Planer Boards?

[nfifishing]

I'm a newbie and looking for advice before I purchase planer boards.
Do the ones with indicator flags work and if so what brand would be recommended?

Thanks
Dennis

[Shellback]

Personally, I'm not crazy about inline boards, I rather use big boards. But the inlines certainly have their place. I have 4 Offshore boards with Perchjerkers flag spring system, and his is definitely worth the upgrade. Offshore's can be pretty pricey, but if you shop around you can find some at a reasonable cost.

[Rapscallion]

I use Church's Walleye Board with the tattle flags. They work and are easy to use. We pull cranks (reefrunners, deep huskies) and worm harnesses with them. The clips will work with either mono or braid w/o double wrapping or upgrading them.

[nfifishing]

Thanks
I appreciate the feedback.
Dennis

[Walter Sentral]

I use tattle flags for both the offshore boards and the church Mr Walleye boards. Both work well, however, I think I prefer the offshore boards when used with tattle flags and especially when I am pulling harnesses trolling slow.

The tattle flags compatible with the church boards have a better tension mechanism, imo.

When tattle flags are not used, I personally prefer the church boards. I also prefer the church boards when pulling deep cranks or leadcore.

I would say 80% of your strictly walleye guys go with the offshore boards. For the multispecies guys who run boards for trout and salmon along with walleye, most of them use church boards.

Hope this helps.

[Fishin24X7]

Church walleye boards with church flags, then I use a heavy rubber band instead of the spring system now. I replaced the rear clips with the offshore red (OR 16) clips that have the center pin that prevents the board from falling off.

[Karas3434]

Offshore Boards with perchjerker tattle kits. Never ran Church boards so i cant say anything about them, but i have yet to have any issues with Offshore boards.

[caffeineforall]

I've run offshores, and I've run churchs walleye boards, both with tattle flags from their respective companies.

The off shores are much simpler, but are also less flexible imo. Most people tell you to switch clips right away, which is more cash out of pocket. The tattle flags from offshore are flag down fish on, only. One last negative about them for me is there isn't any kind of "saftey" to prevent losing a board to a bad snag/big fish. Other than that I have noticed the offshores run "flatter" than the churchs in most situations.

The church boards are bit more complicated, but are really flexible. The clips (really more like a pinch pad) are adjustable, and although I run mostly 20lb big game, Its held on my smaller jigging rods which have 15 pound power pro. After half a season of use, no wear is visible to my eye. They also have a simple saftey on them to prevent losing your boards. Its a little pin and slot your line goes through just before the rear clip. So for me I run 20lb big game, a 50# snap swivel, and then a rods length or less leader of 10lb flouro. Most of the time, if I snag, or a muskie takes it the leader snaps before the main line, and the board will slide down to the swivel and I don't have to chase down my board. They do run a big rough, and you have to fiddle with the adjustable weight, but its not too difficult. The tattle flag can also run in a flag up fish on, or flag down fish on, position. Switching it is fairly easy, but I wouldn't recommend doing it on rough water. I run mine flag up fish on, this not only keeps me from getting confused during the tip up season, but makes the boards much easier to store, as the flag is down all the time.

Either one is a good choice, my advice is try to borrow someones or fish with someone who uses one or the other, and see which you like better.

[deadduk]

I have been running Church's boards but the Off Shores are just as good. Flags are a must. Good Luck!