If you don't have a sound method of retrieving your downed birds and decoys you should not be out there. Period. That being said get yourself the best waders you can afford and only hunt with the wind in your favor and in areas with water that you can safely wade. When I was a young I lived to hunt ducks and geese. Been there and done it all at one time or another when it comes to duck hunting. The basics and are a decent reliable gun, and chest waders if your just starting out. Let other folks play with the poles.
If your area is small water, ponds, marshes and rivers a well trained dog is invaluable, I went through 4 labs in my duck/geese and pheasant hunting days. If your hunting big water for divers a boat is a necessity as a basic and leave the waders at home. That's the only time a hooked pole comes in handy in big water so you can snare the decoy lines from the boat. And a small hoop long handled landing net to scoop downed birds out of the water. When I hunted ponds and marshes, my SX-1, chest waders, small pack, and later on the dog is all you need. Never used decoys except on big water for divers. All my decoys had self leveling weights that I designed and made myself. When picking up the line figure 8 wound around one side of the weight and then slipped over the head of decoy. That way the weights lines and decoys dont end up in a tangled mess. When your setting you just slip the weight off the head and toss it where you want it the weight falls and unravels only the amount of line needed, that way you don't get decoys banging into each other that you have to go and reposition wasting time and effort.
