When running boards do you...

[Winne]

When running boards do you put the furthest away board to the back or to the front of your rods? In what order?

[ETT]

My outside board has the easiest pulling (which means it's the shallowest) lure, and that rod is straight up in the front holder. Next one back is a med. depth, and the holder is down 1 notch. Inside rod is the deepest, and 2 notches down and in the holder nearest the stern. Lines clear over the top.

[Dcksnbcks]

I myself generally have the farthest board toward the front of the boat. This will create less chances for tangling the lines or create an awkward situation when grabbing the pole. Remember the board with a fish on will drift back. You should pick up a copy of Precision Trolling, this book has some really good suggestions about setting up a Planer board spread and how to accurately get your lures to where the fish are. Good luck Dcksnbcks

[lowwater]

Why dont you put your far board on the back of the boat and so on? This is what i do. My back rod is almost at a 50 deg. angle so that the line clears the other boards and when i do get a fish it falls back so i can bring it up behind the other boards. I have no problems with them that way.

[ETT]

I don't want to have to pass rods with fish on them, under or around other rods. Just too easy to lose a fish.

[lowwater]

Ya this is true, but i normaly only run four rods. So the near one you can bring up to the side of the boat.

[ETT]

The system you develope and perfect is going to be the right way for you. So no-one should be surprised when diferent people do thing their way.

[marcbodi]

Hi,
Big Boards put the outside at the back of the boat Straight up and run the Lines and lures the same lenght out.


May I be fishing somewhere Tomorrow

[Reels]

I put the farthest board out up front, the the closest in the back. If an outside board hits, I release the bail on the inside board to let out line, then close, the bring in the fish.


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[cxtx]

Been fishing Erie for 15 years on my dad's boat and mated on several different charters. Running big boards, you want vertical rod holders, 3, 4 or whatever to a side. Behind these rod holders towards the stern of the boat, you can put 1, 2 or 3 dipsy diver rod holders that are parallel or just above parallel with the water. (hopefully you have plenty of gunwall space on your boat) You want the first (outside) board line to be in the rod holder closest to the bow of the boat and work you way back as you set lines. Run the same types of lures the same distances back on the same side of the boat. You want to keep at least 20' between the releases on the main planer board line but the more distance you can get the better off you will be (reduces tangles on turns and when a fish hits). Also, it makes fishing much easier if your board rods/reels are all the same equipment(makes reading the rodtips much easier). Having rods at the same height and running the same lures and them being vertical next to each other, you can easily tell when a fish is on but not released or your line is fouled and not running right (you can see it in the tips of the rods). We have had 10# walleye not release on the board lines and the release's tension was not that heavy. They would get hooked and just swim with the boat but you could always see the rod tip pulling harder. When a fish hits on the outside or middle board line, pick up the rod and move to the back of the boat with it, maintaining tension on the line to the fish. You will have to reel up a little but not too much. Reeling in too fast will make that line tangle with the other board lines inboard of it. Once the fish makes the swing to the back of the boat, he will usually come up a little too and you will clear the other lines. Our typical Erie program was 3 board lines to a side, depending on the depth the fish were at, we usually had weighted jet planers with harnesses on one side and weighted bomber long A's or storms on the other side. We would run two large dipsies per side with one side at 3.5 and 1.5 and one side at 3 and 1. We would normally run two riggers out the back but sometimes 4 if we had enough people in the boat. Sometimes, if the fish were high, we would use a rocket launcher holder up top or one of the holders on the riggers to flatline a plug WAY back. Tangles only occassionally happened when we were running this program in 5+ foot waves and that would mainly happen when making the turns. To make sure your lines are ok after the turn, pull the middle board line and check it. If it comes in clean, you know the one on the outside and inside of it are clean and you just reset it and move the lines down the board lines. It all sounds complicated but once you get the hang of it, it gos pretty easily. Our boat only had a 8.5' beam but we still managed ok. A 10' beam would be much better! Sorry about the long post. Hope it helps out.

[FreeByrd]

Very good post by CXTX for guys interested in the most common way many of the Erie Charter Captains run their spread to get 12 - 16 lines out. The farther west you go in the lake the more likely the downriggers would be replaced by more dipseys. Common for the Lorain, Vermillion, Huron charters to run 4 dipseys per side along with 3 or 4 board lines per side. Some guys mix and match and run as many as 5 board or dipsey lines per side depending on what is working best.

Steve