Planing boards for trolling

[irishwalleye]

Anybody ever made their own for multiline trolling?

[Capt. Don*]

You can find plans on the internet for planer boards, for multi line you will nees to have larger boards that are towed from a mast with a dedicated tow line. Then use a release clip that slides down the line towards the board with your fishing line attached, repeat this process with three or more lines depending on how long the tow line is and the space between lines you prefer.

[Random guy]

That is all I use. With pike the inlines just don't work. I found plans on the internet and they work great. I took the plans and increased the size of everything by 30%. They are big and bulky but they take big baits and big waves.

[Surface Tension]

Trolling boards get a lot of us on the Superior. I posted plans in the Duluth forum a couple years ago. I'll do a search for them but they might be hard to find.

In the mean time get yourself two 3' sections of 3/8th threaded rod, 16 nuts and fender washers. One 1x8x10 clear cedar board. There are some critical points to make these things work good. The compound angle on the leading edge and the point at which you connect the main line. You can cut that compound angle with circular saw but you will need a jig on the table to increase one angle.

That angle is what pushes the board off to the side. 45 degrees will work but when you increase the angle you put more surface area in contact with the water.

My boards are in the boat and the boats sleeping.

Here is a picture of that compound angle.

You can see the 45 degree on the leading edge that angle is what you cut the trailing edge at also. The second angle is sharper, thats what cuts the water and pushes the board off to the side. Divide the 10' board into four pieces with angles. You'll end up with 30" long boards. Cut the treaded rod in two. Note the rod in the picture that joins the pairs together is up high, you don't want it dragging in the water. There is also a stager between the pair, set the inside board a few inches forward. That adds stability, so does adding a bar of lead to the bottom of the outside board(you can use a decoy anchor strap) Use an eye screw to attach the main line. I don't have that measurement handy, thats the reason for the eye screw, to adjust it on the water. Remember when you cut the angles your making a set for both sides of the boat. You don't want to end up with two sets for the same side of the boat.