Planer Board Selection

Hey guys just wondering what the best planer board is out there and the most user friendly just starting out using them I like the idea of getting the bait away from the boat I will be using them on Cooling Lakes and Smaller Lakes thanks again guys

I use off-shore boards, both with and without the tattle-tale flags. I really like their upgraded line clip (OR-18 SNAPPER release), it’s great for using a supereline.

Years ago, I ran Willie’s Side Liners and the #1 reason was that they had a line clamping system that would actually hole superlines (like Fireline) without slipping.

But for the past couple of years now, I’ve been running the Off Shore planer boards with the OR-18 release. You can adjust the tension on these snapper style releases. That means they’re great for any line you want to troll with. Tighten down the screw on the bottom of the snapper for superlines or back off on the tension a bit for monofilament.

The Offshores do a better job of pulling lines straight out to the side of the boat and they are very easy to put on and take off, which is important when your fighting a fish.

Boog

I’ve run the offshores and the Church boards. I would get the OffShores again anytime, but probably never the church’s. The church’s were OK, but never really ran as nice as the offshores. Get the OR-18 snapper, and make your own tattle tail flags and you’re in business.

I agree with getting the Offshore planner boards. I too started out using the Willie brand back in the days when Keith K. and Gary Parsons made the brand real popular to use in the late 1980s. Keith gave a seminar in Rochester, Mn. about catching fish with them and they were backordered at every store that carried them as so many people wanted them. Now I use the Offshore brand and really like them except the clips that come with them need to be replaced with the OR-18s for super lines. One way to beat that is to wrap the line around the clip a time or two but eventually you will want the better clips. The Offshores are made with a ”right side” board and a ”left side” board so they pull outward from the boat real nice.
Thanks, Bill

RiverRat, I too, use the Off Shore boards, but only in rougher water conditions. The last year or so, I’ve been using the Church Walleye Boards more and more. I fish alone alot and having only one clip works better for me. If you get used to running the Church boards, they get easier to read. Instead of running the tattle flag on the Off Shores, I’ve been running the Church TX-6 Magnum Mini Planers for light presentations. Boy, are they sweet. The tattle flag system on the larger Church boards is crap. Given the choice of any tattle flag system, I’ll choose the mini planers anyday. I swithed out the clips on the Church Walleye boards for the Off Shore OR 18’s to run the superlines. Works great.

Gramps

I never use two snaps on the Offshore planer boards. I’ve gone so far as to remove the second snap completely from the back of the board. Basically, I’ve found that you only need one OR-18 snap to run this board.

I also do not and never have used tattle flags on any of my boards. For me, they create more problems than they solve. Especially when it comes to big fish like brown trout on Lake Michigan.

But even here on Lake Wisconsin, I’ve rarely run into problems with not being able to tell when there is a fish on the line. Even the crappies, which are a common when trolling crankbaits in June, will usually pull the board back enough that you can usually tell that there is something on the end of your line.

Thats not meant to be a knock against tattle flags. If I was using the boards in areas where picking up one or two weeds was a common problem, I would probaly put on the tattle flags.

Like most people, boat storage is at a premium in my boat so I don’t want to have to carry two or three different kinds of planer boards for each situation that I might come across. For me, a single OR-18 snap on an Offshore Planer board, and no tattle flags gets the job done best for all the situations that I am most like to see on the waters that I fish.

Boog