Planer Boards

I’m going to add planer boards to my arsonal, what are some are some of your guy’s favorite & can you spiderwire stealth with them or will I need to respoll?

I have both the Church and the OffShores. I almost always use the OffShores before the Church boards. I added the snapper releases to the offshore boards, and have never had any line slip problems. Many people run these releases with braids and love them.

Either way I’d upgrade to the snapper release.

I use an offshore. Upgraded with the snaps, and the flag. Never a problem with line. Used Pwr-pro and fireline, as well as mono. Like the braids with the boards with out question. I also use a 7’MH rod. This isn’t a finesse tactic for me, when they hit, their hooked. Enjoy.

Offshore with OR-18 snapper releases. I use Power Pro 10/2 line and have no problems. If you don’t use the snapper releases, you will have to loop the line thru the OR-12 releases that come with the Offshore boards. By looping, it makes it a little harder to take the board off when reeling in fish

Hi Mark,
I’ve used Stealth for the last couple years for just about everything. I think it is great. No stretch line with a 7′ rod make for a good hook set, and then a fun fight.
Yup, use planers a lot, too. Church is the one I use, but there may be better.

Swede

I am a huge Church fan. I like the ease of release next to the boat when reeling in fish. Very quick and easy.

Great topic, I bought a church one for opener, never used a planer board before, what better time than 1am in the morning on opener to figure it out, it didn’t do me any good, but it was interesting. The offshore ones look nice and have options but add a couple up with some options adn you are looking at $50 or so a board

Honestly I’m not truely sure how to use them, I went out and came back in fine, I’m a little unclear on you they attach to the lines and how well they’ll stay put, but mmy first trial did seem to work.

I used fireline (because it was on the reel) and I think my 7′ medium rod worked, not sure it would be my first choice… I’m going to guess most people use longer rods and probably a little stiffer.

Nick I’d planned on using an 8’6″ rod with spiderwire stealth 20/6 on it. Right know I’m leaning toward the offshore brand with flags, but looking at the pics of them I haven’t figured out what makes the flag drop. My other question for you guy’s how do you no what clip to use or are they pretty unverisal?

Mark, I run offshores with braided line.

The OR-18 clip is a must, IMHO, when using a braid. This will replace the front clip on the board.

The flag ends up being connected to the rear clip if you use the tattletails. That’s what a lot of the hardware is for in the kit. Your line will go to the first (OR-18) clip, then to the 2nd clip, then out to your bait. When you get a bite, the line being pulled back will pull the 2nd clip towards the bait, and that pulls the flag down.

I have a set of boards with the tattle tails and a set without. To be perfectly honest, I don’t think a guy needs the flags for typical Pool 4 summertime cranking. Normally, even a small fish will get the whole board bucking and weaving….the boards really are easy to read once you get used to it.

I know you probably don’t want to wait this long, but we can do some board work on Wissota when you come over later this summer.

You can also make your own tattle flags for the offshore boards for about $3 each. All it takes is some wire, a spring, and a bead. The rest of the stuff is allready on the board. You can use the flag that comes on the board.

Offshore for me also. As others have said, get the OR-18 Snaps, they work slick

How do you guy’s put the boards out? Do you let out the amount of line you need for your dive curve then put on the board? Not sure never done that.

Yes, let out the line you want to the crank first according to the dive curve, clip the board on and send it out to the side. If you are running two boards on each side, send out the board with the crank running the shallowest all the way out on each side.

Next question can you run snap weights on the planer board to get the crank deeper or are they to heavy for the board.

I’ve never had a problem using snap wieghts with boards. I could see if you were using 3 oz. or more and in some bigger wave you might have problems, but for the most part I think you’d be ok.

No problem on the snap weights, you can also use segemented Lead Core, that works well if you are looking to run deeper

Well I got my planer boards, I ended up buying church walleye board with the adjustable release, that works with braided line. So look out pool 4 me & the girls will be out there on Monday pulling cranks on boards. So being a newbie you guy’s out there may need to give me a little room out there. So thanks for all of the help with this.

Good luck Mark. It is a great way to enjoy the day by pulling boards.

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So look out pool 4 me & the girls will be out there on Monday pulling cranks on boards.

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Pull them in the River, people love that

On a side note,
I pull boards on Winnebago, Green Bay, and Mississippi Pools 8&9, but your spread will depend on the type of water you’re on. I may only have about a 15′ spread when I’m in a channel on the Miss. Scott’s right about people not really liking it when someone is pulling a 200′ spread down a 220′ wide channel.

Be reasonable in tight quarters and you shouldn’t ever have a problem. I’ve also noticed that sometimes on the river, I can run a board about 10′ off the side of the boat and the crank on that board will get hit more often than any flatlines. I think that the action created from the board bouncing around can be a big attractor for Walleyes from time to time.

Look forward to how you like them Mark. Let us know. [and of course how the fishin was]
Thanks, Bill