CHURCH OR OFFSHORE BOARDS

[JBL]

Juls, ETT and others, thanks for the good tips. I'll second sib's comment about how valuable this message board is for good information.

ETT: I'm not familiar with HWI, what does that stand for? I think I'd like to pick up some of those heavier springs since most of my trolling is at Erie, in the meantime will take Juls suggestion of just bypassing the flag connection in favor of the eyelet.

[ETT]

HWI is just one of those hardware co-op buyers groups (like Ace or True Value). They all have a good selection of springs. Get ones that are about the same diameter and length but stiffer.
The numbers may or may not match. Good luck.

[Eric Olson]

Well Folks,
Had to add my 2 cents worth on this.

1) Offshore boards will work well with Reef Runners. Simply put the curved part of the spring over the flag arm instead of through the normal hole in the arm. This allows more leverage and will not let even The deep Reef's pull the flag down except in a bite situation. This was extremely effective on Erie 2 wks ago.
2) I don't mean to disagree with Juls but... Not all the fish we caught on Erie were aggressive.( maybe they were for you Juls ;-) ) That was where the Tattles Shined!!! As soon as we saw a flag waver we were able to reel down on the fish before it had a chance to spit the lure.

I think I have several believers, Carl my Am partner saw how they were used, and Jason and I ALWAYS use them.

That's my 2 cents... Can't thank you enough for the time...

Tight Lines
Big Fish
Eric Olson

Thanks for that reminder Eric. I forgot that little trick, since I have been using other people's boards as of late. Some of my boards are still set up "your way" from last year..;-)

I prefer to keep the Tattle Flags in use all the time too. Bruce showed me the change over method while we were down there two weeks ago, and we used them that way while prefishing. That's why I mentioned it.

Juls

ETT,
I for one have enjoyed reading about the preferences of anglers as to the type of Boards they pull and why. How else can we learn so quickly, except through the experiences of others? Someone asking a question, at least in my opinion is not creating an "all this hassle" kind of situation. If I misunderstood your answer then I stand corrected and appoligize.

[eyefish]

Offshore boards are the best all around and the tattle tail flag are well worth the money. Not only for knowing if a fish is on but knowing if your pulling a fouled lure as well.

[jerkbt]

Hey,Eric use my e mail and send an adress will send you some pics from on Erie. Karl

[JCarp]

Another two cents...Offeshores excel on big water and pulling big deep divers. I use Church clips (on metal arm boards just flatten the metal tab and use a lockwasher, on the newer boards w/plastic arms just attach the church clip upside down on the bottom side of the arm). I bought my 1st 2 tattle flags and made the last two. My opinion -The tattle flag kit is over priced. I have Willies snapper releases (which appear to be the same as the Offshore ones) and love them for heavy snap weight applications, but would not select them over Church clips for boards. For me, Church clips are faster to use + less expensive.

I have used Willies, Yellow Birds, Offshore, Church boards, and a few others. I currently use Offshores, but if I only fished small waters and/or only spinners or non-deep diving or small diving crankbaits, I would buy the Church boards. In my opinion, they are way easier to read that non-tattle flag Offshores.

For slightly heavier tattle flag springs, I'm happy with carb return springs bought at a auto parts store (no part #). That store never heard of C-73 springs and I just grabbed what was available.

Best Wishes

[manitobawalleye]

thats what i like about this place, thanks for all the replies...
i have still not decided 100%. a few of you asked for more info so i will become a little long winded...
first i do have church snap weights, precision trolling #5, a daiwa line counter, and also use winnebago walleye ultimate depth control... i will not be fishing clear lake erie... the water i will be fishing is stained to dirty... winnipeg river north of kenora down to various depths... lake winnipeg at pinefalls 12 to 18' deep mostly shad raps,hotntots,jr tsticks in dirty water,
lake manitoba over sand 12' dirty water pulling husky jerks at night, spinners in the light on snap weights.... also a shallow prairie lake 10' with floaters in june speed trolling over the weed tops ,,,
i do not plan on catching small fish"eh" and i doubt i will contour troll the weed edge, for deeper fish in the winnipeg river i will probably not need the boards, and the other thing is up here in manitoba and ontario one rod per...
heres another question i was going to pull with one of my 7'med/heavy graphite to test but will probably buy a cheap rhino or quantum
8'-8'6 length.... do i use medium or medium heavy with either board and fusion
thanks again guys/gals
ps, to one of you, crawlers are lots here also
i almost always pull powerbait and am not tied to berkeley