planer boards questions and techniques

[Fishfry08]

Hello All,
I have a few questions I'm hoping some of you can help me with. I've been fishing lake erie for years and have had oaky success with dipsys, but looking to use my planer boards more, but, I seem to have a lot of difficulty with them.

I have a Big Jon mast on the bow of my 21ft Thompson with a ski that runs on each side.

How much line do I let out on the boards. Is there a rule of thumb?

In choppy water they seem to get a lot of slack and then tighten up in waves causing the lines to jerk. Is this normal?

How do I clip the mini or small dipsys and jets to the planer line. I've bought three different types of clips, adjusting the spring tensioner, but can't seem to adjust it right, the lines keeping coming off the clips with the tension of the divers. Is there a secret or technique to this?

Thanks for any advice you can provide.

[Falcon2082]

Fish,

The amount of tow line you let out is all dependant on how far away from the boat you want your lures to run and how many rods you are running of each board. If you are running 4 rods of each board you are goint to have mnre tow line out to spread your lures out.

The boards you are running are too light and I would recommend you find harder pulling boards. I run the Aurora Lite's and the slack they get in choppy water is minimum at best. They are not fun pulling back into the boat though!

I am not sure what kind of releases you are running but try burying the line farther into your release. If that doesn't help I would try different releases. I run the Scotty's and like them alot. They don't rust and there is no rubber that deteriorates after time. A bit pricey but have not had to replace any so I can't complain how much I paid for them.

Mike

[Fishfry08]

Falcon,
Thanks for the reply. I did buy some relatively cheap boards at the sportsman show years back that I've been using. They pull out to the side decent, but do get a lot of slack when it gets a little choppy. They're made of hard cheap plastic. Probably should upgrade.

How far apart do you normaly keep the lines apart from each other and how close to the planer board itself do set the first line?

Thanks

[Falcon2082]

I run my outside line just above the board snubber which is just above the waterline. I don't want the release dragging in the water so I run it just high enough to keep it out. The rest of the lines I stagger about 10-12 feet apart or so. If you have a good angle on your tow line from the top of the mast to the board you can use that angle and a good spread of your lures to target a pretty good area of the water column. Once you notice the fish keep hitting the same clip on your tow line you can get the other clips a bit closer to each other to get them all running about the same depth.

Mike

[Fishfry08]

Planer board snubbers? I didn't know that they existed. I wonder if they would help with the way my boards jerk around.

Where do you fish out of?

[Jason Ferrick]

I have about 4 diffrent kinds of line releases lately i switched
to rubber bands and shower curtin hooks they have been working well with jets 20s-40s even in 3 and 4 footers i had a problem getting my line to stay in the releases in waves.

Hope this helps

[Fishfry08]

I got new releases, seem to be working fine.

I keep hearing different trolling speeds, from 1.8 to 2.2 How critical is the speed difference? I keep messing around speeding up and slowing down, not knowing how fast I'm actually going. All I have is the speedometer on my fish finder, which I beleive is completely inaccuarate at those slow of speeds.

[jake1]

the bigger the planer board the tighter the line therenwill be more resistance means more pull i seen 5 ft planer board the line is nice and tight

[gregnwtf]

I have about 4 diffrent kinds of line releases lately i switched
to rubber bands and shower curtin hooks they have been working well with jets 20s-40s even in 3 and 4 footers i had a problem getting my line to stay in the releases in waves.

Hope this helps

Do alittle checking on rubber bands with more stretch like #16 to #19. Also put the band alittle deeper in the rubber grip if you have that type. Position of the line tie off at the board makes big difference how it tracks in the water. Not that sold on huge boards like 5 ft long. I troll 3.5 ft boards 100ft out away from the boat in flat water and tight lines all day.Rough water go 50 ft out, for better control.

[LmitingOut]

offshore makes superline clips now so fireline or any braid doesnt come off
offshore with the tattle flag have worked the best for me