[#ff0000]I was reading walleybob's Utah lake report and was wondering how in the heck you use a side planer. If he said it was tough to manage by yourself that means it would be about dang near impossible for me! I thought I'd better ask how you set them up, what's the best way to drag them around, and bring them in with the least amount of headache, before I run out and buy more stuff. Last question. What are the benefits for all of the trouble it sounds to be? I've seen references to picking up fish spooked from the boat chop and noise. Thanx! [/#ff0000]
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[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]I've used inline planer boards for the last 5 years. I learned how to use them while fishing the Infisherman PWT walleye tournaments. I'm so convinced that they put more fish int he boat that I seldom troll without them. They are harder to use if your by yourself but you can crank the board back to the boat, hold the rod in your left hand and reach up and release the clips with your other hand and then crank the fish back to the boat. One big mistake anglers make is to slow the boat down too quick. If you slow way down or put the boat into neutral when you see you have a fish the fish can get slack line between the board and the lure and get loose. You need to keep your speed up until you get the board off. Also if your using no-stretch line you can pull hooks out of the fish easier on boards.[/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Besides getting away from the boat and engine noise, you don't spook fish that are suspending up close to the surface. You can fish shallower water and keep the boat out away from the fish. By trolling in an "S" shape trolling pattern you speed up and slow down your lures and this generates more strikes than trolling at one speed. You have to be careful fishing sinking lures like jigs because as you slow down they sink and if you slow down too much you'll get snagged. If your far enough off bottom, the lure can sink to deeper fish and then as your speed picks back up the lure will take off going towards the surface and trigger strikes. This works just the opposite with floating lures.[/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]The yellow Off-shore boards are the best in my opinion and I've tried all different kinds.[/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Good luck.[/size][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]Hi Tom, good to see you here! I use the Offshore in-line side planars. I love them but you will go through a little learning curve when you start using them. You'll have to beef up the rod for one to be able to take the extra weight and drag from the planar.[/size][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]Two, watch it when you release the line from the planar's releases because you can put a bunch of slack in the line real fast. They also make it a lot easier for several lines to be trolled out of the same boat without have a fishing line salad sitting in your lap.[/size][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]I use the twin releases provided with the side planars. They work pretty good but a hard hit can break the planar free so after you reel in your catch, you have to go back for it. There are ways to attach it permanently to your line but that can add some substantial weight when reeling in your fish. Permanently attaching it to the line is a must when trolling in rough water or in limited light conditions when you can lose sight of the planar when it breaks lose when using the standards releases.[/size][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]Has anyone used the "Tattletail Flag" option before? is it worth the extra bucks to upgrade? Just wondering...[/size][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]Also be aware that small fish are hard to detect. You can drag a small fish a long way before realizing that he's on. After a million hours of watch you planar, you can tell if it's planing right or there is something funny in the way it's gliding through the water.[/size][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3](edit) Also in water with a little swell you can add action to a lure from the planar running up and down swells or waves.[/size][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]DennisW is a side planar user. He has planar masts in his boat for the real deals. That's more into the big time serious stuff than I do and he may have some other good insight on planar usage. Dennis?[/size][/font]
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I am a huge fan of planer boards! I love them to death! I fish it by myself, and it's no problem. I do exactly what walleye Bob, Tom P. and BLM just told you.
I don't think they ever answered how to do it by yourself. Allow me to indulge in this subject.
You will have the options of a heavy duty clip or a light duty clip.
Lighter ones will allow the line to break loose once the fish is on. The drawback is, after you bring the fish in, you gotta drive your boat over to pick up the planer. It sucks because you will scare off future walleyes.
The second way is to use the heavy duty clip to bring the planer board toward the boat, then put the middle of your pole between your legs, and quickly snap the planer board, then quickly bring your fish in. All this is done while the boat is still trolling, this is to ensure heavy duty hook sets so not to lose your fish.
I prefer the heavy duty clip (they are black) so to keep on fishing the same area that you caught your fish.
The beautiful thing about planers, is that you can just about do anything with it, troll bottom bouncers, crankbaits, jigs, spinners, and just a sinker with a hooked worm.
The reason why planer boards are so important- the boat and its motor will scare off walleyes and other fish. They usually move to the side of the boat. There has been some talk of ions... some sort of electricity from your trolling motors, and transducers that produce positive/negative feeling thus scaring fish to the side of your boat.
Planers are a heck of lot of fun for wipers at Willard Bay... You do not want to drive/troll through those wiper boils, so you go to the side of it and cirle around the boils. Yahooooo fish on!!!!
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[#ff0000]Dang! Doggone planer board ended up on my things to buy next time list. Thanks everyone for your info. Any one interested in helping out a planer board illiterate soul and letting me tag along the next time you take a trip to Willard to help me with that learning curve? I'll give it a go either way, just worried I'll end up on America's Funniest Videos from what has been described! Thanx![/#ff0000]
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I have the tattle flags on all of my boards. They work good when trolling up to about 3 mph and with lures that don't have too much drag. They are really good at letting you know about those small fish. You can also see strikes you miss by seeing the flag jerk down and then pop back up if your looking at the board when a fish hits. They also work good at night with a light on the flag.
I replace the black clips that come with the boards with heavy duty red clips. This prevents the boards from coming off when a big wiper hits and starts ripping the board across the lake. With my wife and I we usually have two boards each out and I don't want to have to go back and pick them up.
Another thing I haven't seen mentioned, you want to troll down wind so when you hook a fish and slow down the wind can keeps your other boards spread out and behind you. You don't want to drift back into your lines. Some times you'll get other hookups while your drifting.
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I started using the side planers last summer, and they really do improve you fish catching. I was a little skeptical at first, but I figured hey, 20 bucks isn't too bad, so I made the plunge. It's probably the best investment you can make for improving your fish catching at Willard, Utah Lake, and others.
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Go to [/size][/blue][url "http://www.offshoretackle.com"][blue][size 2]
www.offshoretackle.com[/size][/blue][/url][blue][size 2]
and sign up for their free newsletter. It's packed with tons of info on fishing with planer boards. They'll also show the different clips. The OR-16 clips are the black ones that come standard, and they work fine with mono and larger diameter lines. But superlines require OR-18 clips (the red ones), and I still double-wrap the front clip to be safe. And they've got a new clip, the OR-21, I think, with a pin through the center of the pads that prevents the line from releasing.[/size][/blue]
[#0000ff][size 2]I have tattle flags on two of my boards. Though I've found I've started reaching for the naked boards first and the tattle flags last. You also need to upgrade the spring in the tattle flags to a C-73 (available at hardware stores) for tighter tension. And as was said, two boards riding side-by-side makes them easier to read.[/size][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][size 2]Another trick is bringing in the outside line without removing the inside line. Just let line out until its can slip behind and inside the inside board (which you move to the outside position). Though a big fish will require bringing the inside board in first. You can use them solo--just make sure to introduce no slack in the line when removing the board.[/size][/#0000ff]
[#ff0000]Thanks again everyone. I appreciate the link also. Lundman and Dennis W. I'd better figure out how the heck to do one first before I start juggling sets. I'm glad you posted. I was unaware that they were hard wired for one side or the other. How much line do you usually run from your planer board to your fish catcher and how much do you usually run from the boat to the planer? [/#ff0000]
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planer board to fishcatcher (Lure) It depends on how deep do you want to go. That's the length.
Line from boat to planer board, it depends on how far the fish are from to the side of the boat. I let out anywhere from 35 feet to 75 feet away. Must remember not to allow slack on the line.
The very important thing is the planer board will be going tandem alongside your boat. It's fun! I've had some real strange looks from people when I use planer boards at Deer creek, and Utah Lake, like they have never seen it before. But the downside of the planer boards, is the idiots on jet skis or even water skiing boats go between my boat and my planer board... you guess the rest of the scenario...
One funny memorable laugh is when I was planing at Deer Creek, just 25 feet at my boatside, some kid on a jet ski was coming toward me and the board, he saw the yellow contraption with the orange flag. He didn't even slow down, I tried to keep that kid from running over, fouling my line, I raised my pole/line, but not high enough, It caught him across the chest, and he was totally surprised that he fell off the jet ski. He mouthed me off, and I told him he isnt supposed to go too fast near my boat. So that was resolved with a comment by me, I told him to slow down near other boaters. He was alright after that.
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[blue][size 2]Paul, I can echo your comments of fishing at Deer Creek. I've been buzzed more there than at any other lake. I've had ski boats cut right behind me and catch all my lines out--stripping them all. [/size][/blue]
[blue][size 2]The rule-of-thumb is to set baits 50' behind your planer board. But it depends on your bait (diving crankbait, weight-forward spinner, spoon, crawler harness, bottom bouncer, etc). Just set your bait at the optimum running level first, with your rod top at the water's surface. For a deep diving crank in shallow water this might be only 10', but is typically more. Once the bait is running how you want it with the rod tip at the water's surface, attach the board and let it out as far as needed, 50'-100'.[/size][/blue]
[#0000ff][size 2]You can also use snap-weights or segmented leadcore with Offshore planer boards to achieve greater depth. There's lots of options. Oh, another important thing is to set your rods vertical in your rod holders. This keeps the line from rod to board out of the water and they'll track better.[/size][/#0000ff]
[#ff0000]OK, last question I almost promise; it sounds like most folks hook it directly onto your line. How about hooking one up to my downrigger, clip my regular line to a release, and use it as a "side rigger" instead. I can see how you could lose some fish with the line out of the water as opposed to mostly under the water downrigging, with all the slack when they pop the release, but could be minimized using a little stiffer release for a good hook, and keeping the boat at a slow troll on retrieval as previously recommended. Any thoughts? I can see how it could create some additional excitement when you get buzzed with that ski boat and that stainless steel cable....[/#ff0000]
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Hooking the planer to the downrigger is gonna elicit a jokin' comment from me, "Are you on crack?". LOL
No, it would defeat the entire purpose of the planer board. Downrigger is too heavy and it would take it down, and then you will need to have the vu-cam underwater camera trained on your planer board to see if the flag is up or down...
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]Most of the info here has dealt with the in-line planer boards that attach directly to your line. These are by far the cheapest and require no specalized equipment besides a fish rod but there are planers that work off masts or, yes, a downrigger that do the same thing. If you check out the link that DennisW posted you can see both types and how they work.[/size][/font]
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I was checking out those mast, they sure come with a high price. I did not see the downrigger that can be used with a side planer, I'll have to look again. It sounds like a good idea. WH2
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]There aren't special downriggers for side planers that I know of. I've heard that some guys will attach it to their regular downrigger on the ball snap and release and retrieve the planer board with it. I guess it works; I've never tried it.[/size][/font]
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I think I'll give it a try, I have a downrigger already, so that sounds a lot cheaper than a $300 mast, if it will work.
I like the idea of not having a planer board attached to my fishing line, it sure would put the fun back into catching a fish.(I hate fighting a planer board)
Has anyone out there tried this before, Dennis, WalleyeBob?
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I have just what you need a Lure Leader. I own two of them (never used), and would part with them for $25. Here is the website (turn on your speakers).
[url "http://www.lureleader.com"]http://www.lureleader.com[/url]
I believe I purchased them after buying the Banjo Minnows (this was for Tube Dude's benefit).
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I have used planer boards for about two years and find that they can really help at times, but if I can catch fish without them, I will definitely leave them stored away. One nice way to use them at Willard is to troll with your boat a safe distance from the shore, and let out enough line to put the planer board close to the dike.
One challenging opportunity that no one has yet talked about with planer boards is how, from time to time, they will dive on you, while you are trying to retrieve them. They will pull harder than most of the fish that you catch when a planer board gets turned on its side and dives for the bottom.
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What is the advantage of using a Lure Leader, other than being able to use several side planners at once? Are you saying that they are a "Got Ya" like the Banjo Minnow? WH2
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