How Important are planer boards in the set up

[nmf22]

SO I fished out near Buoy 78 last weekend and couldnt manage to get a single hookup despite seeing plenty of fish on the sounder and fishing at just about every depth. Meanwhile many of the boats managed to do quite well. I am wondering if the problem could be that I was trolling four rods off the back off the boat and was not usinig planer boards (Everyone else seems too).

Do the boards help you to troll more rods or is there any truth to the rumors hat Ive heard, that the fish are spooked by the engine noise and tend to diesperse to the sides when you troll over them????

So do I need to drop some cash on planer boards???? Any opinions woud be welcome.

[Porter316]

they work, but they certainly aren't a necessity. you can catch plenty of fish with four rods.

planer boards will allow you to troll more rods since they spread your lines out.....you can cover a wider area. but just having them doesn't mean you're guaranteed fish....it's still a matter of playing with your spread and figuring out what's hot.

[nmf22]

Good to hear. I guess I just need to give it another shot then!!

Thanks for the reply

[TerpHeels]

Unequivocally IMO they are the single best thing you can do to increase your chances of hooking up. It's a matter of common sense, 200ft wide by 10 rods on the boards vs 10ft wide and tight spread. I don't use em cuz I've got riggers, but even w/riggers I'm at a severe handicap. Even a jon boat could run an easy 10 rod spread w/boards. If you want to smoke em, put em in the water.

[Shady Grady]

As said before, planner boards help spread out the rods and allow you more rods in the water... thus a better odds at fish. I personally use Outriggers, but opening day only one came from the outrigger. If you are pulling only four rods, the best thing to do is make sure you are covering the water column as best as possible from up high to 25 feet or so. Also watch your speed.
I think speed is by far the biggest factor next to color ( Chartruce or White with only 4 rods) If you have a H Top, you should run a 5th way far backdown the center. One thing also about planners.. they don't allow quick turns that are sometimes necessary on crowded days.
Good luck

[Timmeee]

Opening Day we had 3 lines on each planer and 1 on each outrigger and 4 with weight off the boat and 1 center way back; total of 13 lines on a 24' center console. 2 fish were caught on the planers (umbrella), 1 on the center (small tandem), and one with a 16oz inline weight (umbrella). 37", 36", 34", 34" A 34" took a 4" chartreuse shad on the tandem. We didn't have any luck with any of the 3 stretch lures.

[Shady Grady]

Timmeee... that many rods and running streches..... Wow a quick turn and a mess in the making. Your a better man than I . I only run those tangling things in early June

[Timmeee]

I've never been a stretch fan, but one day last fall down at Va Beach that's all that they were taking. We had a stretch on each outrigger way back and one on the inner planer line nice and short.

[steve on amylou]

Last year on Amy Lou the per rod catch on planers was about double that of the other rods. Didn't catch huger numbers but enough so it looked like a solid trend.

[aafinest]

The rumor about engine noise scaring fish away from the boat is just that, rumor. If that were the case there never would have been a rockfish caught until planner boards came along and that's only been in the last 3-4 years. Now they are a trend and almost everybody is yanking them. I'm a planner board guy to and they increase your chances because they allow you to get more bait in the water within a wider area which translates to more fish being exposed to the bait. But the engine noise thing I think is BS there are times when I catch as many fish off boat lines as I do planner board lines.