3/4 inch. The wrappers and anchors fit in a 3 gallon bucket. Very neat and clean.

Standard deployment for one layout uses about 5-6 dozen dekes, add another boat and we've usually got around 8-10 dozen out there. We put the boats slightly upwind of the dekes. It's best for right handed shooters to have the majority of the spread to the left of the layout boat.

Others may have better setups, but this works pretty darn good for us.

Just my opinion, of course <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">

BFG