Planer Board Advice & Weekend Report

Went out Friday, Saturday, and Monday. Friday we trolled between the Islands from the west side of Kelly's to Starve Island. Had lots of good marks, but only ended up with 3 Walleye after 4 hours of fishing. We probably could have done a lot better if we had been able to tell when we were towing a White Bass. Seemed like every time we would check the lines, we would have a junk fish on there. I have a mixture of both Churches boards, and the yellow Offshore Tackle boards and have the same trouble with both. In most cases, the board didn't seem to be acting any differently. On the Churches boards I do have the tattle flags. I adjusted them several times, but it seems like a catch 22 - either the springs are too lose and the flags are always going down, or they are too tight and the White Bass don't move the flag at all. Does anybody else have this problem? And if so, I would love to hear how you overcome this issue. Is it just a matter of constantly reeling the lines in to check?

On Saturday we went over to the east side of Kelly's in the deeper water and had a little more success. There were less White Bass over there and we ended up with 6 Walleye, but still had a few of the White ones causing the same problem.

Monday I stayed close to the dock (about a mile or two in front of East Harbor) because of the winds. We managed to land 3 more after fishing for only 2.5 hours. I had some kids on board that didn't appreciate the chop too much, so we quit pretty early once the wind started to really pick up.

Hope everybody else had a great weekend on the water, I know we did. Just wondering if anybody has advice on the boards with pulling smaller fish.

Thanks in advance,

Matt

Oh, I forgot to mention that we pulled a combination of both spoons and crawler harnesses. Speeds ranged from 1.5 to 2.2 mph. Friday and Saturday the crawler harnesses out produced the spoons. However, on Monday all 3 Walleye were caught on Michigan Stinger spoons, pink and purple colors. (You'll have to forgive me, I can't keep the names straight on all those spoon colors)

I'm not sure what diver you are using but I run TT40's.....they pull the rear end of the board down pretty good and if I am pulling a junk fish I can tell because the board will run more level or at least it will not pull down as hard on the back end.
It takes a little experience to really read the boards but once you get the hang of it you will notice the subtle differences that tell you there is a fish on.

I would suggest running just 1 kind of board or the other and if your mixing lures run the same on both sides like spoons on one side and harness on other you want your boards to swim inline so you can tell if one drops back if you are not watching your boards like a hawk its easy to drag a junk fish you just have to check them now and them and the choppier it gets the harder they are to read going with the waves helps

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Originally Posted by Eyezcrazy

I'm not sure what diver you are using but I run TT40's.....they pull the rear end of the board down pretty good and if I am pulling a junk fish I can tell because the board will run more level or at least it will not pull down as hard on the back end.
It takes a little experience to really read the boards but once you get the hang of it you will notice the subtle differences that tell you there is a fish on.

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Yes, I'm also running the TT40's. On the Churches board, I adjusted the keel weight to help level out the board. Do you do the same? or recommend not to?

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Originally Posted by Jiga-Byte

Yes, I'm also running the TT40's. On the Churches board, I adjusted the keel weight to help level out the board. Do you do the same? or recommend not to?

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I have never adjusted the weight to level out the board. I'm not sure if that would make it easier or harder to read. I guess I'm used to seeing mine run low in the back and know there is a fish on when it's not.

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Originally Posted by Eyezcrazy

I'm not sure what diver you are using but I run TT40's.....they pull the rear end of the board down pretty good and if I am pulling a junk fish I can tell because the board will run more level or at least it will not pull down as hard on the back end.
It takes a little experience to really read the boards but once you get the hang of it you will notice the subtle differences that tell you there is a fish on.

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Yes you are right, once that diver trips the board drops down in the front making it obvious something has changed. As Eyezcrazy stated the more experience you get the easier reading them it becomes.

The more time you have, the easier it will get. I still have trouble sometimes, particularly when the chop picks up. As already mentioned, if you keep everything the same (rods, boards, lures) on each side, you can compare the pattern of the boards and the pull of the rods on one side with the other side. When one is off, then you probably have something pulling it back a little.

John

I'm new at this and had similar issues, except I'm trying to learn on big boards. We got skunked Friday afternoon in the Mouse Reef to American Eagle area. We saw lots of marks, but all we caught were large sheephead. We didn't have any problems with knowing we had a junk fish on with those sheephead. They ripped the line out of the release in a somewhat dramatic fashion. On Saturday, we fished southeast of Kellys and did better. We caught seven walleye in about five hours which is actually better than we had ever done before. This weekend was my first time running more than four lines. Prior to this year, we used two planer boards and two lines straight off the back regardless of the number of anglers. On Sunday, we caught 11 in under three hours. I'm convinced we would have hit our three man limit if we would have stayed out longer. We probably could have reached the limit in the three hours if I had detected the white perch and white bass better. The action Sunday was the best I'd ever seen, but I'm inexperienced, so that's not saying much. With big boards, I monitor the rod tips looking for one to be bent more than the others. I also monitor the stretch of the rubber bands that I use to attach the braid line to the planer board release. My board rods are all identical. The lesson I learned this weekend was that if you think you should check a line, DO IT! This applies to the inline boards also. If one of your boards is running differently than the others, check it. There was one point where the middle rod tip was bent more than the others on one side. We got a fish on the other side and I said to myself "check that line once this fish is in the cooler" When I finally turned my attention back to that rod, it was consistent with the other two. I said to myself "looks like whatever it was, it's gone now" Wrong. The reality is all three lines had junk at that point. In fact, one of the lines had two white perch; one each on the two hooks of a worm harness. To be effective, I'm going to have to know my equipment well enough to be able to distinguish between a line with the tackle running normally and a line with junk, or even a line where the tackle isn't running right such as tangled lines, etc. Case in point, we went about an hour where we'd get a walleye on this one line just about as quick as we could get the line out. That line was the only one catching fish and I'm telling my buddy it's too bad that I only have one of those new UV spoons we had on it. After all, if it's the only line catching fish, it must be the ticket right? When it came time to pack up, much to my surprise, all five of the other lines had a white bass or white perch on. We ran like that for at least 45 minutes. We were effectively only fishing with one line. No wonder that one spoon was the only one producing. What's kind of funny is that I want on a charter specifically to learn to troll. I've adopted the captain's system. He spent a lot of time explaining how to monitor the lines and at the time, I didn't think it was important. I still listened, but was dismissing most of what he was saying because the particular day we were out with him, we weren't catching small junk fish. It was either a walleye or sheephead and it didn't seem important. Doing this on my own without an experienced charter captain and experienced first mate is a completely different ball game. I think the biggest key to your success will be to pay close attention to the details and to know your equipment well enough to be able to spot differences

Might I suggest when running inline boards, once the board and bait are out where you want them, clicker on, lighten the drag to just where it does not constantly click. Once in awhile is good. Tougher in rough water as the board jump the waves but still doable. This will alert you to something happening. Anything other than what the weight that is being pulled ( board and bait) should make the clicker click!
I don't run church boards on my boat, on friends boats that do run them, like mentioned. The Church boards run different than the Offshore so keep one brand on one side, the other on the other side of the boat. With the Offshore, I'd suggest scrapping the springs, and use #32 ? rubber bands. Cut a V notch at the top hole at the front of the board, put the rubber band either looped around the flag stem or around the wire then around the clip arm. The rubberband will stay in place and you can adjust the tension perfectly in seconds. I've been doing this for many years.
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Run all spoons no meat you will catch less junk!

Great advice everyone. Thanks for the input. I'm definitely going to try the rubber bands on the Offshore boards. Thanks for the tip EbiJack.

I run Church Walleye boards, a pair off each side, about 90' to 100' out, running then in tandum about 6' apart, with the same presentation on each board. As long as you maintain a fairly straight line, it is not hard to see when one of the boards has a little extra weight on it as the separation will be quite obvious. On my boat the saying goes "When in doubt, check it out."

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Originally Posted by Dr.Ed

I rub Church Walleye boards, a pair off each side, about 90' to 100' out, running then in tandum about 6' apart, with the same presentation on each board. As long as you maintain a fairly straight line, it is not hard to see when one of the boards has a little extra weight on it as the separation will be quite obvious. On my boat the saying goes "When in doubt, check it out."

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Ed, I've been letting the outside boards out further from the boat. Typically 120 back on the outside board, and then 90 on the inside board. Same as you mentioned (a pair each side). Should I not be doing that? Should they both be let out the same amount of line? Pardon my ignorance, this is my first year running boards.

The closer the boards are together the easier it is to tell when a junk fish has joined your party. Done right it is easy to see a subtle pullback. With a little effort you can avoid tangled lines and hopefully bring more good fish to the boat. Another thing I keep forgetting to mention is a long handled net. (7'-8' is a must) Keep the retrieve out of the prop wash and bring the fish to the net. Don't reach for the fish. And you are right. The farthest board out from the boat is always the longest. See you guys on Friday.....

IMHO If your running inlines or jets or mini disks. Running the boards to close to each other can get you tangles. Besides your trying to find if the fish want the presentation close to the boat ( they are not spooking) or far away from the (very spooky). If your outside board/boards are the main one getting bit, move all the boards further away from the boat. If the inside are getting bit, bring the boards in closer. It's all about covering water, find out what/how the eye's want and then give them plenty of it.