Considering upgrading to otters instead of inline planers

[Gotta Bite]

I have an opportunity to purchase some used planer reels at a great price. I was wondering first if I could take the reels off of the mini masts and bolt them vertically to a side rail of my boat or would that have too much pull Also I had good luck on steelies this year with the yellow OSP inlines but they jump around alot. I have seen the otter boards running smoothly when mine were jumping waves like a jet ski under the same conditions. If I upgrade to the bigger planers to run off the masts will the run as smoothly as the otter boats? I am wondering the pro and cons to both. This will be for 2010 season upgrade to my boat. Your feedback as always is appreciated.

[chowder]

Both types of boards have their place. Actually the jumping inline seems to add some nice action to the baits. I don't try to run coppers >300' off my inlines, but I love them for trying a high line w/o the commitment of running out a big board. I do like the Otter boards for running copper over 300', I just added a 2cd keel to my Otters which should improve their ability to keep long coppers out to the side and consequently enable my releases(Scotty) to perform crisply even on smaller fish. For inlines I like the Church "walleye" board for 2-10 colors & short coppers and the Off Shore w/ the "tattle flag" for flat lining stix w/ long leads. One more thing; the higher your planner mast the easier it is to get your release to slide out and if you are trolling slow,early in the year the hgher mast will keep your release from dragging the planer line into the water.

[Yankee Troller]

There really isn't another board out there that will run like an otter boat. Ive pulled 6 and 700 coppers off them (with one keel) and they perform great! They handle a chop very well too. Remember 9.5' in front of the knot and 11.5" on the rear. MANY guys have jumped ship to the otters in the last couple of years.

I've spoken with all the in-line board pros (Canadians) on how to make them pull to the side more, and I have never seen one pull to the side like a line off the otter boat.

Once you get good at reading the otter you can tell if there is a small fish being towed.

[Tim Bromund]

FWIW, I've used the otters on other people's boats and prefer my Amish Outfitter redwood big boards by a wide margin.

Tim

[Gill-T]

For sliding releases down the line.....the amish boards are going to best the otter boats due to a tighter line, however, I run my otters in all wave heights without worrying about them doing the old reversal/cross to the other side FUBAR that can happen with collapsables. I catch a lot of my fish in the spring on minidisks off the otters. The action the otters get in waves does add action to the baits and does result in more fish IMO. Each board type has it's time and place. For inshore browns with light stickbaits......the amish will perform better. For stringing 3-4 baits off one side for walleye......the amish boards. For everything else.....I like my otters.

[Gray Fox]

We switched to otters 3 years ago and wont go back. I also got rid of all my inline church boards. The performance of the otters is hard to beat. They track nice all the time and perform nicely in the rougher water.

[jusgrinnin]

IMO otter boats are the way to go for all the reasons already stated plus they don't lag in the turns which is a bouns on smaller lakes and in heavy traffic.Watch ebay this time of year or BIG JON sells 2nd reasonable good luck you won't be sorry!!!

[K Gonefishin]

At least on Erie otter boats are probably the least popular and nobody really runs them (maybe see 10 per year out of 1000's of boats) everyone and there mom runs Amish boards and alot of guys are starting to run these http://auroralitestackle.com/planerboards.html not the shark ones but the regular size ones. My buddy has them and they work awesome, we pulled 3-4 40 jets with 2 oz on them in 4-5 fters and they never flipped and kept the tow line tight and off the water at all times except on tight turns, another thing you can do is run weed wacker line it acts as a bungy for the board, amish outfitter boards shockers also come in handy for rough water.