retrieving ducks from the river?

[835]

more like 20-30 feet deep. there is barely if any current/ no visible current i have thrown a piece of wood and seen that it doesnt move more than an inch in a minute

in this case ( and i as well dont advise hunting ducks over water without a dog or boat) I would just tie a snag rig onto a medium action spinning rod.
tie a bell weight on the end of your line and then several trebbles going up the line. The weight on the end will allow the hooks to not get tangled up as well they will run over the duck with a greater chance of hooking in.

The pole idea is fine but what if its a cripple? with 1/4oz-1/2oz of lead on a spinning rod you can blast that out farther if the bird is swimming.

[lorneparker1]

what a stupid thread.

if the water is 20-30 feet deep and you dont have a boat or a dog. DONT HUNT THERE. its simple.

Trying to count on some kind of concocktion to get the bird in a "best case scenario" back to shore is ridiculous!

Lorne

[Foxton Gundogs]

Ok I have posted this before Get a BIG assed trebel hook and about weight(I have used the "barrel" type with an eye at each end attatches jusf above the hook) or better yet make your own out of 3 big singles a piece of copper tube and arrange the hooks in a trebel patern inside the tube !/2 fill with salder or lead insert lonf screw eye in the open end and finish filling(no weight required here) attatch some heavy "cod" or "net" line and away you go. I've tried the rod thing but am away more accureate with the "grappling hook" type rig.

[widger]

Become Jesus. Then you do not have to worry about the depth of the water. Just walk out and pick the bird up.

If you are able to do this please let me know so I can get some lottery numbers off you.

[Foxton Gundogs]

what a stupid thread.

if the water is 20-30 feet deep and you dont have a boat or a dog. DONT HUNT THERE. its simple.

Trying to count on some kind of concocktion to get the bird in a "best case scenario" back to shore is ridiculous!

Lorne

Agreed I could TRY to sell him a pup or better yet a started dog BUT as he doesn't have one already that probably wouldn't work. People will do what people will do regardless so may as well TRY to midigate the damage.

[mfarrally]

Get the right tools for the job or go hunt some puddles you can walk through. Its actually the dumbest thing i've heard in a while.

[835]

Agreed I could TRY to sell him a pup or better yet a started dog BUT as he doesn't have one already that probably wouldn't work. People will do what people will do regardless so may as well TRY to midigate the damage.

Yep, im with you Foxton,
I did put in brackets my opinion about that as well.

Thing is, id be a liar if i said i didnt learn the hard way myself. This person will go out there with whatever device he makes, loose some birds and re think it.
So we may as well tell him what we think might work.

Yep i ve done dumn things and lossed birds because of mistakes.

Again i think hunting over a river, or any other body of water without a dog, boat or any means to retrieve a bird from any point is a bad idea.

[303Brit]

I wouldn't hunt the river without a dog. Regardless of what you do, pole, snag rig, kayak, etc they will all be a PITA (Pain In The A) so if you don't have anywhere else productive to hunt, ie Short stopping traffic birds before the river. Then I would seriously rethink about whether or not you can properly have a working dog (IE cash, time, training etc)
Right now I can't afford the cash or the time to have a dog, so we don't hunt over water without the boat or in shallow tidal flats. Loosing a bird is a terrible feeling.

The is just imho about retreiving ducks from a river

303

[Crazy_Farmer]

Its pretty plain and simple, just as lorne says, if you cant retrieve your birds dont hunt it. I dont hunt any waters I know I cant wade out into, unless I have my boat

If Matt and the dog is around it opens up any deeper water areas around. But if they arent around, I cant hunt there.

[Steyrman]

Years ago BC (before Chessies) I used a heavy casting rod with a floating salt water Rapala minnow(large hooks) worked quite well.