Planer Boards

[pittsburghfishing]

I'm setting up my boat to run planer boards...

Can anyone let me know if the big jon manual mast is a good choice? I saw a couple other brands and wanted to know if anyone had any experience with them.

[skipper9]

I prefer the Cisco reels.. I had big John's before they are just not made as good as the Cisco reels are. Give me a call before you buy something. . I will be more than happy to talk fishing gear with you 614.327.7144. Jim

[Lakeerieguy]

My boats are rigged with Ciscos mast and holders. None better out there..

Dale

[bowguy84]

Cisco's for the eyehunter 2 also top quality stuff.

[BobR]

Captain Erik, you did not take my dock this year did you. I am poor and have to make my own. Plans on line. They work well and are pretty. I should say you can see them in the water unlike a lot of them trolling. By the way I wear glasses.

[troy1976]

ciscos for me as well. I think 1 trip of reeling them big boards in by hand would cure anyone of wanting anything else.

[bowguy84]

Captain Erik, you did not take my dock this year did you. I am poor and have to make my own. Plans on line. They work well and are pretty. I should say you can see them in the water unlike a lot of them trolling. By the way I wear glasses.

?????????????? Bk is that you ????????? You won't have to worry about me taking that dock. I don't have the docking skills for that.

[wajski]

I have Big Jon electric on my 2320 Parker I fish 1-3 time wk Cisco is my rod holder choice. I let my boards out/in 1 time per trip so B/J for me I do like the Cisco pulleys and will switch those out. I see CCaptains running B/J so they cant be all that bad.

[BtweenShots]

If your looking for manual reels the Big Jon's are just fine as Wajski said they are fine. I have 2 sets they are used 1 or 2 times a week and are more than 10
years old. NOW, if you push them daily I cannot vouch for the durability of Cisco's or Big Jon's as with many of the previous post have stated they do the job they were intended. I would say that your usage and budget would be a factor on your purchase.

[wakina]

The problem with almost all of the plastic reels occur while they are being used with mono or weed whacker line. The mono line stretches while in use but once back on the reel it tries to go back to its original form squeezing the reel and sometimes the stress that the line applies cracks the plastic. If you spend a little more on the line most all of those problems are avoided. 500lb braid will eliminate the squeezing effect that mono and weed whacker line applies to the reel as the braid has little to no stretch so the squeezing effect is reduced or eliminated. Another plus is that if you brake your board line and lose 8 or 10 releases the braid soon pays for itself. That is if you purchase your releases and don't make your own. But you should definitely use a quality snubber when using braid because the no or little stretch in the braid needs dampened or softened to relieve some of the stress on your mast.