Musky Rod and Planer Question

[lawman]

I sometimes troll for ski's with some stout 7 foot rods. Planning to troll with planer boards as well next season. I have some 6" boards pretty sure these won't do. Can anyone recommend some brands and sizes of suitable planer boards for musky crankbaits? Any tips on rod length and weight or brands would help as well.

[RK]

Hiya -

Best ones I've found for inline boards are the orange Mr Walleye boards by Church Tackle. You can adjust them so they handle most muskie cranks, except obviously the very large ones.

As for rods, you really don't need anything fancy. I use mainly cheap Shimano Dipsey Diver rods. You actually want rods that are fairly slow action, since when you first hook up you're mainly fighting the board until you can retrieve it and unhook it.

One other thing... I definitely prefer mono to braid for boards. Before you get the board unclipped fish can get a lot of leverage against a buried board, and with zero stretch line it's easier for them to pull hooks out. With mono, the stretch is lie having them on a big rubber band. You lose very few fish. I use 20 or 25# mono, mainly Trilene Big Game, but Trilene XT or Sufix Siege is just as good.