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I've heard that when fishing for kokanee this time of year that the kokanee are shallow and very spooky and it is best to use a planner board to get your lure out and away from the boat. Can anyone give me some advice on this and possibly the best way to set one up?
Thanks to all
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I cant tell you much about Kokes but planer Boards are relatively simple. There will be one made for each side of the boat, they will say they are right or left or port or starboard. There are instructions but basically you let out a certain amount of line based on the depth you want to fish, say 50' then attach the planer and attach line to the clip and let it run out to the side as far as you want. When fish hit the planer will move from the side toward the rear of the boat. Reel in line until you can remove the planer.
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Youtube has 1600+ videos - put in "planner board fishing" in the search -- waste a couple mins and you'll be an expert
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Provided you spell it right.
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I run the big boards on my boat I mostly fish for kokes but they are very useful and work great for many species an allow you to fish closer to shore lines or cliffs
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You do not want inline planer boards that is 100% for sure. No fun fighting a fish when one has to drag a planer board in.
You do want some form of a mast mounted planer board system. (What you want to search youtube for.)
The rods/rigs I use on the Planer boards for Kokes have a 1oz tungstein slip sinker, a small clear bead, swivel, several feet of fluorocarbon leader, a snap swivel then the dodger/bait. The last time I fished for Kokes I ran a Lakeshore Tackle Dakota Dodger in hot orange on both planer rods, with 12-14" of line between the dodger and a unknown orange spinner rig. I ran these 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 of my boat.
I've only fished Strawberry for Kokes a couple times (900 mile round trip from Vegas) and always late May/early June time frame when they are not as deep (I do not own any downriggers). My catch ratio between rods/rigs out on the planer boards (+/- 12 feet down) and rods/rigs straight out the back of the boat (+/-25-30 feet down with a 3oz snap weight) is fairly even on these trips. Meaning one method doesn't outcatch the other method.
The last time we were on the Berry (6/2016) on the last day we caught 39 Kokes between 05:45 and 11:30. +/-50% was caught off the planer board rigs and +/-50% was caught off the rigs running out the back of the boat.
I might have a youtube vid of my set-up. I can't remember for sure and can't get to youtube when at work. PM me a reminder if you want me to look and I'll check this upcoming weekend.
Tom
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I just picked up some planner boards this year to try at the berry. I haven’t used planner boards in the past so I was looking at a lot of YouTube videos. I wondered how fun (and effective) it is to reel in the board and the fish on the Sam line. I appreciate you mentioning that. I didn’t even know about the mast setup until reading this post (I love this site). Anyways from what I can see with the mast setup is that the planner board is attached to the mast and the lure is attached to the board by a seperate line. Very smart. It reminds me of the idea b3hind a diwnrigger but instead of going deep it goes out.
That got me thinking. Does anyone know if instead of doing a mast if I can just take the weights off my Downriggers and attach the planner boards to them. So instead of running deep with the weights I run away from the boat with the boards. Just trying to think if I can use what I already have instead of building a mast mount for the planner boards.
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[quote Fishin_dad]Anyways from what I can see with the mast setup is that the planner board is attached to the mast and the lure is attached to the board by a seperate line. Very smart. It reminds me of the idea b3hind a diwnrigger but instead of going deep it goes out. [/quote]
The mast has a heavy line that goes to the planer. Then you take a clip like what Robert posted/linked to and hook it onto the planer line via the "shower curtain" clip. You pinch open the clip, same thing you do with a downrigger, and put the line in. Then open the bail on the reel and let line out until it hits the board. You don't have to go all the way. You can also run multiple lines on one board. Hook one up and let it go all the way to the board. Hook another up and only go half way... Once out of clips I just hand pull the board back in and get all the empty clips back. Back in action again seconds later.
The height of the mast helps the clip slide out to the board. If the line essentially has no elevation difference getting the clip like Robert posted out to the board will take a long time if it goes at all since one is going so slow plus the dodger doesn't have a lot of pull. Plus if there is wind thus waves they will catch the line if not elevated.
I made my own set-up and really simple. I just removed my front seat from the base post and shoved a several inch wide 6-7 foot PVC pipe into the post. At the top something simple for the 200lb line to feed through and out to the planer.
The first year I fished for Kokes and used inline planers I learned really quick what a pain they are. I caught fish but not fun. One essentially has to crank the drag down to max to get the board in then loosen the drag to fight the fish some. I also lost a lot since there is nothing you can do until the board gets to the boat and disconnected from the line. Nothing like dragging that darn board in watching a Koke behind it jump left and right doing aerobatics...
Tom
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Thanks for all the info on the planer board.( even the spelling)
I really like the mast idea. Can I find that setup on youtube?
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You can find all kinds of stuff in regards to mast planer board set-up. If I have any vids of my simple set-up they are more than likely listed as private so impossible to search for. You have to have a direct link. Something I have to look for this upcoming weekend when I get time. Youtube is blocked at work.
Tom
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wolfs4evr
can you find that youtube you have on your setup?
Thanks
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If you would like to go fishing with me I can show you how I use planer boards.
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Love to do it let me know the best way to contact you
We can take my boat 175 Tracker
Thanks
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I want to ask you the same question i just asked Bob, as you have the same mast system I was looking to build, and at the same location in your boat.
1. Do you have to go up past the windshield to hook up the scotty clip to the main line? If so, is it a big pain? How to you manage if you have your top up?
2. where did you get the reels, and how much?
3. I purchased some large Penn Salt water reels thinking i could but the planer board line on it? Do you think that will work? Can I use a different line, (smaller diameter) that wwill not chafe?
Just getting ideas for the build.
Thanks for any input.
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