open water cranking for eyes?

I have been reading a lot about trolling and trying to figure out what works best for me. Last year I really got into open water crank bait fishing on Milacs for those big walleyes. All I was doing was long lineing the deep tail dancers and reef runners on fire line with line counters. I was only able to get two lines out and this year I wanted to be able to throw out four lines and have four guys with. How should I do this? I am going to add boards to my bag of tricks, but Im not sure how I should set them up. If I want to just drag the deep cranks I know I could get away with just using a braid or mono on the rods connected to the boards, but what if I want to use stick baits or others that dont dive as deep. I was thinking lead but I read recently that lead core will not be able to be connected to a planner board. Should I just use lead on the rods straight back from the boat and use braid/mono on the rods with the boards? Im not sure, but I am sure someone around here has some ideas on how to rig this up. If im not even close to how I should try to set this up please let me know..

also, if I did not do a good job trying to describe what I want to do, let me know and I will try to explain further..

Thanks, Bill

I would get a copy of Precision Trolling, not only would it give you the information on the dive curves of just about any crankbait it would also answer a lot of other trolling questions that you may have. If you use the offshore boards you will be able to use about two colors of leadcore with them.
Shoot me a PM if you have any other questions but I’m sue the other IDA’ers will have plenty of other information!

3 ways or bottom bouncers work great if running several lines. It’ll get those stick baits down, I often run 3 ways with 4+ in the boat rather than boards. I use a 10′ leader off the BB/3way to give the bait some seperation from the weight and a 5-6′ dropper.

BIRDDOG

I agree on using the book precision trolling. There are always snap weights as another option. Each bait will go to different depths with different lead lengths with these but will help to get you down deeper

Can you use snap weights and bottom bouncers with boards?

I also have an older trolling bible b4 they put fire line in it.. I think its time to update

Yes you can, I’ve had 3oz snap weights behind my offshore boards before. Snap weights are a good method to get stick baits and also spinners down to 30+fow. Depth control is very speed dependent though.

Segmented Leadcore works the best when combining lead/boards. Splice 2-3 or 4 colors between a 50’lead and 10 lb mono on the reel, clip the board to the mono.