Planer boards: Easiest for 1 person?

[MarkG]

Of the various brands and styles of boards,what would be the easiest for one person to deal with?

I only troll occasionally,for walleyes,mostly pulling #5 and #7 Hot n Tots, ShadRaps , including jointed, and diving HuskyJerks . Would be using 10# mono with a med action 6.5ft baitcasting rod. Sometimes holding in hand ,sometimes in a rod holder. Currently works well flatlining.

The Offshore Mini looks interesting and easy, but what would be its limitations in regard to lure size,conditions or fish size?

Don't mind using a full size with flag if better,but seems some boards almost require 2 people to deal with when a fish is on. What is best if alone?

[rebs]

none of them is really hard for one person, you should be fine. I use offshore with flags and church with flags alone and have no problem.

[kevinpa]

might take ya a few fish but becomes easier the more you do it. I even boat wipers with these boards when I am by myself,tattle flag kits (price wise) are way over rated unless you make your own for less than a buck. search it on here to make your own, it`s really easy.

[bobk]

You can set the boards to release and slide down the line and that way you should have no problems fishing by yourself.

[Xswab]

I ran a couple of those Off Shore minis last week. I only ran minnow/stick baits, they seemed to perform well with little to no chop on that day. They track well and are quite easy to rig and run.

Next time out I'm going to run some small shad raps and Large blade (#5) spinners.

[1625rebel]

I have an offshore mini. I'd say a deep diving husky jerk is at about the limit before it'll pull it under. Anything with a larger bill will sink it. The shad raps, stickbaits, jointed shads, etc will all work great. I like the fact that one board can be fished on either side of the boat with reversing.

[perchjerker]

I dont have any problems taking the regular offshores off by myself. If I dont have a fish on I dont even bother my partner if I have one in the boat.

Fish on or not, just point the rod tip toward the front of the boat once the board is out of the water and getting close to you. If you do this the angle of the line will allow the board to come right over to you, and you can remove it and keep tension on the fish, if you keep point the rod toward the front of the boat, then reel up a bit and fight the fish nomally

[Ness]

I take them off by myself all the time and I'm a girl. And that's the regular one's, not the mini's...

[Knot Tellin]

Originally Posted by bobk

You can set the boards to release and slide down the line and that way you should have no problems fishing by yourself.

If you decide to go this route buy some speed beads to prevent the board from going all the way to the lure. It can knock the fish off.

I use offshores with a release front and back. I don't have any problems until the fish gets above 6-7 pounds. Then i just leave enough line out to get a hold of the board. I have 8.5' rods and leave out 6-8' foot. Then turn the rod away from the fish and grab the clips and release. Just be ready if the fish makes a run. After you get the board off becarefull not to let them get slack as you bring the rod tip back to the fish. On fish smaller than 22" you can usually lift the tip of your rod and swing the board to you to release.