Question about boards

[limitlypps]

In line boards are relatively cheap compared to big board set ups. Big boards are a minimum of $200 per side including reels, mast, line, releases and boards. The smaller inline boards can run inline weights fine, but I would get the full size inline boards to run tru trips.

Big boards are passe, in lines are the ticket, the offshore tackle by Bruce Deshano of Ohio have been the choice by many, I have 20 of them, make sure you get the sure clip which is an accessory to, cost 15.00 a piece but well worth it when you purchase the boards, never ever lose a board in rough seas or snags.Good luck.

[Capt Juls]

Big boards are passe, in lines are the ticket, the offshore tackle by Bruce Deshano of Ohio have been the choice by many, I have 20 of them, make sure you get the sure clip which is an accessory to, cost 15.00 a piece but well worth it when you purchase the boards, never ever lose a board in rough seas or snags.Good luck.

Just a couple corrections...Bruce DeShano (Off Shore Tackle) is out of Port Austin, MI.

When you say, "Sure Clip", do you mean the "Snapper Release"?

Frank's Great Outdoors out of MI (www.franksgreatoutdoors.com) has the best prices on Off Shore products by far...on all items.

Example:The Snapper is 10.99 at Frank's and 18.99 at Cabelas and BPS. The boards are 24.99 at Frank's and 40.00 at Cabelas and BPS.

Frank's also has a two board special already upgraded with Tattle Flags for 69.99. I would just suggest for anyone to upgrade the front release to the Snapper for the reason you stated already, and for the fact that they are easy to use with one hand when it's cold out.

[wakina]

Actually the small Boards run about $30.00 each for the TX-22 boards which can be set to run either right or left and set upright in the water while motionless or heaven forbid lose one and have to search for it making them easily visible while in neutral or free floating. The directional boards by Church are the walleye boards and run about $25.00 each and they only work on one side or the other in the same fashion as the Offshore boards. Both variety of Church boards handle the TT-40's.

With the small boards you have easier storage and no tow line to deal with, reels or not and they are more convenient on the smaller boats with 3 people or less. If you want to move from one location to another or just go back to your starting point you simply bring in the small boards and move with ease as fast as you want to. To do that with the big boards requires that you bring in all of your lines like the small boards and then the big boards before you can motor up to your starting point, if you would want to troll back then there would be no difference because you would still be fishing. If you pulled a set of big boards just once then you would understand the difference. It also takes lots of releases of some type for the big boards, be those homemade out of plastic clothes pins or shower curtain clips and rubber bands or the expensive commercial ones which frequently require the purchase of rubber bands to function properly with walleyes. As with all things there are advantages and disadvantages to both the large and small boards.

I can easily run 4 small boards on a side and 5 if absolutely necessary. To keep things simple at the start I would start with either 2 or 4 small boards from either Church tackle or Offshore tackle and 2 stern planers from Church Tackle. If you use braided line you would need to upgrade the front clip on the stern planers as the braid will slip thru the furnished clip, move the furnished clip to the rear and install either the snapper clip from Offshore tackle or the lock jaw clip from Church tackle on the front of the stern planer. You set your leads the same as you would with the side planers and can leave them out the corners of the boat far enough away to not interfere with the retrieval of the side planers and target fish high in the water column as they move back into the wake area left by the boat.

[Capt Juls]

I can easily run 4 small boards on a side and 5 if absolutely necessary.

You're good...I wouldn't even attempt 5 without other seasoned trollers in the boat.

[wakina]

You're good...I wouldn't even attempt 5 without other seasoned trollers in the boat.

I have my own system and it works well, it also works best when the fish require all leads to be within 10ft of each other(example 25ft to 35ft). But it can be done with the need for staggered leads just more work!

I steer my kicker remotely and I avoid packs at almost all costs, that allows me to employ my system without outside interference where I can leave the helm for a few seconds and adjust the boards that may become obstacles to the retrieval of boards on the out side of the spread. It is easy and it is simple. Avoiding packs is the only way it will work. As I stated it has to be absolutely necessary for me to run that 5th board.

[PatSea]

WOW, thanks for all the feedback! Great info. I'll do some more research and order a couple inlines to get started.
I guess I'm surprised that divers can be trolled behind these small inlines. I know they pull hard.