Planer boards?

[Crappiechaser]

I bought a planer board the other day because I was takeing two other people out and it gets really crowded behind the boat. My question is how do I know when I got a bite? The other guys were catching fish and I just got to watch my board float along side the boat. We were useing shallow running cranks. Thanks for the help

[Northlander]

Your board will sag back when you get a fish but often times you will drag a small fish around and not know it. I put tattle tale flags on my offshore boards and they work great. Buy 1 and go to Menards and get the parts to make your own. About $5 a piece rather than $17-$20 a piece on top of what the boards cost.

[Rost]

I run 4 Church Tackle Walleye Boards w/o the flags.

Detecting a bite on a board can sometimes be tricky, especially when you catch a smaller fish in windy conditions.

A bigger fish will almost always walk your board back or sometimes (if it's big enough) your board will dunk under a bit! But a smaller fish can be hooked for a long time without you even knowing it. An easy way to check for a small undetected walleye is to simply speed up to about 4 mph and watch behind the board. A small fish usually comes to the surface and skips along.

The more you run boards and observe them, the easier it will be to tell if they are running correctly or not. And as Northlander said, if you get the tattle flags, it makes it much easier.

Good Luck.

[Murdock]

Northlander, can you please help us out a little by listing the items that we can purchase from a home improvement center to create the tattle tail flags on these boards? Thanks ton in advance!!!

[PerchJerker]

You need a spring and a light wire arm, those are the only specialized pieces. The rest is just a spacer or bushing, an eye bolt or 2, and a screw. Hard to explain but easy to replicate if you see if you've seen a tattle flag on a board.

I agree, it takes a while to learn how to "read" the boards unless you have flags, but after you catch a few fish you'll get the hang of it.

[Northlander]

All of it can be found at a hardware store. Best thing to do is buy a tattle tale flag and then take it to a shop and buy the pieces. You dont need a flag and releases because you already have them on the board. The new red releases are a bit better than the black ones though.

Otherwise you need wire to make the arm, plastic washers, eye bolt, spring, something to put twist and bends in wire arm. You can check it out on offshores HSOforum.

Im sure offshore wont like me telling people this but that stuff is way too pricey for my taste.

[Rost]

Thanks guys. I can't believe I have never thought about reproducing a tattle. I'll definately give this a try.

[tunrevir]

I made a set of flag kits just like northlander said but I was able to use a stiff wire leader for the wire portion. I'd be willing to bet that alot of you guys have the stuff laying around the house or garage that would be needed to make up your own flag kits. Pretty simple and it saves some big dough! More bait money that way!

Tunrevir~

[outdoor ran]

Northlander, thats a very good idea to make your own tattles. I'll have to stop bye and check yours out. Now all you have to do is figure out how to get a fish on to see if it pulls the flag down