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Posts: 175
| Does anyone use 'em? What kind work best? Do any of them troll big Jakes, Believers, etc? What is the upside? Downside? I am looking to upgrade my trolling game and am wondering if this is part of the upgrade.
Thoughts?
Thanks. |
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Posts: 127
Location: Brookfield | I do alot of trolling, we use down riggers and boards. normally when running boards they will almost come back to the side of the boat, this is not the case when using big deep diving lures. The boards tend to stay back alot farther, but this is a very effective way to fish and we do it every time we are out. Last year we were setting up our lines in about 90 feet of water when one of the boards went completly under, it came back up before we could even grab the pole. About 10 seconds later it happened again, when the board came back up we noticed that a 40" musky was attacking the board. needless to say we did not land the fish but we have joked about putting hooks on the back of our boards. We have tried running multiple boards out each side and that turned out to be more work than it was worth.
Hope this helps, John  |
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Posts: 20263
Location: oswego, il | I use boards all the time. I like the church tackle boards best. www.churchtackle.com Some people like the offshore boards. In-lines imho work well for muskies when you have one out each side. More than that seems to be a hassle. Then you would want to look into a mast system. All have pros and cons. |
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Posts: 786
Location: Minnesota | I have offshore boards (R and L) and like them. Have yet to try them out with anything over 8" though. I don't think they would work too well with big trolling baits over 10 inches.
JMO,
James
http://www.gruntmuskielures.com
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Posts: 1530
| onst clair. we run big boards. if they are built correct you can pull 4 large lures per side at hi or low speeds. wood boards are best as they retain pull with no slop in waves. open water fishing they are a must here |
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Posts: 381
| I also use the wood redwood boards. They are a must for trolling big lures fast.
Here are some very nice plans on making your own.
http://www.mssfa.com/stplaner_board_plans.htm |
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Posts: 7092
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | For the larger baits such as 10" Jakes, at least on the Off-Shore boards, go with the OR-18 snaps. They are a BEAR to get off (especially with a big fish on), but will allow you to run the bigger baits on the boards. The board will LOOK funky (nose up, tail down), but its still doing its job. |
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| I use the Off-Shore boards and really like them, but in general use them for smaller lures up to 8 or 9 inches. Bigger lures I just flatline |
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Posts: 667
Location: Roscoe IL | The Offshores can be tuned to handle the larger crankbaits. If you look at the position of the lead weight, there is room for it to move forward. All that needs to be done is, remove the screw that holds the weight in position & remove the weight. Heat up a flat edge screwdriver and melt the plastic that stops the weight from moving forward. Replace the weight & position it all the way to the front of the board, then simply re-drill the hole for the screw. I use the same hole just drilling into the lead itself & put the screw back into place.
This greatly improved the way the board runs & it does not point up nearly as bad as before. Before I did this it pointed up so bad, the front of the board was barely in the water and it didn't get very far off to the side.....
I did have to use a propane torch to heat up that flat edge screwdriver... |
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Posts: 3518
Location: north central wisconsin | I sawitched away from the Offshore brand boards last year and went with the Big Birds, and just love then. The line stays in the plunger style release a bit better, and they will handle any lure in your box(to a point). I still use my offshores on the smaller lures and closer to the boat, but really have come to enjoy working with the Big Birds on a long day of trolling. i agree with ToddM though, and will ber checking into a mast system this fall. A fella sent some neat directions on making my own a couple years ago, that he dug up from In Fish. I should have built them last winter though...
Edited by Reef Hawg 9/10/2006 1:21 PM
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Posts: 479
Location: Eden Prairie & Pine Island | I'm building a set of big boards like those in the plans posted by Nxtcst above. How do you big board trollers attach your line and release it when fighting a fish? Do you use a separate lead to position the board with some sort of snap off clip for a separate line to your lure or what? |
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Posts: 381
| Gman
Here is what I use.
http://www.lscmuskieshop.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Sto...
They are the offshore large black clip OR-30.
The fish sets the hook and then the line pulls out of the release. Just you and the fish at that point!
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Posts: 169
| Here's a planer board rookie question, when using the big, two board models made from redwood, do you need to use a trolling mast? Or can you use them like the smaller ones and just attach to your line and release it when it gets close to the boat? Thanks in advance. |
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Posts: 2378
| Brad - 9/13/2006 12:28 PM
Here's a planer board rookie question, when using the big, two board models made from redwood, do you need to use a trolling mast? Or can you use them like the smaller ones and just attach to your line and release it when it gets close to the boat? Thanks in advance.
Yes, you're going to need a mast system with those boards |
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Planer Boards ??????