Best In line planer boards that release easily, fall back, and don't dive.

[Fishfever]

We have used Church walleye boards and a few other brands. But have yet to find a great planer board that will release easily and will fall in behind the boat for retrieval without diving below the surface. Without purchasing and trying a multitude of other brands, just looking for suggestions on a board that routinely works good for this method while pulling cranks. Thank you.

[Capt Juls]

We have used Church walleye boards and a few other brands. But have yet to find a great planer board that will release easily and will fall in behind the boat for retrieval without diving below the surface. Without purchasing and trying a multitude of other brands, just looking for suggestions on a board that routinely works good for this method while pulling cranks. Thank you.

Here you go....watch this short video from Mark Romanack's "Fishing 411" YouTube series (he's also the creator of the Precision Trolling Data) to see how this works with the Off Shore Tackle planer board. It's so easy.

Off Shore Tackle Loop Trick - YouTube

[fishfinder]

I enjoy watching him and his son,

[Fishing Tiger]

There are many good boards and techniques. Here are a few little things we do to address some of the problems mentioned.

First we use the Church boards, not because they are better but because we can rig them without a back release. Our different crews have varied experiences and the last thing I want to do is chase down a board because someone did not get the line behind the pin (happens allot). With the church all they have to do is run the line through the slot, kind off idiot proof.

We use a snap weight clip at 50 with out weights to stop board - attach weight when we need to go deep. The worst thing that can happen is the board slide to bait if someone messes up the snap weight clip.

For a release we use an OR39 or the red Amish outfitter or39 knock off. Both work good, especially with braid. But we rig them a little different. We use a ring to a large swivel then another ring to release. This prevents the looped line from occasionally getting tangled around release some one mentioned and helps the board track smoother. With this set up a short pop or snap of the line releases board and it slides down to snap weight clip at 50 ft. Note: we do not loop the line but wrap it around the or 39 pin (more wraps for braid, fewer for mono). As originally asked; this is a smooth way tp release the board and it slides smoothly behind the boat.

Also mentioned was a lost church board hard to see, Unfortunately Church doesn't finish the back side of the board like Offshore so there is white foam showing. If a line breaks and a board is lost, it will usually lay over with the white side up, not orange. This can be hard to see, especially if there are any white caps. Our solution is we give each back side of the board a quick spray of orange florescent paint.

Lastly we put red flags on port side boards and green flags on starboard boards. They match the night lights. One other little thing to help keep things simple and not get messed up.

Good luck

[Lynn M]

Hey Fishing Tiger, thanks for the post! Are you able to show some pictures of your setup? I use church boards as well but how do you get the tattle flags to work without a back release? My biggest problem is getting the standard front release to let go of my mono line even if I twist it like the Romanack's teach. So I'm thinking of switching my boards to a different front release if it will work better.

[itsbob]

We had trouble several years back with boards diving when running very long leads,sinkers and trolling fast...2.5mph.We switched out our releases on the front of our offshore boards to the orange OR19 release and started using a loop in the mono in that release.I watched that same video Juls mentioned to learn how to do it.Works great and stopped our diving problems.Bit of a learning curve initially and you better make sure you get the line behind the pin in the red OR 16 rear release or the board will come off.

[PDnaz]

I have switched the release on the back of the board to the OR-18, I can say I have never lost a board. They are a little expensive, but worth it, especially with rookies on board.

[Lucky Duck]

I use Church boards as when I first bought them, everyone was out of the Offshore brand that nearly everyone uses. I must say that I have not had any problems with the orange Church boards and I am not sure why everyone uses the other brand? Have any of you had issues with
Church?

[jeepdude64]

I use the offshore boards and made some adjustments last year with good results. First I took the tattle hardware off the board. I can see the bite just fine based on the board positions and the rod bends. Also to me, the boards just run better now at keeping in alignment. I then put the or-18 on the back and the orange release clips on the front and the boards did great just falling back and not diving at all. I twist the line 5 times and try to keep the clip right on the twist and not have a big loop in front. A big loop in front tends to get hooked on the clip when releasing. I did lose 2 boards all year but anyone using these will lose a board now and then. Interesting thing on one we were in questionable weather and couldn't find the board we lost right in front of cedar point. I lost it around 2 pm and I was fishing Vermilion the next day when a guy called me at 10 am he found my board in front of the vermilion river.

[slimshady]

I have the Off shore’s too and I have the black pinch clips on the front and the red clips on the back. I have no issues getting them to release. Just a quick snap of the rod and they fall right back. No diving. I have heard the OR-18 lever clips work great on the back. If I were to change anything, that would be it.