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I have been using my offshore planner boards and having some good luck this year with them. But I want to rig it up a different way. I have been doing the inline method where the boards will slip down the line to the fish. It works I guess but there's so much drag on the line with the board you can barely feel the fish. I was thinking of attaching a line to the boat then to the planner boards. Then just having my line in the back snap clip. I attempted this with my down rigger without any weight of course and they didn't run the same as out on my line.
What do you guys do? I want to be able to fight the fish when I catch it and not the planer boards.
Thanks,
Ryan
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Not familiar with any method of running an Off Shore Tackle Planar board in which the board slides down to the fish. Could you give more detail how you're rigging that up? Your board should stay clipped onto the line wherever you set it and not slide down the line.
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Are you running the mini boards or the ones with the flags? I switched the off shore mini boards last year and I love them! You don't fight the board at all.
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Mike I have the big ones with the flag.
I have 2 clips on the planer board. One is sort of hard mounted and the other loose on a ring. After the line coming out and having to turn around and go get the board I put a swivel and loop in that ring so when the line comes out it stays on the line.
But like I was saying you end up fighting the damn planer boards.
Mike you have a red boat right? I think I met you when you were with Kurt a while back. I may have to swap boats one day and get some pointers. You've got willard dialed in and for some reason I can't go anywhere else. lol
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Actually the board is designed to stay on your line. You reel it up to where you can unclip it and then continue to play the fish w/o the board. The big ones are a bit harder to use by your self due to that feature, but with two in the boat, it is easy. The mini's are much easier by yourself. I believe the mini's are ambidexterous where the big ones run either left or right. Just tighten the clamps down or run a loop of line around the clamp to hold the board on your line. When by yourself, clamping the line down is easier to work alone. Biggest problem I have with them are the idiot skiers and jet skis that get to close, cutting between me and my boards, fouling my line w/ their props or just cutting em off.
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That's actually a totally different type of planar board design. The Off Shore Tackle version clip onto the line and don't require a mast setup.
The much larger version you linked is great for a large boat and running multiple lines off each side. Pretty common on the great lakes and charter boats.
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I use otter boats with a mast. You could use a down rigger instead of a mast however. I do like this method of fishing as you're just catching the fish not a planer board and I can run more than one line off of a boat. It is something which takes some practice I've found (don't use them enough to have mastered it for sure). It also takes up a lot of room in the boat which I don't like. I always have regular planer boards on the boat for days when I use them and didn't plan on it. I seem to fish the Gorge 99% of the time these days and have used them successfully many times for the Kokes early in the year when the boat scares them off. Well my theory anyways. It works whatever the reason.
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That is very similar to how I use my planer boats. I use down rigger releases instead of rubber bands however. You can use heavy braid and tie it off of a cleet or possibly use a downrigger instead of a mast. It is a great way to fish if you want to prepare for it. You can buy the hand made boats like the one pictured prior for as little as $20.00.
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As with you I really didn't like fighting the board either. I also didn't like the idea of putting a mast in the front of my boat. My boat is only a 18' so space is extremely valuable. For me that only meant one thing, build something customized for my boat and my type of fishing. This set up is extremely user-friendly, extremely inexpensive and you only fight the fish. Homemade boards and mini masts. I made the boards out of painted 1x6 and all-thread and the mast is 1 1/4 wood dowles. The reels are lined out with 80 lbs braid and I use both offshore and scotty line releases. I could easily get three lines per board but two is the most I'll attempt. Mini masts go in rod holder just forward of the windshield, nice and out of the way. If this looks like something that may work for you I can post more pictures with dimensions.
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I didn't have time to read all the replies in detail but you can rig it separate and its easy but takes another rod or a mast. I just use a second rod to attach to the planar and put my line in the back release. Works really well if you need more info let me know I'll get some pictures. Later J
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Thank you!! This is exactly why I posted this. I could easily use a setup like this. Then when the fish hits. It just pulls the line out of the clip and you are fighting the fish.
Thank you all for your ideas. I also like the tying it off to the cleat idea. But this custom setup here is kinda like what I was thinking. Does the height of the mast matter in getting the boards along side the boat. I used my down riggers in an attempt to do kinda what you have done with your custom setup here. But the lines were barely out to the side at all. I was thinking it was probably the weight of the line and the connection throwing it off.
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Higher will work better then the cleet in my opinion. I have one planer boat identical to this and an otter boat for the other. I like the otter boat a lot more but find myself only using one at a time typically. It's nice if I hit Willard during the week and can make a run with those both out a ways, can cover some water. Most waters in UT I'm afraid a power squadron member will kill themselves on the cable I'm running. It would wreck a water skiers afternoon for sure. My otter boat is orange, I put Home Depot orange flags on my wood boat if I use it. The clips I use I got with the wood boat off of BFT. I like them more than the downrigger releases. Clips with plastic tubing around the outside. Bring a lot of clips and shower curtain rings, you'll go through them.
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Higher is better but the mast just needs to be high enough to keep your line out of the water. I actually cut mine down a foot or so from the original design to make it easier to clip my release into.
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Just ordered a set of the Mini Off Shore boards, found them online for as little as $15.00 apiece. They break loose and slide down the line when you hook a fish but they're only haging by the back swivel so almost no drag. Can't wait to try them out with my full size boards and compare.
Thanks for the tip Mike...
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I have the big board setup with a mast and trust me, go with the mini boards. Once you use up all your clips you have to fight the big board in to retrieve them. But if you want big boards I'll sell you my setup for 20 bucks. Cheap enough you can try em.....
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[font "Calibri"]Heck for $20 if he’s not interested, I am!!! [/font]
[font "Calibri"][/font]
[font "Calibri"]TheFishSlayer,[/font]
[font "Calibri"]That's a damned sweet deal!!!![/font]
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I was thinking of doing that same thing myself and thinking that it should still work great with the clip on a swivel so that the board will still fall backwards and not have much drag yet not slide down the line to give that walleye something to tangle the hooks in a rip out.
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