# Opening day spread



## 3 dog Ed (Apr 25, 2014)

Hey guys looking for a little advice. We are going to be out in our blind on an ohio reservoir this Saturday morning. I don’t know if we should run a dozen goose floaters with our 3 doz ducks or leave them out. We were out on Saturday scouting and never saw a single goose. Should we have the goose dekes out for the visibility or just run ducks? Thanks!


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## Mike Hartley (Sep 11, 2015)

Use the goose decoys for visibility and when all the shooting starts you never know were the geese will get ran out of. Good luck hope you whack em.


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## 3 dog Ed (Apr 25, 2014)

Thanks for the input Mike! Good luck out there. This waterfowl forum is pitiful when there are no answers or new posts this close to the season.


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## bdawg (Apr 14, 2009)

Yeah, it is. We'll have to keep commenting to change that. 

I'll be out at Mogadore Reservoir on an island blind. Won the blind lottery and this seemed to be the best spot still available for the 1st week of the season. We'll be putting out lots of both geese and ducks. Scouting it tonight. 

What do you guys think, is Nimisila or Mogadore better for waterfowl? I saw there were a lot more blinds at Nimisila, but took the Mogadore one because I know the lake better from fishing it. 1st time hunting it though.


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## I_Shock_Em (Jul 20, 2008)

Real shame they changed up the format at the Nimi drawing...I think it is going to have a negative impact on both lakes. There will be a lot more people putting pressure on the lakes since a new group will rotate in every "approximate" week/week and a half. Everyone is going to want to hunt it during their "time slot"


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## NotoriousVIC (Oct 12, 2014)

Definitely put out the geese.


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## 3 dog Ed (Apr 25, 2014)

Thanks guys for the input, appreciate the advice. I’d love to see more action on this forum. The wind is forecast to be strong 10-20mph all day out of WNW. Gonna be a challenge with the wind in our face. We will run the geese and see what happens.

Good luck out there guys!


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## fishingful (Apr 5, 2004)

I dont put a large spread early season. Usually 2 to 8 geese downwind from the spread. Geese dont seem to like to land over ducks.
Then a few woodie in the middle and a group of 3 han mallards and one hen malard off by itself. Sometimes I will pull the woodie and spread out the mallards more and add a malard butt.

More never seemed better for me in the early season. 5 years ago I shot a limmit over 1 hen malard in 6 inches of water. Big groups of ducks aren't around where I hunted.


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## fishingful (Apr 5, 2004)

I hunted mogadore quite a bit. Lived 5 min from there up untill last fall. It really depends on what part of the lake you are on. Wood ducks early then some malard. Geese are around also. Relitivly easy to pull in single geese. 

Some spots have blinds some dont. Definatly hide the boat away from the blind. Otherside of the island if you are on one.



bdawg said:


> Yeah, it is. We'll have to keep commenting to change that.
> 
> I'll be out at Mogadore Reservoir on an island blind. Won the blind lottery and this seemed to be the best spot still available for the 1st week of the season. We'll be putting out lots of both geese and ducks. Scouting it tonight.
> 
> What do you guys think, is Nimisila or Mogadore better for waterfowl? I saw there were a lot more blinds at Nimisila, but took the Mogadore one because I know the lake better from fishing it. 1st time hunting it though.


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## bdawg (Apr 14, 2009)

We got the blind on Mogadore on the south island in the big bay in the middle of the lake just west of 43. You'll be able to see our decoys from 43 on saturday morning. Wind is supposed to be out of the SW, so we are setting up on the NE side of the island. Going to be standing in the water tucked in the bushes. There is a decent wooden blind there, but we would have been staring into the sun at shooting time and we have 3 people and it only holds 2. 

We were out there yesterday checking it out. Saw multiple flocks of woodies and mallards and geese flying around. Going to set the geese decoys up off the north point of the island between the 2 islands and hope they land southeast of the decoys. Also going to set up some goose field decoys on the island where they can be seen by flying geese. Setting up the ducks close to the bushes and under the big tree that hangs over the water on the east side. Using wood duck and mallard decoys. Tucking the boat in next to shore by the wooden duck blind and covering it with camo burlap. 

Right at dark, we had a goose swim up and bed down on the island! Walked over to check it out, got within 15' and it didn't even move! Had its head tucked under its wing trying to sleep! We left it there. If it's still there on saturday, it will be dead.


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## BaddFish (Jun 20, 2009)

I agree with others, less can be more on opening day... I would 4-5 geese out max with 14-16 ducks, i never liked using common 6 or 12 counts because I think ducks get wary of seeing 12 ducks - who knows though, I'm probably over thinking it. But I will tell you to run a 6-8 duck stretched out "J" putting the top of the J about 35-40 yds away- big water hunting, those divers love to come in on those outside edges... have fun gonna be a ducky day for sure! I'll be at an un-named public land spot- hoping to pull the trigger at least once.. wind is supposed to shift to NW as the day goes on... One of the best opening days weather wise that I can remember, and I don't have a good spot, too much focus on white tails this year!


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## 3 dog Ed (Apr 25, 2014)

Thanks baddfish. We will put in a report tomorrow. Good luck to all!!


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## BaddFish (Jun 20, 2009)

Now it looks like Sunday morning will be better,, hmmmmm


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## 3 dog Ed (Apr 25, 2014)

Well the report is thin, no shots fired. We ran the geese dekes with the ducks but were on the wrong side of the lake with the strong wind out of the SW. Right in our face. Saw only one goose fly between daylight and noon when we left. More ducks but it was slow.


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## bdawg (Apr 14, 2009)

Saturday morning at Mogadore, we got 4 ducks. 1 greenhead and 3 bluebills. Saw a lot of geese flying around, but couldn't call them in! Not even the loners. Guys in the sand and gravel pit near the lake had a good day shooting the geese from what I could hear! We were set up on the non-windy side of the island. Had good shots at the ones that did come in. Killed most of them. 

I got lucky to shoot 2 bluebills with 1 shot! They landed on the water early in the morning and gave me a perfect chance to take them both. 

My hunting buddy pissed me off. He was in the middle of the island helping his girlfriend pee when a flock of 10-12 ducks came in straight at me. The front ducks were starting to cup their wings to land when my buddy, who was 10 yards behind me in the trees on the island shoots at them! He shot directly over my head! I hadn't even raised my gun yet because I was letting them get close to landing and they would have seen me move. It flustered me and scattered the ducks. I threw out a couple of shots without really aiming and missed of course! His excuse was that it was the only shot he had and he was shooting at the back ones that were higher up. I realize that he was shooting 20 yards above my head so I was relatively safe, but it pissed me off that he messed up my chance at a really good shot.


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## 3 dog Ed (Apr 25, 2014)

No excuse for that crap


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## fishingful (Apr 5, 2004)

Yea that would be my last time hunting with that guy.


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## bethel_caller (May 24, 2012)

I was rabbit hunting a fence line with a buddy once. A pheasant flushed behind me on my side of the fence. He swung his muzzle around right over my head and cracked one off. 

Last time I hunted with that guy. Do not compromise safety, ever.


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