Planer boards

[kstonich]

Giving into it and am adding planer boards for stripers ,is there a preferred brand that I should look at.

[Moveon]

I'm not sure what they use for stripers but I have the Off Shore Tackle Planer boards for crappie. I troll bandit 200, 300 and 700 crank baits for crappie.

[kstonich]

I've been looking and it seems it either Off shore tackle or Churches TX22s. I can get the churches for 30$ or the OST for 40$. Not afraind to spend the money just don't want to spend unnecessarily

[kykingfish53]

Reasonable priced and work great look at Water Bugz and Trophy Ridge planer boards. Have both and use for striper fishing.

[awfol]

Offshore OR12's are what i started using this year. I like the way they track, handle heavier weights and rougher water better than the Church boards. Saying that, I'm no expert stripper fisherman. This is really only my second year using planner boards for strippers and my opinion after using both. What i do miss about the Church boards is their single pin method of attaching the board to the line. I use heavy snap swivels on the Offshore boards and they can be a little tough to get off and on with cold fingers. I did order and swap out the heavy line releases for mediums ones as the heavy ones that come with the boards would not always release on smaller fish using 20lb mono adjusted to the lowest spring tension. Check out northwoodsoutlet.net for reasonable prices on planner boards and accessories. This is where i got mine and was very satisified with their service.

[adam7456]

I use the Off Shore planer boards and like them. They have always worked well and held up well. I removed the back clamp and replaced it with a swivel snap so that it will slide down the line easily.

They are not cheap any more. I'm not sure how well the other brands work but the price is definitely a negative on the Off Shore boards. I was able to get mine about 10 years for $19 each when Dick's Sporting Goods had them for $29 and the $10 off $25 coupons were widely available. Check Acme Ad and Bashas Ad. Buying 6 boards at $40 a pop would be an investment but well worth it if you plan on doing a lot of striper fishing.

[kstonich]

I will probably only get 4 as I normally end up fishing alone everyone always pails out on me so I have given up asking. I come from out west where it's 2 rods per person max. So it seems like a lot of work running 6 boards and two down riggers with one person. Heck stacking two downriggers and stearing a boat in the wind is a lot of work.
What I would really like to do is just run the boards off of a short rod attached to a different rod and fishing lines separately attaching my lure/ bait to the release only.does anyone do that.
I prefer fishing light line fishing . In general I don't use anything larger than 15 lb test mono for stripers.I'll usually pair that with an abugarcia 6500 and a 7 1/2 medium heavy rod . Caught nothing over 40lbs but allot in the 20lb and several in the 30lb class and never had a problem.Just lots of fun.

[adam7456]

What makes the process a whole lot easier when it is just one person fishing is using a Minn Kota trolling motor with either the co-pilot or the i-pilot. That way you can be in the back tending to the fishing gear while using the remote control to maneuver the boat. You can even use the trolling motor to control the boat direction when trolling with hour main motor. Just set the main motor to go straight and then use the trolling motor to turn the front of the boat left or right.

[peter]

I've been using the Church walleye boards for several years. Never have used off shore but that seems to be the most popular around here. Never talked to someone that did not like them.

What I like most about the church is how easy it is to attack your line in the back. You can also remove them from your line (at both points) with just one hand.

I did have to replace the plastic pin that holds the
line on the back with a stainless steel pin they sell. When a fish runs your line will cut grooves in the pin and eventually saw it in half.

Because or the adjustable weights you can adjust he attitude for the weight of your sinker and also troll crank baits with your big motor.

I also replaced the line releases with another one they sell and had to re glue the pads on every one. They release better than the ones that come with the boards. I might try the off shore releases next if necessary.

Each of the parts mentioned above is about six bucks but I still like the boards because they are so easy to put on and take off.

Never tried the church Striper boards that don't fall over when you stop. Looking at photo I would say that flag on the top has to go. That's just going to get snagged on other lines when they go slack.

The plexiglass boards mentioned above are real easy to make. I think I would use aluminum or lexan though. The tube that holds the line release is an arrow or you can use a solid plastic rod of the size that a Bick pin cap fits snugly and use that for a release.

[Dave Clark]

I also use Off Shore boards. Not being a striper fisherman I'm not sure my opinion counts on the subject. Guiding on Dale I use them for everything from muskies to walleyes including trout, Smallies, white bass channel cats and crappie. Whether fishing big or small they always run true standing up to big white capping water or calm like glass pulling 12 inch deep divers or bottom bouncers.

[peter]

I also use Off Shore boards. Not being a striper fisherman I'm not sure my opinion counts on the subject. Guiding on Dale I use them for everything from muskies to walleyes including trout, Smallies, white bass channel cats and crappie. Whether fishing big or small they always run true standing up to big white capping water or calm like glass pulling 12 inch deep divers or bottom bouncers.

Never used em but they sound pretty good here.

[kstonich]

I have some bass pro gift cards .they do price matching and it's free shipping till the end of the year. I'll get some Off Shore to try