Although layout boats aren’t exactly suited for hauling huge quantities of decoys, Johnny LaFleur said he’s usually got room for at least a dozen or two within each boat.
And that’s more than enough for the small waters he often frequents, especially during the September teal season.
“When targeting the early blue-wings, I’ll usually just take along about a dozen teal decoys and two to four hen mallard or wood duck decoys,” LaFleur said. “Usually the teal get put in a loose group off to one side with the big-duck decoys to the other side, leaving a landing zone right in front of me.”
Pointing out that attempting to shoot behind the boat can be a tough, if not dangerous, effort, LaFleur focuses on getting the birds as close to his front as possible.
This often means playing the wind and decoy placement carefully to make sure you get those feet-down shots.
“I find that by putting my spinning-wing decoy — usually a Mojo teal — in with my teal decoys, the birds key in on that from a long way out and will often land right with it, making for easy shooting,” LaFleur said.
