JETS & TRU-TRIP 40's

[ebijack]

Limited to 4 photos..... Back to the Offshore boards,
Around 2006 I dropped the rear back side eyelet to the same location the eyelet from the from side was removed. Not straight back like factory. Which helped the Offshore boards run much better. New for 2016 Offshore lowered the rear eyelet location to help the boards run better.
Here was one of my jet 40's using the black Offshore clip.


In my boat, I stopped running jets, dipsey's, inlines etc. I found 90% of the time I didn't need to carry/use all that stuff. One smaller box of weights upto 4oz's. And a bag with the 6 to 10oz weights. Enough to cover the water column using upto 10 rods. No need to run 200, 300+ ft of line out. I'm lazy.

[ebijack]

A short 7" dropper is all that is needed. I started with around 15". Everything can stay attached to the rods and put into lockers. Faster setup/take down. You only have to unclip the weights, hook the snap swivel to a rod eye. No tangles. Friends that run small boards and 12 plus rods on their boats have switched to this system for ease of use. And cheap. Painting the weights helps. You/others know exactly what rod has what weight.



Just something to think about.

[branhamautomotive]

We run 40tt behind offshore board with the flags, they do take a few small adjustments on the older boards to do this, the new flags that have the holes help alot, we were able to drop the rubber bands after installing the new design flags.

I don't change the location of my boards or rotate them, the outside board stays the outside, middle the stay middle, so when a fish comes in it goes back out straight out the back then it swings back into place once tightened up. But in doing it this way it makes it hard to use weights unless in deeper waters cause in shallower water it will find the bottom b4 the boards gets far enough back to reach it potion. This if running spoons or harness causes issues. I like tadpoles too but ran into the same problem. Same thing cam happen with any weighted system if running near bottom even on a turn, the inside stuff will drop depth and the outside will rise...not so much a bad thing till the spoon plug's up with muscle shells or you rip the worm off the harness........maybe the dropper depth helps keep this from happening compared to a snap weight system. But I can also see with that dropper hanging down ad lines pass over each othe it could cause it to get into each other.

Most important thing is there are several methos that do work, play around, figure out which one works best for your own liking and fishing styles, they have issues, they all have good points

[itsbob]

Thanks Ebijack for all the great illustration and info you gave.Seams like you figured out how to modify your equipment to improve its function before the manufactures produced it.We have been using the size #32 rubber bands on our inline boards for last 5yrs.Think they work much better than the original springs which come with the boards.I do like how you cut that V into the front of the board to change tension on the flag.That is something I will have to do also to my boards.I did not even know/notice that Offshore lowered rear eyelet in their newer boards to run better.Thanks for sharing that tip.Will be lowering that eyelet also.Looking forward to seeing how those two modifications you pointed out will help us run our boards better.
We frequently use tadpoles and harnesses in the summer to fish.Usually two dipseys at 3 setting and 4 inline boards.I have run into same problem with our rigs hitting bottom,or even snagging when dropping boards back or making turns in shallower water or rocky bottom.Guess that will happen when you have weight pulling your lures down.That is an advantage tru trips and cranks have,is they float when slow down.Weight/sinkers sink when slowing down.i just have to be more attentive to the depth or rocky bottom when putting lines out.Usually when running two boards per side,the leads will eventually be running pretty close in length.So I can switch up inside with outside board when letting them out.That way I can put the clicker on when putting out the board and that speeds up the lure so less likely to sink too far.As far as making turns,i would speed up some and make wider turns,to prevent them sinking too far.But,if bottom not rocky,sometimes lure dropping or just sitting on bottom can trigger a strike.
We were trolling on Chickinole Reef back in October 2016 and were finding some active fish in 19fow.They were bigger than we had been catching previously,but was not catching as fast as wanted.Only color Bandit that was catching was Firetiger.I wanted to put out a worm harness out to see if would work.I tried several weights to try and get to desired depth,but nothing worked.Was lucky I didn't get a snag and lose everything.After thinking about it,I decided buy some TruTrip 30 to use in that situation.I had used TT40 on inline board and I feel they pull too hard and I didn't need to be too deep anyway.Unfortunately I did not get to use the TT30 last season.Looking forward to seeing how they work in shallow water.

[ebijack]

Thanks Bob.
Just as a note. You can run a 3oz weight attached under a #40 jet and get down around 57ft. And less line out. 2.5 to 2.7 mph. I've hit bottom in 65 ft near the line from Vermilion with that method. Just too much line out.
I just stopped using the jets and purchased swivel weights from 4oz to 10oz. I haven't had that much of a problem snagging bottom. Even over here in Brestbay. Or up at Saginawbay. But I do use swivel round/bell shaped weights. Maybe that's the difference.

[branhamautomotive]

Bob once you lower that rear attaching point the boards will pull 40tt better. The hew flags with the adjustment up them are well worth the 3 bucks each. Can be set supper light, when we were using them with tt40 it wasn't even half way up the tension adjustment. They wold still show them small fish and we're too stiff....had to really back them off this fall when using cranks only

[itsbob]

Ebijack,looked at my boards yesterday and illustration of Offshore new boards.Looks like eyelet on new boards is halfway down on the front of the board.On our boards with the tattle flag that goes up and down,the eyelet is on rear of board but near top edge.To move eyelet down to middle will have to place through piece of black plastic that holds Styrofoam in place.Would you mind send photo of where eyelet placed back of board.Thanks

[Bankangler]

Itsbob, if you go to Offshore’s website, there are photos of the new boards. I moved my arms and the boards work fine when pulling try trips and weighted cranks of 2-3 ounces. When I pull cranks with no weight and spinners with 1 ounce or less and small tadpoles, the boards get pulled under very easily when a fish hits. I move my spring arms back to the top of the board for unweighted cranks,spinners, and small tadpoles.

[ebijack]

Ebijack,looked at my boards yesterday and illustration of Offshore new boards.Looks like eyelet on new boards is halfway down on the front of the board.On our boards with the tattle flag that goes up and down,the eyelet is on rear of board but near top edge.To move eyelet down to middle will have to place through piece of black plastic that holds Styrofoam in place.Would you mind send photo of where eyelet placed back of board.Thanks

Easy Bob. I removed those black plastic pieces. Never found that I needed them to hold the flag for storage. You can make/cut washers out of those when making your tattle flags so the flags rotate without tightening the screw. If that makes sense.
Use a 1/16" ? drill bit. The diameter of the eyelet screw shank, smaller than the threads. Drill thru from the front side where you removed the eyelet from the front side. It's just plastic. No problems. Screw in eyelet. It should be directly opposite the original hole.
Also, if you have some crimps, #30 braid. You can eliminate the wire that pulls the rear clip/flag. I switched that a few years ago also. No more bent wires to straighten. Works as good or better.

[itsbob]

Thanks Ebijack,think I may modify two boards and see how they work before switching them all out.I didn't really have too much of a problem with my inline boards except once in a while a board will submerge on a big fish,but that is part of the fun.