The veteran guide also said although the second half of season has a good reputation for high duck numbers (especially mallards) and cold weather, it seems Kentucky Lake hunters benefit from a cold front and a brisk north wind whenever they get it. Whether it's early, midseason, or late in the year -- the ducks move when the weather changes, so you can't really say late is good or midseason is slow. He said it's a gamble to some degree and the last two years have had their best duck weather coming in December instead of January.

What is the primary target from his river blinds? Hunters there bag a variety and that's one of the nice things about open-water hunting on Kentucky Lake. Some days they'll bag 10 species of ducks. Mallards top the list, but early in the season, gadwalls are there in big numbers, along with green-winged teal, scaup, buffleheads, shovelers, widgeon, wood ducks and pintails.

As colder weather enters the picture, McCadams sees a mallard increase as gadwalls move south and wood ducks leave. Then he begins to see other species such as black ducks, ringnecks, goldeneyes, canvasbacks and redheads move in.

Top weather patterns for McCadams also include a spitting snow, and any drastic change that leads to dark, dreary skies -- those are the conditions that tell the birds to get up and feed. He thinks they sense the low pressure and Mother Nature sets off an alarm in their biological clock that says feeding time is here because tomorrow things might be scarce.

The day after a cold front has passed usually means high skies and cold, sunny mornings with a bone-chilling wind. McCadams loves that scenario as new ducks are in the area and the mallards work better and respond to calling on clear days.

"I do indeed use large decoy spreads for open water as I am attempting to get the attention of ducks moving up and down the river or going cross country," McCadams said. "Large spreads, coupled with calling techniques, help lure the ducks to my spot."

There are times when he uses smaller spreads or temporary setups to hunt weary ducks that have been in the area a spell, but the big spreads pay the most dividends. McCadams also uses a lot of floating geese mixed with full bodies, half-shell and silhouettes on sandbars. It gives wary ducks a false sense of security to land and feed near geese. Additionally, the bigger decoys add bulk to the spread.