Planer board trolling help

Hello,

Quick question/advice/help..

I’m planning on trolling with planer boards shortly as my cabin you’re allowed 3 rods a person. Now I’ve never done that many rods so I was hoping for some advice. I figure I’ll let out about 60-80 feet on the lines I hook to the planer boards. At what length should I hook the planer board on?

The outside lines will have the planer boards, then I figure i’d run 2 more (one on each side) at about 40 feet. Likely no planer boards needed. Then 2 more close to the prop wash. Is there a staggering of the rods I should do?

I’ll be fishing 6 rods with.

A few tips:
Typically outside lines should have the lures highest in the water column. Let out a good cast before attaching to a board. 2 boards on each side plus 2 rods right off the back should be doable.

When you’re setting lines, set the outside rods first, and inside ones last. When pulling rods (moving to a different spot or heading in) bring the inside ones in first, then outside.

It all really depends on what kind of water you’re trolling. As Phoyem said, outside rods should be your shallowest.

As a general rule, most #5 cranks get about 5′ deep with 25 feet of line, and
8’around 75 feet of line. #7’s usually run about 10′ down at 60′ 12 foot around 90 etc… Strain the water column.

Part of the point of having boards is to present baits at different depths until you find what works.

Since it’s in the muskie/pike forum I assume you’re talking about trolling for muskies? Depths needed depend a lot on the water your fishing. Search around online for the lures you’re going to run and try to get some diving curve information.

Don’t be afraid to run lures on a very short line on your outside boards. A headlock or shallow invader on 15-20′ of line behind a board will get hit. Boat rods with standard size cranks like a depthraider are often best in the 40′ of line range to run 8′ deep. Fast diving cranks like a headlock will get to 12′ deep on 36′ of line for your propwash rods.

This is my 2 cents worth, if 2 in the boat, and you really aren’t used to trolling multiple setups, I would start out with 2 boards and 2 flat lines in rod holders. Master that, then go bigger, A lot happens real fast when you have a big fish on. Good Luck.

Thanks guys…. So I do a ton of trolling, but it’s generally with two rods…

The lake I’m going to be fishing averages 10′ deep without much structure besides weeds on the first 100-200 yards out from shore. So we basically troll the shores, then the middle..

The reason I was asking for rod position is I’ve never trolled with more than a few rods.

I’m figuring I’d run the planer boards on the two rods closest to the windshield (9′ rods) with the shallowest running baits (likely a SS Shad, jake, or shallow dawg) and the rods straight out. The next rods I’ll run angled more with the tips in the water (planer boards not needed I’d assume?) and staggered the lines (one out a touch more than the other), and then a prop wash bait running deeper like a headlock or mattlock.

If you are running anywhere where you will encounter weeds I will set my planner boards as shallow as you need to be to always avoid weeds.

Pike and Muskies will come up high in the water column if they are interested and if you’re running your board lines into weeds the time you spend with your lures out of the water is much more of a negative than making them chase a high running bait.

When I am fishing weedlines I typically will determine my lure distance back based on the height that weeds top out where I’m fishing and which side of the boat the lures are running. In your scenario I would run either large trolling spoon or a super shad on a very short leash (only 10-12′ behind the board) for your inside most board, I would run a super shad or similar back 25-35′ on my inside non-board rod, run a long line with a spoon 100′ back straight behind the boat, another Shad or similar back 45′ on the outside boat rod, and then set your outside planer board rod at also about 45′ back.

You may want to start with less than the full 6 rods until you are fully comfortable running boards but if you want to get an additional 6th rod out I would either run a lure 20-25′ back right in the prop-wash or run a second board out on the outside of the boat.

Spoon are great for staying high and over the weed tops, but if I was fishing in open water I typically will replace spoons with crank baits and run one right in the prop wash… I’ve caught multiple pike and muskies this year no more than 20-30′ directly behind the boat.

Will