Planer Board Mast or Inline

[muirco]

Anyone have experience with a planer board mast or inline planer boards? What are the pros and cons to each? Cost aside, I am looking for opinions from people that have used them before. Thanks! I am looking to get some.
[signature]

[Anglinarcher]

Done both, like both, but it does depend on what you are doing it for.

There is a lake in Northern Idaho that has/had monster rainbows and lakers (Pend Oreille). Another I fished was Koocanusa above Libby Dam in Montana (monster rainbows and bull trout). In those lakes we were fishing for 6 pound trout and up and they were big jumpers and fighters. Had we used in line planers the weight of the planer would have broken lines or simply knocked fish off all the time. We used mast, quick releases on the mast lines similar to down rigger releases, and often trolled two or three rods on each planer board. The planer boards were often 3 feet in length and could run at least 30 yards off to the side. We painted the above water parts bright orange, put flags on them, and ran high vis nylon cord to make it visible to other boaters.

For Walleye that don't jump and are not exactly super hard fighters, an in line planer board is fine, I still have a couple. Once hooked up you retrieve to the board, unhook the board, then continue the fight. Some planers are able to just self release, and some just slide down to a stop above the fish.

You could use the monster planer boards for Walleye, or any fish for that matter, but you do need a tall mast to get maximum side dispersal, the releases, and they are pretty tough to use by your self. Still, if trolling was "my thing", this would be my choice even though it is bulky.

You can use the in-line planer boards for smaller species with great luck, but I probably would not want to mess with above slot Cutts at Strawberry with them.

I hope this helps some. If you have specifics, maybe we can narrow this down.

[fishin__fool]

I've use both also. The inline boards are $$ but they store in the boat well when not in use. I like the drop flag option. Sometimes you hook up something small and it's easier to tell if it's dragging begins. They are sometimes a bit of work to get to the boat with a fish on.

I don't use a mast for my other style board. I've looked at them a few times though. I just tie the line on a cleat. Works just fine. I can run 3 lines off the board easily and I like the release. You need a lot of releases if you don't want to be pulling the board in frequently. Cheap releases are available on Amazon. I usually pull the inner lines off when we catch a fish.

I made my planer board from a cedar fence slat and all thread. it doesn't collapse like some of the nice commercial ones. That makes storage tougher.

I think the planer boards work really well for fishing. They allow you to get more lines out and it helps get the line away from the boat. If there is a little wave action you get increased action on your lures also

Best of luck!
[signature]

[Anglinarcher]

[quote fishin__fool]........................
I don't use a mast for my other style board. I've looked at them a few times though. I just tie the line on a cleat. Works just fine. ..............................

I made my planer board from a cedar fence slat and all thread. it doesn't collapse like some of the nice commercial ones. That makes storage tougher.

...................... If there is a little wave action you get increased action on your lures also

Best of luck![/quote]

Quite agree. I use to just attach mine to a boat cleat, but when the waves are large it kept dragging the tops and messing it up. I went to the mast, made of a metal pipe with a pulley on top for the line and a pipe mount I got at Home Depot for the bottom. I mounted the mount to the wood floor board of my 18' Lund. I then used a high capacity trolling reel with 100 pound braid.

I made one out of pine. I sealed it well with varnish and then painted it. I painted the bottom with sky grey and the top with bright orange. I attached a glow stick for night. Fun days for sure.

In the "old days" the guys that taught me used stretchy tow line and it worked well by speeding and slowing it down. That change in lure speed really made a difference. I started to make a piece of tube rubber with a long piece of the braid inside. It would stretch and shrink giving the same, but not as much, action.

Almost makes me want to start trolling again, but..... too slow for me. LOL

[KJB]

I have used the otter boards they work great if you can mount the mast high and towards the front. I used them at Willard bay...use a shower curtain clip attached to the off shore release. When you get a fish keep going and attach a new clip and move lines out as nessary very efficient. You can fish six lines without tangles. The otter boards are big and take up a lot of space in the boat also pricey. They work like a horizontal down riggers.

Tight lines
[signature]

[FishingTherapy]

I use church tackle magnum mini s and the walleye boards both are inline and work very well. the magnum minis are amazing on flat water and have almost no resistance when fighting a fish but won't handle much chop or heavy lures. Catching salmon or trout they are no worse than a dodger. The walleye boards will handle big chop or lures but even when released and running inline at the stop they add considerable resistance. The trick is if they don't pop or want to dive due to chop or an aggressive fish point the rod right at them and most of the resistance goes away, of course so does the shock absorption of the rod so there's a trade off. Early in the season, shoreline browns or walleye, or when the boat pressure has them shy boards are hard to beat. Of course a couple weeks ago at starvation some @ss hat drove right over 2 off my port side even while i was standing up waving him off. Unfortunately I was using mono so he probably got off ok, if I could have foreseen the future it would have been 100# braid. I was able to recover the boards and the reels retained enough line to keep fishing.
[signature]

[RonPaulFan]

This is likely the planer board Curt and I fished with almost four years ago. Thanks, Curt! Great memories! It's great for trolling next to shore and structure without risking the boat getting to close with the advantage of not disturbing the fish with the boat since it's off a sufficient distance to the side.

I'm still thinking of one other use that can likely be devised to work with a purpose built planer board. I shore fish a lot, so I've been considering buying this Wi-Fi castable fish finder:

http://www.cabelas.com/product/club-visa...034838.uts

It looks like it has good features, but from previous posts (didn't find it yet), there's one that integrates with a fish finder mapping software to make underwater contour lines. Putting a Wi-Fi ball on a planer board would allow you to add shallow contour lines without risk to the boat. Also, there is a version with additional features, so that's probably why this one is suddenly much less.

What's the thoughts of BFT members on a fish finder planer board?

Related posts:

http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...15#p989315

http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...le;#978760

http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...le;#978760

http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...ead#unread

https://www.bassfishermansguide.com/best...sh-finder/
[signature]

[dubob]

[font "Times New Roman"] [/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]I wouldn’t run on-line boards if you paid me. Tried them for a year and hated it. I built my own mast boards from plans I got from a friend in Michigan. I posted the plans on here back in 2008 and you can see them here: [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=415914;search_string=planer;#415914"]plans[/url][/#800000][/font][font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000].[/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000] [/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]I run them off a commercial planer board - Bert's Custom Tackle Planer Board Mast Systems (3-foot Double-Reel Mast). Pricey at around $300, but they work very well and I think they are worth every penny. You can get a 6’ for about $40 bucks more.[/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000] [/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]The fact that I never have to remove the board or pull it in to reattach the fishing line and I can run multiple fishing lines off one board makes the on-line boards ridiculous for me to even consider. For those of you that use the on-line boards and like them, I support your right to do so and I’m happy that you’re happy. Don’t bring ‘em on my boat – please. [][/#800000][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"] [/font]
[signature]

[BearLakeFishGuy]

Bob, those plans are awesome. Did you make the 21" or 30" long boards? I'm going to have to make me a pair. What type of releases are you using. I've used a friend's boards on his boat, and we used meatal shower rings with alligator clips and lined the clips with 1/4" fuel line cut about 1" long on each side of the "teeth" of the clip. I was actually surprised at how well they worked. He had about 20 of them so we didn't have to bring the boards in/out we just kept adding clips.
[signature]

[nofish2]

I built the 21"boards and they work great, I also made the same style release but I used a few pieces of heat shrink on the teeth.

I don't have a mast but I lay the line over the windshield and it keeps it up out of the water.

I will take them over the inline style every day.
[signature]

[muirco]

With those big board, what is the advantages of electric planner board reels and manual ones? I read that most people don't pull in the boards that often and they just bring a lot of clips. If that is the case, does anyone run electric reels on the mast?[fishin] I have really appreciated all the feedback on my initial post!!!!!!
[signature]

[MMDon]

I run twin electrics with a mast off of my hard top. 30" boards are tough to pull in when under way and you can only run so many clips down the lines before you need to reload. Electrics also help when trolling shorelines or making tight turns with other boats around. Lastly, they are just cool! [bobhappy]
[signature]

[wolfs4evr]

The only advantage to inline is that they are small and easy to store in the boat. Other than that I detest them. Zero fun catching fish when one has to nearly lock down the drag and then drag in the board then lighten up on the drag and fight what the fish has left in 'em to the boat. I used these 2 years ago on Strawberry and I did catch fish but it wasn't fun. It was a show watching Kokes jumping all over the place as one dragged in the board. Nothing you can do until that board is in.

I ran a mast system w/Riviera dual boards last June at Strawberry and it was the cats meow. Over the course of 4 days up there I know between my daughter and myself we landed well over 50 Kokes off the mast boards alone. 1oz tungstein slip sinker, a small clear bead, swivel, several feet of fluorocarbon leader, a snap swivel then the dodger/bait. I ran this set-up with 50 feet of line out from the sinker/occasionally 60 then off to the mast mounted planer that was +/- 75 feet out from the bow seat post area.

I only had 14 release clips with me last year so once they were all gone I just ran to the front of the boat and pulled the boards in. I didn't even use the wheel. Just grabbed the thick line that the Big Jon planner reel had on it and pulled them it. Faster that way and I didn't have to reset my distance out. Only used up a few minutes to do this so no big dealio.

The boards, Big Jon planer wheel and the release clips is commercial the rest is redneck engineered [blush]

Simple and works. Works really good but something one has to head to the lake planning on using since it isn't something you can just store in the boat easily.

No Strawberry for us this year. This will be the first year in 7 years that we didn't head to Utah right after school gets out for a little break from the Nevada heat [:/]

Tom
[signature]

[dubob]

[quote BearLakeFishGuy]Bob, those plans are awesome. Did you make the 21" or 30" long boards? [font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Mine are the 21" models.[/#800000][/font] I'm going to have to make me a pair. What type of releases are you using. [font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]I use both the commercial ones with he orange plastic heads and some made from alligator clips (w/ rubber tube over the teeth) on shower curtain hooks. Both work well.[/#800000][/font] I've used a friend's boards on his boat, and we used meatal shower rings with alligator clips and lined the clips with 1/4" fuel line cut about 1" long on each side of the "teeth" of the clip. I was actually surprised at how well they worked. He had about 20 of them so we didn't have to bring the boards in/out we just kept adding clips. [font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]That's what I do as well.[/#800000][/font][/quote]
[signature]

[dubob]

This is a test.
[signature]

[Kent]

This is a reply to "This is a test."[]
[signature]