New to board & to trolling

[Hoytman86]

Hello all. My dad and I are going to be taking a few trips this summer to Port Clinton and we'll be targeting the walleye. We've got some of the essentials, port & starboard inline planer boards, line counter reels on trolling rods & I tie my own harnesses. We used to make 4-5 trips per year, but always just casting crawler harnesses. Seems like then and even more now that trolling is a lot more effective way to catch fish, so we're going to give it a shot.

My question is, for first-time trollers, having never used planer boards, what are some pointers to get us started? Would you recommend divers or inlines? Which of each is a good one to invest in (it seems most prefer Tru-Trips). Also, I'm up in the air on whether or not to spend twice as much to go with braided line, or if most still prefer mono and what test to run.

I can provide any info that will help to answer any further questions, right now I feel like I've got a fair understanding of how to rig and run a spread, I just am unsure about how to complete our presentation. It's been a few years since we've even been up to the lake, so any insight into everything from blade & diver/sinker colors and which brands to buy to lead length on our harnesses would be greatly appreciated.

Right now we're a lock for late July and hoping to make it up in a couple of weeks as well.

[jm gremore]

Make it simple...I use 2 oz wgts with 4 ft. leader. I run 25 ft to 35 ft back. using worm harnesses. Speed is 2 mph. constantly check your baits as a nipped off crawler will not produce fish.

[ebijack]

The choice for braid is yours, I used to use it but since I do not run big dipsies any more I run #17 mono. Learning to read boards takes time, and only running one per side will be even more difficult since you won't be able to tell when one is running out of position. I don't run harnesses above about 1.8 mph, mostly in the 1.2 to 1.8 with an average in late summer of 1.5 mph. Inlines would be easier to use IMHO. There are some articles here that you can read thru that should help you. If you have more questions just ask.

http://www.dwfonline.org/articles.htm

[Bggeary]

Sorry, but what is IHMO?

[Bggeary]

I meant IMHO?

[ebijack]

I meant IMHO?

In My humble Opinion