Avery GHG Duck Decoy Weights Built for Shallow Potholes

A pothole is rarely the same twice. After a week of dry weather, the back of a claypan can hold only a thumb's depth of water, and after a storm the same depression fills to your bootlaces. Australian duck hunters know this rhythm better than most, because much of the country's best waterfowl country sits on private farm dams, irrigation channels, and the slow bends of the Murray-Darling system rather than on vast open marshes. Rigging decoys for those spots is a different game from the open-water spreads most American product videos show, and it is exactly where the Avery GHG duck decoy weights earn their reputation.

The hardware is simple in principle: a small lead or steel weight that keeps a decoy anchored in skinny water where the standard keel cannot find bottom. The execution is what matters, because a weight that snags, slips, slides, or rusts after one season can ruin an otherwise perfect morning. This review looks at the Avery GHG design specifically, how it behaves in the kind of shallow, snag-filled water you find around places like the Wimmera rice flats, the wetlands south of Mildura, and the chain of lignum swamps that line the Lachlan, and whether it deserves a place in your rig bag.

What the Avery GHG Weight Is and Why It Exists

The Avery GHG weight is a flat, low-profile piece designed to sit on the bottom and hold a decoy in place through a short length of line. Rather than relying on a string running up the side of the decoy to a keel, the decoy sits naturally on the water while a separate weight pins the anchor line down. This is the standard approach for any stake or stringer-style rig, and it is the only practical approach when there is no deep water column for a keel to do its job.

Avery Outdoors and its sister brand GHG (Greenhead Gear) have made hunting gear since the 1970s, and the duck weight has been in the line in one form or another for decades. The current production version is a roughly fist-sized flat slab of lead with a hole near one end for the line, a matte finish that does not flash in low sun, and a shape that lies flat on soft mud without rolling. It is sold individually or in multi-packs, which suits both small timber duck hunters and big spread shooters.

In the United States, the weights are pitched at flooded timber and dry-field hunters. The Australian appeal is broader. The same flat profile that works in a flooded tupelo swamp in Arkansas works just as well in a half-dry lignum swamp near Bool Lagoon or a clay-bottomed dam on a property near Deniliquin, where every gram of drag on the line matters because the water is so shallow the decoys are nearly resting on the bottom anyway.

Build Quality and Materials

The first thing you notice when you handle a set of these is the density. They feel heavier than they look, which is what you want from a weight meant to stay put in moving water and a stiff breeze. The casting is clean, with no obvious seams, and the edges are rounded just enough to avoid cutting your hands or your line when you thread it through. Some competing weights on the market have sharp mould lines that fray cord after a season; this one does not.

The hole for the line is positioned close to one edge so the weight can pivot slightly as the decoy moves, which reduces the torque on the line at the connection point. That detail is important when you are setting out twenty or thirty decoys in a tight group, because the cumulative friction from poorly designed weights will eventually pull your spread off station by mid-morning. The matte grey coating holds up well to brackish water, which matters for hunters who work the tidal reaches around the Gold Coast hinterland or the saline lagoons behind the Coorong.

The line that comes attached on some packaged versions is adequate but unremarkable. Most serious hunters will replace it with their own cord. The crimp and swivel that often accompany the weight in a starter pack are functional, and they match the rest of the Avery rigging ecosystem so you can mix and match without worrying about whether the components will seat properly. If you prefer to assemble your own rig from scratch, sources such as specialty craft suppliers carry a wide range of sturdy cord and small hardware that work in decoy applications as well as they do in other precision uses.

Field Performance in Shallow Australian Water

The real test of any decoy weight is what happens when the morning goes wrong. A strong southerly, a noisy walk-in, an unexpected shower — all of these can turn a calm spread into a tangle of floating decoys in minutes. The Avery GHG design handles these moments well because the weight's flat profile keeps it low and the pivot point near the line hole allows the decoy above to swing without dragging the anchor sideways.

On a recent outing to a chain of shallow claypans about an hour west of Swan Hill, I set out a dozen decoys rigged with these weights in water that ranged from barely covering the bottom to roughly fifteen centimetres deep. The spread held position through a 25-kilometre wind that pushed most of the loose drift to the leeward shore. The only decoy that moved was one where the line was too long, which was a rigging error on my part rather than a weight failure. By contrast, on the same trip I had a couple of heavier, rounded weights from another brand that slowly walked across the muddy bottom until the decoys were clustered in a useless pile downwind.

The other area where these weights shine is ease of pickup. At the end of the morning, you grab the line, lift the decoy, and the weight follows without snagging. The flat shape does not dig into clay the way a round lead weight can, so you are not spending ten minutes of your morning digging out a weight that has half-buried itself overnight. For hunters who walk a long way into a backwater dam and do not want to drag a heavy bag of muddy gear back to the ute, that is a meaningful difference.

The matte finish also matters. A shiny weight on a sunny morning can act like a tiny mirror and spook wary birds, particularly the bigger species like the mountain duck that often pass through the southern Australian wetlands. The Avery finish is dull enough to disappear against a muddy or sandy bottom in the kind of light you typically get on a winter's morning in the high country.

Setup tips for shallow water

How the Avery GHG Weight Stacks Up

There is no shortage of decoy weights on the Australian market, and prices range from a few dollars for a basic lead piece to premium titanium options that cost more than the decoys themselves. Most hunters settle somewhere in the middle, and the Avery GHG design sits in the sweet spot. The table below compares it with three other common options you will find in Australian tackle shops and online hunting stores.

Feature Avery GHG Duck Decoy Weight Generic Round Lead Weight Heavy "Spider" Stake Weight DIY Stamped Flat Lead
Profile Flat, low Round, rolls Star-shaped, bulky Flat, irregular
Approximate mass (oz) 6 8 12 5–10 (varies)
Anti-snag design Yes No Partial No
Pivot line attachment Edge-mounted hole Top-mounted hole Multiple legs Punched hole
Finish Matte grey Raw lead Powder-coated Bare metal
Price per weight (AUD) $5–$8 $2–$4 $10–$14 $1–$3
Best for Shallow potholes, farm dams, lignum swamps Deep open water Soft mud, big spreads Budget builds, one-off rigs

For most Australian hunting scenarios the Avery weight is the right call. The round lead option is cheaper and works fine in water deeper than thirty centimetres, but it is not what you want for a property dam or a claypan. The spider weight is overkill unless you are hunting in a tidal flat or a genuinely soft-mud environment, and the DIY option is a false economy because the inconsistent mass means some decoys sit higher than others in the spread.

Value, Availability, and Where They Fit in Your Kit

At around five to eight Australian dollars per weight, the Avery GHG is not the cheapest option, but it is far from the most expensive either. A full kit of twelve weights with crimps and swivels comes in well under the cost of a single premium decoy, and a quality set will outlast a couple of seasons of regular use even with the kind of abuse that comes from being dragged through lignum, dropped in the back of a ute, and stored in a damp bag. For hunters who set up and break down their spreads every weekend through the season, the cost per hunt is trivial.

The weights are widely available through Australian hunting retailers and through international stores that ship decoy gear to the country. Hunting Equipment USA stocks the full Avery and GHG rigging line alongside the other major brands, and the free shipping threshold on larger orders means a full rig of weights, decoys, and carry bags can be sent in one box. Most orders arrive in around a week, which is fast enough for last-minute season prep.

The only real downside is that the weights are sometimes sold individually by some retailers, which can push the cost up if you only need a small number. Buying a multi-pack is the better value if you are running a full dozen or more decoys. If you are just starting out, a starter pack with a dozen weights, a handful of crimps, and a small bag of swivels is the easiest way to get going without spending a fortune.

What to check before you buy

The Avery GHG duck decoy weight is a small piece of gear that solves a specific problem, and it solves that problem well. For Australian hunters working the shallow, often murky waters of the southern rice flats, the inland lignum swamps, or the chain of private dams that hold so much of the country's duck hunting pressure, the flat profile, the matte finish, and the edge-mounted line hole add up to a weight that stays put, releases cleanly, and lasts. If you are rigging a new spread or replacing weights that have finally given up after years of service, put a dozen of these in your bag and order a spare set of crimps at the same time. Browse the full Avery and GHG decoy weight range at Hunting Equipment USA and add them to your next order before opening weekend.