Which planer board?

[jason007]

Never used a planer board before and looking to try it out. Which one is best if I am planning on pulling some cranks using either mono or fireline?

[MIDNIGHT777]

I like OffShore Tackle boards with the tattle flags. They are the only ones I have ever used so I don’t really have anything to compare them to. I mainly pull crank baits with the boards, but have experimented a little with spinners. IMO the tattle flags really help detect the irregularities in your bait ie, weeds, small fish hanging on, ect.

If you plan on running a braided super line make sure you get the upgraded OR-18 snap releases. Otherwise your line will slip in the release making things very frustrating and not very effective. I use the OR-18 releases with mono just to play it safe.

Boards can be a ton of fun once you get the hang of them. They are not really rocket science, but they do take a little time to trust and read correctly.

Good luck!!

Matt

[federline]

The std clip release on every planar board I've seen is made for 10 or 12 pound mono, it doesn't hold fireline as well, you would need the special releases made for superline. Otherwise, you have to tighten the std release up so much to hold the smaller dia superline that they are actually hard to pinch off. I'd stick with the basic Off-Shore Tackle brand and mono to begin with before investing in the custom clips. Also, watch out, a rod that works good for board trolling with mono may be too much for the same with a superline - your hookup rate may actually go down. The mono stretch seems to keep the bait in the strike zone longer on swipes and misses by the fish, possibly leading to a hookup on a second pass. Use of superline would beg for a more forgiving rod - and honestly, I think board control is harder then, it starts heaving a lot more.

[PerchJerker]

I like Offshore boards with tattle flags. I've used other boards and I think Offshore are the best. I usually do a double-wrap of the line to make sure it stays in the clips.

[jason007]

Offshore it is. If I am setting up a dedicated trolling rig to use with the planer boards are you recommending using like a 10 lb mono then?

[solbes]

I just bought and tried one of those mini Offshore boards. Worked pretty well as long as I stayed with the smaller cranks. It's clearly not going to work with the larger deep divers, which actually pulled the board under.

Mainly I wanted something small to get my shallow diving cranks (Husky jerk-baits, Rougue's, Floaters, etc) closer to shore without spooking the fish. The release on that board did not slip with 10lb Fireline. It was also very easy to tell when I snagged a weed, which I did not expect. No fish caught, but I thought it would be a good time to learn it since the Mayfly hatch was on and fishing was horrible.