Chris, the MD boys have been using boards for years, and for the most part have been outfishing us. Those of us who are using boards are finding that early in both the Spring and Fall seasons, a lot of fish are on the surface, easily spooked by the boat. Instead of being driven deeper (especially if there is not heavy boat traffic), the fish seem to go off to the side, often never being seen on the depth finder. Thus, the value of the boards that are often dragging baits as far as 125' to either side. However, they can be a real pain, especially in rough water, in and around crab pots, and heavy boat traffic. If you have a smaller boat, the large boards take up a lot of space when running. The smaller boards are quite serviceable in calmer seas. I use the Big Jon Otterboats instead of the two or three slat boards. They are easy to pull and easy to store on the boat. I find, however, that they don't pull as hard making it more difficult to send out a large number of lines. I fish three lines per board where others fish as many as eight. As you can see, that number of lines also provides quite an advantage when attempting to catch that elusive fish.
Hope that has been of some help. I'm sure others will add there two cents also.
