Planer Boards - Lure Depth

[blwiwalleye]

This will be my first year running boards with cranks. I fish inland lakes and will be fishing deep clear lakes. Curious to know from more experienced board users where you run your lures in relation to the thermocline in the heat of the summer when they are roaming suspended? Above, below? Would like to trust my graph when marking fish at a specific depth, but I know the graph is telling me how far the marked fish is from the transducer vs actual depth, etc.

[3M TA3]

Good question BL. I recommend that you really get to know your fish arches on your sonar. The longer the duration of the time in the cone, the larger the arch is on your display. The larger arches are the ones closer to being directly under you. If you start your target depth at those depths and make small incremental changes with several boards (up and down) you will quickly determine the correct depth based on the board that is getting hit the most. Once you have that you will be able to fine tune the depths of all the boards to the correct zone. Good luck and tight lines.

[blwiwalleye]

Originally Posted by 3M TA3

Good question BL. I recommend that you really get to know your fish arches on your sonar. The longer the duration of the time in the cone, the larger the arch is on your display. The larger arches are the ones closer to being directly under you. If you start your target depth at those depths and make small incremental changes with several boards (up and down) you will quickly determine the correct depth based on the board that is getting hit the most. Once you have that you will be able to fine tune the depths of all the boards to the correct zone. Good luck and tight lines.

Thanks for info. In your experience, do you fish waters with a distinct thermocline? Did you notice the zone where you got the most hits were in a certain proximity to the thermocline?

[Hot Bite]

I use to fish a deep lake with ciscos as forage . The walleye would hang above the thermocline and wait for the ciscos to ascend in the evening. I was using shadraps with 2 or 3 ounce offshore snapweights 50 feet in front of them. Troll along then put the boat in nuetral and let them sink down past the cline. Pop it into gear and they would come up through it. It worked like a charm

[3M TA3]

Originally Posted by blwiwalleye

Thanks for info. In your experience, do you fish waters with a distinct thermocline? Did you notice the zone where you got the most hits were in a certain proximity to the thermocline?

I have fished waters with a very distinct thermocline and have found most often fish hanging out just above it. I've also found them suspended at all sorts of depths. If I mark the fish near the thermocline I have targeted them and have been successful. I'm usually fishing, most the time anyways, in waters 8 to 28 feet and mostly working those fish on the bottom. No thermocline noted when doing so.

[blwiwalleye]

Originally Posted by Hot Bite

I use to fish a deep lake with ciscos as forage . The walleye would hang above the thermocline and wait for the ciscos to ascend in the evening. I was using shadraps with 2 or 3 ounce offshore snapweights 50 feet in front of them. Troll along then put the boat in nuetral and let them sink down past the cline. Pop it into gear and they would come up through it. It worked like a charm

Are you using the Precision Trolling Guide? Curious to know the impact of going with a 2 ounce vs a 1 ounce snap weight as explained in the book. Thanks for the info!