Every duck hunter knows the struggle of calm days with minimal wind. Decoys sit lifeless on water that looks like glass.
The best jerk rig for duck hunting solves the lack of water motion with a simple approach. It takes no batteries and stores in a compact setup weighing around 2-3 pounds while providing some of the most realistic water motion you can get.
Even better, homemade jerk rigs are a great way to get an affordable, customizable setup. If you are looking for the best jerk rig setup for duck decoys, this article will give you both the knowledge to build your own, and point you towards the best options that you can buy today.
A jerk rig works by moving duck decoys on the water to produce motion and ripples. An anchor is attached to a bungee cord with a string going to the duck blind. Decoys are clipped to the string so that when the cord is pulled they move to the blind, and when the cord is released the bungee pulls the decoys back to the anchor.
This is one of the simplest and most effective tools that you can use as a duck hunter. When the water is calm and motionless, ducks know that doesn’t look right and will avoid your decoy spread even if everything else is perfect.
Water motion is a critical component to making your decoy spread come to life. Having the best jerk rig for duck hunting with you on every hunt is a sure way to guarantee you won’t get stuck with a lifeless decoy spread when the wind dies down.
A DIY jerk rig for duck hunting is easy to make and lets you customize the setup for your specific hunting situation. The materials that you need to make your homemade jerk rig include an anchor, bungee cord, string, clips, and a handle.
My first homemade jerk rig utilized a stake for an anchor. I would walk out into the water and shove it down into the marsh mud before clipping on the line. It was free, but a little cumbersome to haul in and out every hunt. This caused me to leave it at home on occasion, and more than once I was caught without it on a windless day.
If you are going the DIY route there are numerous ways to anchor your jerk cord. A stake in the ground or a tin can filled with concrete that you stomp into the mud is more of the budget approach.
But if you don’t mind spending a little extra money, one of the best ways to anchor your jerk rig is with a foldable 1.5lb grappling anchor. These collapse nice and small which makes it a breeze to carry with you in your blind bag. When they unfold, they catch in the mud and weeds and hold a surprising amount of force.
The bungee cord that you use for your jerk rig is important because it directly affects how much motion you will get from the decoys.
My first jerk rig was a garage special and utilized standard j-hook bungees that I zip-tied together. I quickly found that I could only pull the cord in a few feet before the bungee reached its maximum amount of stretch.
When looking for bungee cord, you want to use a smaller diameter cord that stretches easily. I find that 1/8th-inch bungee gives the perfect amount of stretch while still being durable. The 1/8th inch bungee also wraps up nicely without adding a lot of bulk.
I also like to have a longer bungee length than most commercially available options because it allows for more motion. With 10ft of bungee, you can pull the decoys a good distance and then slowly release the cord for continuous decoy motion without a lot of fumbling in the blind.
Jerk rig string is pretty simple. You can go with any small-diameter rope, but I prefer 1/16th. The important factor to consider is how long you want the line. I usually hunt close to my decoys so 60 feet is more than sufficient. If you set your decoys further away, you might want to have a full 100 feet.
Longer is not always better as the line is more likely to tangle and become a mess. When going over 100 feet in length for my jerk rigs, I go with a higher quality line that is smaller in diameter but stronger. It costs extra but it’s worth the money when trying to keep the line wrapped on a small handle/holder.
Once you attach your bungee cord to the anchor, and the string to the bungee cord, the next part of the DIY jerk rig is clipping on the duck decoys.
You can tie large swivels to the line which are used to clip the decoys on and off. Or you can buy snap clips (used for trot lines) that you would rig to your decoys with a short 6-inch piece of decoy line. Then, the snap clips are clipped directly to the jerk rig line wherever you want.
Snap clips are nice because they are more configurable in terms of positioning, but they require you to use specific decoys. I find that the pre-attached swivels work well for me since I have a consistent decoy setup distance when using my kayak.
Regardless of what option you pick, make sure you have enough clips. The cheaper jerk rigs that you can purchase may only come with 4 clips. That is plenty for a small decoy spread but I like to have 6 or more for additional flexibility.
The last thing to add to your homemade jerk rig is a handle that incorporates a way to wrap up the string. This helps keep the line from getting tangled in your blind bag and makes setup and tear down a simple task.
You can purchase line wraps online or get creative and find something in your garage that can function as a string holder. You will want a handle that has indents on it to lock the line in place. This helps keep the line from unspooling while you are using it in the blind.
Jerk rigs are a great way to add water motion to your decoy spread. They aren’t a set-it-and-forget-it approach like other motion decoys, but they provide some of the most realistic motion that you can get.
Everyone has a different hunting situation and a different budget, so I picked three of the best duck hunting jerk rigs to review. Whether you are looking for the most customizable, the top-of-the-line, or the best value, these jerk rigs will help you create lifelike motion and bag more ducks this hunting season.
Using the materials listed above, you can make your own custom jerk rig that fits your hunting scenario perfectly. Do you hunt larger water? Add a 3lb anchor, longer line, and extra clips. Do you mostly hunt small marshes? Use a 1.5lb grappling anchor with 60’ of cord.
There are plenty of great commercially available options for jerk rigs but why pay more for something that you can make yourself out of components you might already have sitting around the house? Jerk rigs are simple to assemble, and you can make them as fancy or plain as you want.
If you want to purchase all the parts you need from one place, shop our customizable jerk rig kits. When I decided that I wanted to upgrade from my original bulky jerk rig setup, I looked online and found that it was expensive to buy all the components individually. I didn’t need 300ft of line or 20 clips, but that’s all I could buy.
We offer several options for jerk rig kits where you can get the exact components that you need. We buy in bulk to get parts cheaper and pass those savings on to you. The money we make off each kit doesn’t even pay minimum wage when you factor in our time, but our goal isn’t to make money. We want to provide an affordable option for those who aren’t happy with the price or configuration of commercially available jerk rigs.
Why Buy It?
Custom options for a DIY jerk rig without the cost of buying components individually.
Shop for DIY Jerk Rig Kits At:
This jerk rig is unique and stands out from all the other options available on the market. It has two major quality improvements over a standard homemade jerk rig: 90ft of PVC-coated steel cable and 6 snap clips.
The steel cable has swivels every 6ft to prevent twists in the line. Using steel cable for the line adds quite a bit of cost to the jerk rig, making this the most expensive jerk rig on our list. But, it makes the jerk rig virtually indestructible and easy for the snap clips to hold to the line anywhere you put them (the larger diameter cable provides better tension on the clip).
The snap clips are designed to be hooked up to your decoys and carried on the included carabiner. This is a big improvement over standard jerk rigs which feature a fixed number of clips that are permanently attached to the line.
With these snap clips, you could put two decoys close together, then skip 15ft and clip on another two decoys. You aren’t limited to specific locations like you are with a normal jerk rig setup.
When compared to other jerk rigs, this clearly stands out as the better option. However, while it has some nice features, it also has some downsides.
This is an expensive setup, and at nearly double the price of other options, it is easy to question if it offers twice the value. The steel cable is great in terms of durability, but it adds some bulk to the overall rig and the strength isn’t a factor considering it is held in place with a 1.5lb grappling anchor. There is also nothing special about the 5ft bungee, and the stainless swivels it comes with are bright and shiny.
Even with a few downsides it is still the best available on the market, and if you don’t mind the higher price, it is a great piece of equipment that should last forever. But if you are looking to get the best value out of a jerk rig, then a DIY setup will do everything that this can do at nearly half the price.
Why Buy It?
Steel cable and snap clips that you can pre-rig to your decoys makes this one of the more user friendly jerk rig options for cold weather
Shop for Lifetime Decoys Jerk Rig At:
If you don’t want to go the DIY approach and you want a more affordable option than the Lifetime jerk rig, this Rig’Em Right jerk rig is a great choice. It has all the functionality a jerk rig needs at a reasonable price point.
Compared to the DIY kits or the Lifetime jerk rig, this setup only has 4 clips, a 1.25lb anchor, and the line clip on the handle doesn’t do its job very well. However, it does have a nice stuff sack that helps keep things contained when tossing the jerk rig in your blind bag. It also comes with 100’ of line.
This is a simple, no-frills jerk rig that doesn’t offer much in terms of being adjustable or configurable. If you find that 100’ of line and 4 clips are a good fit for your hunting situation and you don’t want to assemble a jerk rig yourself, this is a good option to consider.
Why Buy It?
Budget jerk rig that is fully assembled and ready to use.
Shop for Rig’Em Right Jerk Rig At:
The best duck hunting jerk rig is one that is simple, lightweight, and designed to fit your hunting style. That is why in most cases, it is best to go for a homemade jerk rig over a purchased option.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how you accomplish it. If it is with a kit, supplies you have around the house, or a pre-made jerk rig setup, they all will give you the water motion needed to make your decoy spread come to life. Having realistic decoy and water motion during calm weather will drastically change your view of hunting windless days.
If you want a top-of-the-line jerk rig and you aren’t on a tight budget, it is tough to beat the Lifetime jerk rig. If getting the best value for your money is important, building your own homemade jerk rig with a DIY jerk rig kit lets you prioritize the features that you want.
The best time to pull a jerk rig is when the ducks are not looking directly at your decoy spread. This could be when they are a long distance off, or when they are circling away from the decoys. You want to be mindful of the motion you create both in the blind and on the water when timing your pull.
I like to pull the jerk rig in several feet very quickly to get as much motion and splash as possible while the ducks are still off in the distance. Repeat this process several times to put a lot of ripples on the water. This does a great job of attracting the attention of long-distance ducks.
As the ducks close in on the spread, I like to pull in 5-10ft of cord very slowly without making much motion from the hunting blind. This creates a more subtle ripple that looks very realistic.
Then, as the ducks are circling toward the spot where I want them to land, I slowly release the line. This lets the bungee pull the decoys back to their original starting point while I let the line slip through my fingers.
Heavily pressured ducks will rarely land on the first pass, so as they circle away I repeat the process, pulling in the cord while they aren’t looking and then slowly releasing as they circle back.
Most duck hunters know that motion decoys are a critical part of a successful hunt. They attract the attention of ducks and help convince them that it is safe to land. A lot of hunters choose to use a spinning wing decoy and for good reason. They are simple to set up and allow for a hands-off approach.
While this works great for early-season ducks, as the season progresses, the ducks become more wary after they see the same traditional decoy spread with multiple spinning wing decoys. I find that later in the season, a jerk rig does a better job of convincing ducks that it is safe to land.
Used properly, a jerk rig also does a good job of attracting the attention of long-distance ducks. When the entire marsh is calm on a windless day, having the only decoy spread that has water motion makes it stand out from the air incredibly well.
Jerk rigs are not a replacement for spinning wing decoys and vice versa. Early in the season, they complement each other very well and I love using both. Later in the hunting season, I find myself leaving the spinning wing decoy at home more often and solely using the jerk rig.
Jerk rigs work extremely well on days where there is no wind, and the water is calm. They produce ripples and water motion that stands out for a long way and results in a more realistic duck decoy spread.
However, on days when there is plenty of wind and waves, the benefits of a jerk rig are minimized. The ripples they produce are quickly washed out by the waves and the decoy movement isn’t much more than what occurs naturally from the wind.
The great thing about these best duck hunting jerk rigs is that they are small enough to easily fit in your blind bag so you can take one with you every hunt and only set it out when you need it.
A jerk rig spreader for duck decoys is a device that gives you the option to attach multiple decoys to a single clip on your jerk rig. It typically has multiple arms to spread out the decoys away from the single attachment point.
It is very effective because it adds a substantial amount of water motion to a single area by increasing the drag (going from one decoy to four or more).
Instead of a single line of decoys moving back and forth, you add a group of decoys which gives a more realistic appearance.
Should I buy a jerk rig spreader? There are definite pros to using a spreader system with a jerk rig, but it also adds bulk and setup time. If you already have a jerk rig and want to find a way to get even more motion for a large decoy spread, adding a jerk rig spreader is a good option. If you are new to jerk rigs, I would recommend using the standard single-line approach until you are comfortable with how they work.
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