Hello Echo! Welcome and thanks for posting.

My opinion is just one of many, but if you are proficient and catching the fish you want on Offshores then stick with them. There are definite advantages and disadvantages to both.

Large boards get more lines out (typically) because they are further away from the boat. The fact that they are further away and more lures means that you are covering more water than with Offshores. Running big boards with 5-6 guys onboard means that you can run 10-12 lines fairly easy. 10-12 lines allows you to set 3 lines at 4 different depth. So, you can have 3 lines at 85'; 3 @ 70'; 3 @ 55; and 3 @ 40'. If you are 100 feet wide out each side, you are now covering 200' width and lures at multiple water column depths... Once you start catching at a specific depth or two, then you can dial the rest in to those numbers...

Being that wide also eliminates the theory that as you drive over fish while trolling that they swim away from your boat, left and right... Now they can swim 100' away as you drive over them and you still have lures out there.

However, if you are trolling by yourself or 1-2 other guys most of the time and only running 2-6 rods, then big boards may be overkill. There are plenty of tournament guys and charter captains in smaller boats that run Offshores and do just fine.

Big boards can be a real pain to run by yourself, but you can't beat them if you have a few guys with you.

-Matt