Planer Boards

Hey guys, dumb question here. I’ve trolled with planer boards a few times and just can’t seem to get a good system down. For example, I usually put the outside boards out first. If you get a fish on an outside boards what is your process to get the fish in. Do you reel in the inside boards? I watched IDO this week and James makes it look so much easier on tv. So I guess I’m looking for advice on the process some other guys use. Also, sometimes I struggle to tell if a fish is on. Should I add flags to remedy this or are there any other suggestions?

Personally, I don’t recommend tattle tale flags. If you watch boards enough , without fish on them, you notice right away when one looks fishy.

The other thing is that I turn the clicker on and set the drag to slip at the slightest pull. You’d be surprised how well that works. I’d still recommend to have every line in the boat every 30-60 minutes to check things out anyway.

Trolling shouldn’t be a relaxing activity. Especially if you’re the pilot.

As far as reeling in fish, I almost always reel in the inside boards. Unless the outside board goes back a long way when a fish hits I’ll sometimes try and drag it in over the inside board.

I’ve had Lakers take the board down like a bobber. Not a good time to drag it in over the inside board.

The key is keep short lines. If I. Fishing the surface for salmon. I like to run about 20 to 30 feet behind the board and put same out behind each board. If you get a fish on it should pull back to rear of boat keep boat moving and real in fish. Reset board and let straight back out back of boat until enough line is out to sweep around other boards and return to it’s previous location. After you do it a couple times it’s very easy and works well.

Scroll down to page 10 of this PDF.

http://www.offshoretackle.com/graphics/articles/2016%20Newspaper%20Articles.pdf

Ron wrote:

croll down to page 10 of this PDF.

Ron, that is an awesome article in general for trolling tips, thanks for sharing it. How come I can’t read a page of technical pdfs for work but I read endless pages on fishing

If you leave the clicker on, you can open the spool when you get a fish on the outside board. That should allow your outside board to sink past the middle board that is now making it’s way out. Same with the inside board as it gets closer.

biggill wrote:

Trolling shouldn’t be a relaxing activity. Especially if you’re the pilot.

Omg isn’t that the truth!!

Typically you want to be trolling such that when a fish hits the outside board to can just reel them in. With the right baits and line spacing…. Guys do this everyday on the big lakes.

Of course all it takes is a monster fish to screw up anything you had planned. Nice to have a second guy for when that happens.

Inline boards take all the fun out of fishing for me. If I’m going to make the effort to fish wide, I’ll go with a mast.

biggill wrote:

Personally, I don’t recommend tattle tale flags. If you watch boards enough , without fish on them, you notice right away when one looks fishy.

The other thing is that I turn the clicker on and set the drag to slip at the slightest pull. You’d be surprised how well that works. I’d still recommend to have every line in the boat every 30-60 minutes to check things out anyway.

Trolling shouldn’t be a relaxing activity. Especially if you’re the pilot.

As far as reeling in fish, I almost always reel in the inside boards. Unless the outside board goes back a long way when a fish hits I’ll sometimes try and drag it in over the inside board.

I’ve had Lakers take the board down like a bobber. Not a good time to drag it in over the inside board.

Is this common practice? I keep my drag backed off for almost any type of trolling, but it is rare that I back it off to the point that a strike immediately takes line. Do most people do this with the clicker when pulling lead or long lining as well without boards?

I don’t. I keep it loose enough that a snag will pull line out without really stressing the rod, but I want it tight enough to get a good hookset.

wimwuen wrote:

I don’t. I keep it loose enough that a snag will pull line out without really stressing the rod, but I want it tight enough to get a good hookset.

Same.

I do start to think twice how a set of sharp treble hooks pulled at 2-3mph with a leadcore line could result in simply ripping the baits away from fish – especially smaller saugers or eyes with a softer mouth. I rely on a very forgiving rod, fluro leader, and consistent retreive to keep the fish hooked up – but there are occasional fish that come unbuttoned or seem to strike but not connect.

I have not tried, but will the clicker go off on a bite/hookset for average fish, even if the drag is set at a medium level? I’d like to uitlize the clicker feature on all my rods if it makes me more efficient.

I’ve done the clicker thing, which is fine if you’re in perfectly calm conditions. If you are pulling boards in 1 foot plus waves, you’ll have the clicker going off every 10 seconds. I set the clicker on my rods when I troll for salmon, but they pull so hard it’s not a big deal. A 15″ Walleye is a whole other animal.

I’ve also had Walleyes over 8lbs swim right with a board, especially when pulling spinners. The way I was able to tell they were on there, was to see the board sink back a little too fast when falling back down a wave.

biggill wrote:

Personally, I don’t recommend tattle tale flags. If you watch boards enough , without fish on them, you notice right away when one looks fishy.

I use the flags a lot on certain waters – and they are really helpful. Lake Winnebago, you can pick up a tiny eye, crappie, or even decent weed and it helps where the board doesn’t drop back.

How you use the boards and if you clear the inside lines seems to change in conditions, and what you are fishing for all the time. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t often clear inside lines, but some of that changes quick if I have long lead out inside. I’ve also began using turns to work outside lines over inside ones.

The big thing, you never get it right all the time… stay flexible. I’ve had a big Salmon on Lake MI dive under with the board and go directly into both inside lines, then the inside one on the other side of the boat. Three rods of lead core wrapped up. All part of the fun!

wimwuen wrote:

I’ve done the clicker thing, which is fine if you’re in perfectly calm conditions. If you are pulling boards in 1 foot plus waves, you’ll have the clicker going off every 10 seconds. I set the clicker on my rods when I troll for salmon, but they pull so hard it’s not a big deal. A 15″ Walleye is a whole other animal.

Not saying you’re wrong at all, but I personally disagree with all of this. If anything, id almost certainly tighten the drag in calm conditions. It’s so much easier for me to spot a fish on a board visually in calm water than rough water.

I fish Superior mostly with boards in waves up to 4′ and I’ll have the waves pull the drag once every 15 minutes if it’s set right. Please understand that it’s pretty common for a 14″ laker to be pulled in unknowingly until the fish hits the surface. No different than a small walleye or crappie.

With all that said, no matter how you do it there’ll be that instance where you get a weed, leaf or small fish and never know it. The ONLY way to combat that is to pull your lines in regularly.

If you’re not busy, you’re not fishing.

Now speaking of hooksets with he drag set light. I totally agree that it likely doesn’t help your hookup percentage. I personally have tested this theory on Superior on a day where my hookup percentage was less than 10% with the drag set light. I tightened the drag and tried it with a worse hookup percentage. Pretty inconclusive if you ask me but I’ve definitely had near 100% days with the drag set light. This just tells me there really isn’t a difference in my boat. So I opt to go with light drag for the advantage of detecting hits. It gives me the opportunity to watch the graph and gps more rather than watching boards and rods.

The best advice I have is to take an open seat with someone who’s setup for it and been doing it a while.

I am far from a pro myself but I know what works pretty well in my boat. I am totally open to new ideas and tactics.

This might not answer any of your questions but here’s some great planer board info and mods. I’m planning on trying some of these mods soon.

https://bloodruntackle.com/inline-planer-board-modifications/

Wow…lots of good info here to try. Thanks for the advice guys. I’m eager to give it a shot.

Good info for sure. I bought some planner boards last year and only had a chance to use them a couple days out on Superior so its nice get some great info on here for the next time I get out and use them. What releases should a guy use for mostly fishing Minnesota lakes and the occasional trip on Superior using braid and lead? I believe the OR12 planner comes with the 16 and 19, are these good for that type of line?

Great info here. I run different setups for little crankbaits versus deep diving or leadcore setups.

For the small cranks I run mono with offshore boards and tattle flags. Adjust the Spring setting so a weed or small fish will drop the flag. The stock orange clip on the front and OR16 red on the back. It’s pretty rare but if for some reason the board ever dives, jerk the rod and the front clip will release. Drags tightened down to the fighting fish setting. Most of the time if a fish bites on the outside and let them swing to the back of the boat. If I’m worried they will tangle I will clear the inside board.

For deep diving baits I run braid and offshore or church boards and no tattle flag. OR18 black clip for both. I double wrap the braid and it doesn’t slip. For this application, I back off the drags. As was mentioned before, this is really helpful in rough water or if I have inexperienced people in the boat. Use a reel that clicks for every drag setting like a tekota or abu Garcia alphamar. Loosen it until it is clicking out every wave and then give it one more turn tighter. Depending on the fight with the fish I may or may not clear inside lines.

When running multiple lines to either side of the boat it’s also good practice to run your outside lines higher in the water column and inside lines deeper. By running your inside lines deeper it will help minimize the chances of that fish from the outside coming in contact with your deeper diving inside lines. To re-deploy your outside line without having to reel in your inside line simply drop the lure and board straight behind the boat, maintain a straight heading, and free spool your line until your board is beyond the inside board. Takes a little practice but once mastered really saves time with gear. The only time I see benefit with flags is when pulling spinners with crawlers. Perch and White bass are notorious for short strikes and will make a mess of your day. Keeping your boards closer to the boat when trolling spinners will also help gear management/time. Typically when spinner fishing I’m only trolling around 1 mph maybe 1.3 at the top end so be ready to grab the rod and don’t rely as heavily on the clicker for strikes. Definitely “watch” the boards more so when pulling spinners than cranks. I’ve found a lot of success by dropping the board back when I see a light strike and letting the fish take a little more time to commit to the harness. Hope the info helps and have fun this year on the water!

buckybadger wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>biggill wrote:</div>
Personally, I don’t recommend tattle tale flags. If you watch boards enough , without fish on them, you notice right away when one looks fishy.

The other thing is that I turn the clicker on and set the drag to slip at the slightest pull. You’d be surprised how well that works. I’d still recommend to have every line in the boat every 30-60 minutes to check things out anyway.

Trolling shouldn’t be a relaxing activity. Especially if you’re the pilot.

As far as reeling in fish, I almost always reel in the inside boards. Unless the outside board goes back a long way when a fish hits I’ll sometimes try and drag it in over the inside board.

I’ve had Lakers take the board down like a bobber. Not a good time to drag it in over the inside board.

Is this common practice? I keep my drag backed off for almost any type of trolling, but it is rare that I back it off to the point that a strike immediately takes line. Do most people do this with the clicker when pulling lead or long lining as well without boards?

This is exactly how I do it and have had great luck with it. No tattle flag, just the clicker and light drag setting. Fish hits, turn the drag tighter and start reeling.

For the outside board I let the clicker/drag slip a little bit and wait for the board to swing to the back of the boat, tighten the drag and start reeling the fish right to the back of the boat. Maybe once in 100 times does it get tangled with the inside board. To reset the board I let the inside board out to where the outside board was, then put the board I just reeled in where the inside board was and your back to fishing before you know it.

You want easy pulling, shorter leads and deeper inside. Hard pulling, longer leads and shallower outside. Tattle flags are a necessity when running where there are weeds and small fish. Any decent sized fish should pull your lines clear of the other boards unless you are really reefing on them. With practice you will be able to reset even your middle boards without messing with the others by letting them straight out the back (freespooling) until you have the right amount of line out for spacing and then letting them swing back into the pattern. Of course, speed and bait type all play a part in all of this. 2-3 thousand hours and you will be a pro

martyb wrote:

(freespooling) until you have the right amount of line out for spacing and then letting them swing back into the pattern.

Does this work when you’re setting a line with snap weights or weighted line?

If you’re freespooling with weights or weighted line it’ll sink way lower than your inside lines. Wouldn’t they catch your inside lines?

It does as long as you have deep enough water that you aren’t snagging bottom. Remember inside line have shorter leads behind the board and deeper running lures. You should be able to swing over the top.