planer boards

[montana]

Would you please tell me how to use these, I'm thinking of trying them this year,but have not a clue as to how they work.
I'm wandering how they connect to the rod-line, and what pound test i should use?
I dont even know what questions to ask! But I'm thinking that they would work good on the lake im fishing,and if any of you guys could tell me how they work and the situations you use them in,I would greatly apreciate it thanks

[Lundluvr]

In-line boards are used if you want to run multiple lines creating a wider trolling path. Or, if you feel your boat may be spooking the fish, to get your lure outside of the boat. I use the Offshore brand. You just let out the amount of line you wish, then you attatch the board to your line with the line pinchers on the board. Then let out more line and the board will track to the port or starboard depending on the board. I use fireline when I run mine, but I know alot of people prefer to use mono. The pinchers will not slip on the mono, but you can loop your line with Fireline. Hope this helps, good luck

[Juls_WI]

A "typical" set up:

Rod: 8-10' Medium action with a soft tip
Reel: Linecounter (Diawa's SG27LC's are the best)
Line: 10# test mono
Must Have when trolling: The Precision Trolling Book
Off Shore boards: easiest to use

When your open water trolling, what you want to look for on the electronics is a cloud of baitfish, with some hooks underneath it. Make a mental note as to what depth the hooks are suspended at. Move yourself into position to make a pass over the cloud of batifish, and hooks, but be set up by the time you pass over them again. (I suggest whenever possible, to have the seas following you when you troll, due to the fact that it is easier to control the boat while working the boards).

An example: I know that the fish are suspended at 27 foot, and I want to use a Reef Runner crankbait. I would look up in the Precision Trolling book, how much line I need out to make the Reef Runner dive to 27 foot. The dive curve chart in the book tells me that I need to have 165 feet of line out before attaching the board to get my lure to 27 feet.

Planer boards come designed to run either on the Port side of the boat, or the starboard side of the boat. The Port side board is marked "left", and the starboard side board is marked "right". To attach the line, simple squeeze the releases on the board and slip the line between the two pads. If your using the Tattle Flag system then you just need to make sure that you leave some slack between the two releases, so that the flag can work properly. If you are not familiar with the Tattle Flag system on the Off Shore boards, the reason they are used, is to help the angler read the boards better. You will be able to tell when you are dragging a small fish around, or when your baits are junked up with weeds. After attaching the board, let it drift back to however far back you want it, and engage the reel, to stop the freespool. Your board will now "plane" out to the side of the boat. Set it in the rod holder and finish setting your other lines.

Boards are a fun way to fish, and you will get the hang of it pretty easily. There is a lot to learn using boards, but with practice and talking with others, you will learn to use them pretty fast.

Hope this helped you a little bit. If anything is unclear, just ask more questions. I'm sure with the help of this board, you will get all your questions answered.

Juls
p.s. Sorry if I'm a bit vague, I just woke up, and haven't had any coffee yet..;-)

[Chad]

Juls coverd about everything. Here in ND we use bottom bouncers w/ spinners a lot and can use two rods per person. I love using off shore boards w/ tattle flags for this presentation. The flag allows me to tell when I have a small fish on or when I had a leaf of other debris on the line. It is also a lot of fun. Kind of like tip up fishing.

[bill brown(Ind)]

Juls....just a great explanation on the use of boards

[Bill]

Go to the WC main page and click on the planner board, which will bring up a page that will allow you to subscribe to a free newsletter from Offshore. It will have good info for you.

[Juls_WI]

Thanks Bill. Good thinking, I forgot to mention that this morning..;-)
The paper is called the Off Shore Release. The new issue will be out sometime in February, I think. There are still plenty of 2000 issues, so pick up one of those too. Like Bill said, it has a lot of good info in it.

Juls

[bob]

I agree with everything except the Gary Roach boards are mush easier to use. They do not slip what so ever when using super lines, I have not had the same luck with Off Shore. I bought both and now the Off Shores collect dust

[Juls_WI]

Hey Bob,
Have you tried the new Snapper Release on the Off Shore boards? It's pretty cool. Made with superbraids in mind. You won't have the slippage you had before. Don't let those good boards go to waste!
I just saw it for the first time this past weekend, and if it works like they say it does, it's going to be a great addition to the Off Shore line of products.
I didn't want to get into the usage of superbraids on my post. There are so more factors that need to be figured in, that I thought it would be easier for a person to learn boards with mono...;-)

Juls

[Juls]

Yeah, I can talk in complete sentences...lol Meant to say, "there are so many more factors..."
Thought I would clear that up before the spell check police come after me..;-)

Juls

[Dunn]

Clap, Clap, Clap

I consider myself someone who runs planer boards far more then most, and well Juls gave one of the best descriptions anyone could have given for this topic.

Great answer.
-------------
Marshall J. Dunn

[EyeBoy]

FREEZE JULS!!!
Keep your hands where we can see them and step away from the key board.Hehe
ON-PLANE!!!TOM;-)

[Kevin]

Hey Bob, if you want to get rid of those dusty Off Shore Boards drop me a line. I'd be glad to take them off your hands for a fair price.

["COMA"]

Montana, One word of caution with the "roach" boards. They have a nasty habit of diving under water when reeling them in. I moved the weight on the bottom of the board back which helped some, But did not cure the problem all together. This problem cost me a big fish one day. With the off shore boards this problem does not occur. The off shore board pulls a little easier also. When using the precision trolling book trilene 10lb test "XT" must be used for the crankbait dive curve chart to be accurate. There is a fire line conversion chart in the book also for accurate readings for Fireline. Snap weight conversion chart is there also. Lamenated version is a must. Off shore is a Good board!. Hey Look! Fish on! Eight spreads rule. "COMA""

[Gunga Din]

She ought to be able to describe it well. I saw her picture on the cover, I believe, of the Off-Shore Tackle newsletter about six months ago. Speaking of which, that's an excellent place to go for more info: www.offshoretackle.com or their free newsletter.

[Tallmike]

No provision, yet, so far as I know of the Roach boards having a tattle flag set-up. This is one of the nicest features of the Offshore planers. I have never regretted installing the spring loaded tattle flags on my Offshore boards. Offshore improved the red line clips by adding the tiny little tip that sticks up into a recession on the mating rubber material. With a one time wrap-around with Fireline and inside of this tip, the clip should hold just fine. Also...some people have cut off the Offshore releases and installed Roach clips on the Offshore boards. Whatever is necessary to make it work;
isn't that the pragmatic approach? Here is a laugher...the biggest suprise for me in 2000 was to watch my tattle flag drop (on more than one occasion) and pull up: a nice big 'eye? Nope, a darned ol' channel cat. The Offshores have great floatation, enough to pull bouncers behind them. Seems channel cats go after crawlers on spinner rigs too.

[Sparky]

I have the Off Shore and the Roach Mr. Walleye boards. I have used the Walleye boards for one season. I still prefer the Off Shore boards. I used the Walleye boards for fireline and running leadcore while Salmon fishing. I am looking forward to putting the new snapper releases on my OffShore boards. Juls, that was an excellent post on running boards. I wish that I'd seen something like it before my first few trips.

Sparky

[Chairman]

I was going to throw my 2 cents worth in, but after reading the fine description of planer fishing from Juls and the testomonials of anglers like lundluvr, coma, tallmike and others, I think you lhave enough info to get started planer fishing. Our newspaper should be done shortly and there will be more indepth information there.
Juls did a good job teaching the novice how to run a board. She hit on lots of fine points like downwind and the placement of the baits. It is harder to explain that to actually do it and she did a great job of explaining.
Ask her about handlining, she could write a book on that in her first year.

[REW]

Juls,
You mention the use of a longer rod - 8 foot or longer with a soft tip.

Do you have any specific models or types that you can list?

I have a few different blanks avaialble and will be building a few planer rods this winter - and I want to insure that they will be satisfactory for my customers.

Take care

REW

[Juls_WI]

I can only tell you what I have, but as you know, there are many many good trolling rods out there. Maybe others can tell us what they are using.

I'm using 8'3" Browning Sylaflex's (I don't see a model # on the rods), and the St. Croix 8' telescoping Pro Glass...model GT80M's. Are there better rods out there? Yes, of course, but I'm happy with these, and the price was right..;-)

Juls

[SUPERTROLLER]

I use the Ugly Stik BWD 1101 Downrigger rods. They are 7 ft. and 8 ft. 3 in. lengths in M and L actions respectively. These rods can handle anything that swims in fresh water and the only thing they struggle with is extremely deep/longlined big sized Dipsey's. They sell for a little less than $50.00 and will last you a lifetime and then some. Not the fanciest rods you can buy but the Charter Capt.'s on Lake Michigan use them because they are durable and very forgiving for people not as adept at playing a fish to the boat. These are great rods at a great value. No, I'm not sponsored by Shakespeare or any other rod manufacturer. This is my humble biased opinion gained by years of use of Ugly Stiks and never having a problem with any of them.

[REW]

Juls,
Thanks very much for the update.
I thought that - the rods of what you speak would be perfect.

I had found a couple of blanks that were similar to the ones that you speak of, but a coupld shades heavier. As I suspected, I think that both of these blanks are a bit heavy for "routine trolling or planer boards"
I don't know if you run Dipsy's, but I think that the blanks that I have would be just fine for runnin Dipsy's. In oder to pop the dipsy's, I have found that you need a rod with a bit more backbone.

so, in general, it sound like you are running rods for the most of your boards that are similar to downrigger rods, but perhaps not quite so whippy?

Thanks again for the update.

REW

[Juls_WI]

Your welcome Rew. Your also right that I do not run dipsy's on these rods, and that a stronger backbone would be needed to do so. I couldn't tell you if these rods would be good for downriggers or not, because I've only been on one boat that ran them..;-)

Juls

[cisco]

For my money the 7' Ugly Stiks can't be beat. Besides, it's a whole lot easier to stow 7 footers aboard most boats than the 8 to 9 footers.