Pull String Decoy Advice

[Copperwood]

With no motion to my spread this year I still had decent luck. Some days I think the ducks might have given us a better look if I would of had more motion in my spread. I am thinking about buying a full-body pull string decoy from aero-outdoors. My question is if anyone has bought one from them and what they think or if they have had any luck with another brand of pull string dekes.

[ducks55]

I remember reading somewhere that if you have a problem with the decoy and need to fix it the full body is not the way to go. The access hole is not big enough to work through so you have to cut a bigger hole. I do believe I read in the same post that they sell a shell pull string as well, I would go with that one if that is the case. I have heard good things and bad things about the Aero Outdoors spinning wing but I have heard more good about the Knotty Duck. Someone who owns one may be better advice but that is what I have heard.

[02BHUNTN]

With no motion to my spread this year I still had decent luck. Some days I think the ducks might have given us a better look if I would of had more motion in my spread. I am thinking about buying a full-body pull string decoy from aero-outdoors. My question is if anyone has bought one from them and what they think or if they have had any luck with another brand of pull string dekes.

Check out the bill saunders calls booth at the yakima sportsmans show this weekend they should be able to help you out i believe they carry the whipsplash pullstring which is and awesome quality pull string

[TONTO]

but I have heard more good about the Knotty Duck.

  I've heard alot of good about the Knotty Duck as well,although I've never used one, I was checking one out at Bob's seemed like a quality flyer. It can be set up in either direction too, they're based in Scapoose, OR.

[h2ofowlr]

I use the Knotty Duck Decoy from time to time.  It works good.  I would go that direction for a pull string one.  I used to have one that was hooked up to my fishing reel that worked really good until the cable got kinked and a little moisture in it.

[Copperwood]

Thank you everyone for your input.

[kbyers]

The whiplash decoy is by far the best.  In the group that I hunt with we have 4 different brands of pull string decoys, including one made by Aero and one made by whipsplash.

We have had 2 problems with the Aero decoy and both have to do with the way the wing attaches to the body.  The wings have a tendency to fall off.  That is why they advise you to seal at least 6 holes in each wing, so they float.  After 1.5 seasons of use the glue for the coupler that holds one of the wings on has come off.  Both are repairable problems but not in the field.  If you choose this decoy put a twist in the band to increase tension, so that as you look at it there is an X between where it attaches to the wings and the body.  I noticed that the new decoys that Aero is putting out have the black on the wing as paint.  The older version on mine have black flocking on the wing which tend to not look as good when they freeze.

The whipsplash takes 1/4 the effort to pull and spin 2x as fast as any other decoy I have used.  Also the length of pull seems about 2x as long.  The wings securely attach with set screws and are much larger.  We only hunted over this decoy 3/4 of last season but have not had a single problem.  It is a very high quality piece of equipment.  The one minor change I would make is that post that it mounts on is 1/2 inch, I prefer 3/4.  But I would buy another on in a heartbeat.

So long story short go for the whipsplash
Good luck with your decision, you have a couple months

[h2ofowlr]

The Knotty Duck has the 1/2" aluminum attachment on the bottom as well.  I didn't like this, so i used 3/4" conduit and cut a 8" piece of the grey PVC pipe and knocked it into the 3/4" conduit until about 4" stuck out.  This also allowed it to move freely.  I have now used this same method for many of my winduks as I also use them in salt and the metal rusts quickly.  This keeps them turning quick.

The main differences between Knotty Duck and Whiplash model by Eric Strands
1-the Whip is a "final approach" decoy and the Knotty is a "G&H" decoy
2- the actions on the decoys are a little different as far as the tention goes, but you can adjust that with the surgical tubing on both
3- the knotty you can pull it from the front or back which makes it nice for different setups Where the Whip is a front action pull only

[Tealer]

I have used both and prefer the Knotty Duck to the Whipsplash. The Knotty is higher quality all the way around.