Bought my first pack of decoys the other day and was wondering what the best way to rig them up is? What size weight should i use? I pretty much have no clue, like i said my very first pack of decoys. Ive seen people say texas rig them but i have no idea how/what that means with respect to decoys.

Where and how you hunt dictates how you should rig up your decoys. Texas rigging works great for shallower water. Obviously the deeper you go the more string and (typically) more weight you will need. About 1/3 of my deks are texas rigged. 1/3 have about 6 foot of line with, I think, 6 oz weights and the rest are on a long line for diver hunting. Still trying to work out the kinks with the long line.

If you will be hunting in water less than 4 ft I would say texas rig them. Any deeper and the lines get to be a pain to manage IMO.

If your hunting in water over 18"-2' your gonna have a real hard time killing anything but divers anyway......in my experience. But there is an exception to every rule like if your hunting a creek or river..hunting flooded timber...or hunting a stock tank that has a very steep bottom.

All that being said..... think about where your gonna be hunting the most. My decoys are rigged in a modified texas rig style with about 50" of 400# mono and a 4 or 5oz no-roll weight. I hunt mostly lakes and government ponds and rarely put decoys out in water over my waist.

Jeff E. Has a post up called Save the paint on decoys, that will show you one very good way to prepare those weights before rigging.

But Trout-killer and lakesteak123 has given you the best advise, To much of cord on deeks will cause them to drift in the spread...and yes movement is good but not unrealistic movement where deeks are hitting each other.And if the cord is too short then you wont just get drift but they will float away.

I guess trial and era will be the best advise too, or even go to your spot that you plan to hunt Before opener, and rig them there to make sure the lines are right.

If you are going to Texas rig I would suggest .095 weed eater string from Ace Hardware. I have used every kind there is from 400 lbs mono, 1/4 inch rope, wind up green string and others. I like the Ace Brand (ONLY) weedeater string. It has less memory than the 400 mono and it is smooth weedeater string. It is easy on the hands on a cold morning.

Hey Wayne how does the cramps hold up in saltwater??

I just about only hunt 12-24inches of water. Right now I've got about 4 doz mallard, 2 doz teal, and 6ish pintails all with about 30-36inchs of decoy string. Been wanting to Texas rig them for a while. The string and weight has been fine for me for the 15yrs I've been at it. But I do believe, from hunting with others, that Texas Rigged is the simplest. I usually use a bigger spread since most people around me have smaller 1-2doz decoy spreads. Next year I'll have Texas Rigs.