joneser wrote:

Quite frankly I’m not exactly sure what I’m looking at in those pics. Usually when people say they’ve got a set of homemade boards they’re made out of actual boards…like stuff you buy from a lumber yard. It looks like he took a large salmon flasher, glued some foam to it so one side is the top, and rigged it with a set of clips. I don’t do much salmon trolling; are they angled at the fronts or is the whole thing flat like a table?

I agree with what others have said. Just go and buy a mini-board. The last one I got was under $20. Here’s what’s going to happen..you’re going to waste a bunch of your time trying to get these to work and you’ll eventually get frustrated and wind up buying them anyways, use them once, and immediately understand why we recommended buying some. Hell, just buy one for starters and get the hang of it and who knows? Then maybe you can figure out how go get those to work once seeing the right way.

Can you see how when looking from the top down a normal board is about an inch wide with the front end on the right board cut at about a 45 to 60 degree angle (guessing) so it narrows to a point, with the left side being a 135 to 150 degree angle for the left side. Does that make sense? They’re made of plastic, filled with Styrofoam to float, and on the churches the weight is adjustable. I actually like them as much as off-shor, couple things are better, couple things aren’t as good when comparing the two brands in my opinion. I was going to take pics of my off-shor ones but I put my phone number on top. I’ve lost boards before, they’re not real expensive but not cheap either. The churches won’t pull off unless you break a line, and I keep forgetting to put my number on them.

Boards aren’t supposed to be made out of flat metal. It honestly wouldn’t shock me if those worked OK if you were going 4mph or faster but just get yourself a mini-planer, they float, so you can get back to enjoying fishing.

Good Luck!

So, my homemade boards are level they were made out of a blue fish measuring board and a pool noodle. Not really sure how these church boards work but I’m not against buying some. I have a 15’ bass hot also so my question is do I need minis or standard what’s the big difference?

leinieman wrote:

Hey bigreene89 welcome to site. Hope you get the problem solved. I was wondering where you are fishing and or where are you located. If your close heck I could loan you a board to check out. Are you fishing for Stripers? Have a good day.

Thank you, I live in Greenville,N.C. I ended up with these boards because a friend of mine (ted) bought a set of redneck planer boards in VA at Smith Mountain Lake. Well, me and several other fisherman were all down there same time fishing and loved how they caught fish. So he duplicated the boards to the exact specs. Yes, they were striper fishing, but I’ve heard they caught small mouth and stripers on the boards.

Only time I really fish for stripers is when I’m at SML. I’m more of a largemouth guy , but I enjoy fishing for flatheads also.

We had the idea of running the boards on artificial baits in the rivers, and ponds here to cover more water quicker to locate the bass, crappie, or whatever we were targeting.

I also own a 15’ bass boat what boards do y’all recommend minis still?

Ripjiggen wrote:

Well if I am seeing this right. It doesn’t seem as though the clip is high enough to keep your line that is attached to your rod tip is out of the water. It also looks to me that the nose would be heavier than the tail itself so when you you start to go it will want to dive. In your case and what you are using them for I would be more inclined to get off shore tackle mini boards.
Those boards look like they would be more work than they are worth especially fishing out of a yak. IMO

I forgot to mention somehow the photos are upside down on this post. The foam is the top of the boards.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Well if I am seeing this right. It doesn’t seem as though the clip is high enough to keep your line that is attached to your rod tip is out of the water. It also looks to me that the nose would be heavier than the tail itself so when you you start to go it will want to dive. In your case and what you are using them for I would be more inclined to get off shore tackle mini boards.
Those boards look like they would be more work than they are worth especially fishing out of a yak. IMO

Any ideas on where to get some from?

joneser wrote:

Your line to the board shouldn’t be in the water. It should be straight line to where it’s clipped to the board. If the clip is too low it might be enough to sink it. I use my offshore boards with leadcore and have a set I’ve altered by pulling the weight, taking a hacksaw to it, and then placing all the way forward to partially compensate for the added weight to the back from the leadcore.

Point being no, the board should not sink. Is it being pulled down while still upright or is the board tipping causing the front to dive and the board to be pulled under and essentially work like a dipsy diver?

×2 on pics of the board for starters being helpful in diagnosing the problem. A series of pic of what it’s doing while in use would be even better.

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Ripjiggen wrote:

A picture of the board might be helpful. I have never pulled boards in a kayak. And never for <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>bass but the concept should be the same. I think it is probably the angle of the clip to the line. Needs more weight in back or lift up front. Or pulling it on the wrong side of the boat which in essence would make the board upside down.

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joneser wrote:

Your line to the board shouldn’t be in the water. It should be straight line to where it’s clipped to the board. If the clip is too low it might be enough to sink it. I use my offshore boards with leadcore and have a set I’ve altered by pulling the weight, taking a hacksaw to it, and then placing all the way forward to partially compensate for the added weight to the back from the leadcore.

Point being no, the board should not sink. Is it being pulled down while still upright or is the board tipping causing the front to dive and the board to be pulled under and essentially work like a dipsy diver?

×2 on pics of the board for starters being helpful in diagnosing the problem. A series of pic of what it’s doing while in use would be even better.

I’ll post a photo of my boards shortly

Ripjiggen wrote:

A picture of the board might be helpful. I have never pulled boards in a kayak. And never for <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>bass but the concept should be the same. I think it is probably the angle of the clip to the line. Needs more weight in back or lift up front. Or pulling it on the wrong side of the boat which in essence would make the board upside down.

Im going to try them again soon if so I’ll get photos and video of what’s going on.

supercat wrote:

The homemade boards I have seen are for stripers and they are a piece of foam on some plexi glass. They are designed to be trolled very slow like a trolling bobber .1 -.2mph. If you want to troll with boards I’m guessing you will troll from 1-3 mph so I would look at just buying a board like offshore or church tackle. GoodLuck

Not sure how fast I need to be going just fast enough for spinnerbaits, crankbaits, topwaters to perform at a normal speed.

SuperDave1959 wrote:

Supercat’s comment raised the question, are your homemade boards being trolled off a mast?

The rod was straight up in the air tilted some but not much.

SuperDave1959 wrote:

Do they sink when not moving at all?

No, just when I put the trolling motor in gear.