Planer Boards

[fishinkrop]

can anyone thell me how planer boards work?

how do I get the lure to run at depth that I want?

how do they keep the lines off the side of the boat?

Are the better then them snap on the line one?

thinking about buying so and Im have a hard line finding info if any on knows of a small book and mag that I can get and where to get it let me know!

[PerchJerker]

I use planer boards a lot. I have Offshore boards, another popular brand is Church.

Your baits will run at the same depth behind the boards that they run behind the boat. If you're letting out 80 feet of line and your bait is running 8 feet deep, it will be the same whether it's behind a board or on a flatline (behind the boat).

Boards float and the front is angled so that as it's being trolled water pressure will push it away from the boat. The boards have clips (similar to clothes pins) that hold the line. You basically let out however much line you want, clip on the board, let out however much more line you want to get the board away from the boat, and troll. When you're reeling in you reel the board in, unclip it, then reel in the bait.

You need rod holders in your boat because you don't want to hold a rod that's pulling a board. They hold onto mono better than they hold onto Fireline or Power Pro. I usually troll with 10 lb mono. I have a book called Precision Trolling which tells you how deep each bait runs at varying amounts of line out from the rod, and that book is based on 10 lb mono.

[PerchJerker]

Trolling with boards works really well in a lot of situations. Three that I do a lot are:

Trolling shorelines or contours. Use boards to run 1 or 2 lines up shallower than the boat, pull a flatline right behind the boat, and run another flatline or another board off the deeper side of the boat. A good example of this is trolling on Lake Pepin, where you can use 2 lines per person. I run 1 board right up on shore, with a shallow running bait like a floating rapala only 30-50 feet behind the board so it's going down only 3-4 feet. Then I run another board in towards shore but not as tight, with a bait that goes down maybe 6-7 feet. I keep the boat in 10 feet and run a bait like a shad rap down about 8 feet on the shallow side. And I run another shad rap or walleye diver on the deep side of the boat down 10-12 feet. This works good on steep breaks and rocky structure.

I troll a lot on shallow flats and lake basins - no structure or contours. The planer boards spread the baits away from the boat to prevent it from spooking fish, and cover more ground.

I troll open water for suspended fish on Erie and Mille Lacs. Spread the lines to cover some ground and prevent fish from spooking. On Erie we have 3 guys in the boat and 6 lines in the water, all on planer boards.

The times planer boards don't have the potential to work well is when you're in weeds or very snaggy conditions, at night when it's too dark to see them very well, and in very crowded conditions where you need to dodge around other boats.