One of the niftiest -- and, apparently, most effective -- decoy supplements I've ever seen was on Caddo Lake between the state Route 1 crossing and the dam. This ol' boy who had a platform blind just off the lake's north bank had augmented his spread with about a hundred Clorox jugs that he had painted flat white in the middle and flat black on each end. Some 15 or 20 of these were tied together on separate lines, one end of which was anchored on the downwind side of the blind. Man, from a distance it looked like every duck on the lake was in front of that blind! Judging from the amount of gunfire that intermittently erupted from it, perhaps they all were.

I never could bring myself to use Clorox jugs for decoys, though I once made some out of 2-by-4s with attached pieces of 2-by-2s for heads -- no bills, but still painted black and white. They would have probably worked better in quieter water, but in the chop that often made up on Caddo's open water, they didn't look quite right. Anyway, you can almost buy a dozen decent ringneck decoys for what a couple of pieces of the aforementioned lumber costs these days.

Whatever you use, remember that divers come to diver decoys just as mallards come to mallard decoys. Sure, there will be the "incidentals" that I mentioned earlier -- divers are rather fond of company, and at times it seems as if they aren't too choosy -- but you'll do better with at least a dozen diver decoys in your spread.

SEVERE WEATHER ADVISORY
In the relatively open areas of many north Louisiana lakes, diver hunting goes on amid some pretty serious weather. If you ever have a chance -- say, on a scouting run before the season opens -- take note of how these ducks ride the waves in a little blow. They may bob a bit, but they maintain their heading, and don't pitch and yaw -- and your decoys should behave similarly. Assuredly, they won't -- but a few ways of producing more lifelike action in them do exist.