Planer fishing

[Reel Doc]

Just starrting up the last month fishing with the family off a 24 ft Wellcraft Walkaround. Right now run 2 Dipseys and 2 downriggers, but would like to expand to fishing off planers. Can you advise on rod reel and line type I should buy? What releases are best, and how can we run several lines off 1 board and not have a tangle when a fish is on? Thanks, Greg

[Gray Fox]

Well it depends on what you want to target with the planers. We target browns and steelys with our planers in the spring on the east end and target cohos with them when we venture west. My planer rods are Daiwa Heartland 7'6 rods paired with Daiwa Sealine 27lc's. For line these reels are spooled with 12# Big Game and then we add leaders anywhere from 12# down to 8#. As for the releases when using the light line we use clothes pins on shower curtain rings. Just drill a hole in the end of the pin and attach the ring, we usually paint the tips orange so there easier to see. If we reun lead, copper, or dipsys off them I go to scotty releases and rubberbands.

[Reel Doc]

In using mono line do you think it is less apt to tip off fish versus copper or lead core? Also, are fleas a problem on the big lake? We are starting out in Cayuga lake targeting landlocks, rainbows, and come springtime browns, but my goal is to develop confidence with our rigging to "graduate" and give Ontario a try next year.

Thanks,

Greg

[Jeff J]

Greg,

You can run almost anything off of boards, mono, super lines, lead core, copper, etc. The more lines and the heavier the set up the bigger the boards must be. Back here in Erie, it is not unheard of to run 4 to 6 lines off of boards. It just takes planning. Usually the longer and or higher lines to the outside to help prevent tangles. A little patience with some trials and errors will get you the confidence you need. It is a little easier to run more lines here in Erie walleye fishing as they are not crazy running fish. You may want to run less lines for salmon, etc.

Good Luck,

Jeff

[chowder]

Greg, the small inline boards clip right to the backing on copper and lead core setups. You do not need a mast w/ planer reels and big boards to get into this kind of fishing. You just spool out the lure behind the boat, when you get to the backing you clip on the board and spool it out to the side-done. I leave the drag set light to alert me to a fish. A 200' and a 300' copper would target fish at roughly 40-45' and 60-65' down respectively. When reeling in an inline you just remove the board when you get to it and then continue fighting the fish. To run more than 300' copper it's best to tool up w/ the big board setup but that can wait, it's a much bigger investment in $ and time. Kings can dive an inline and make things difficult but on the FLX you will not have much trouble and you get a great hook set from the inlines as well. In the spring I have caught a lot of browns using a flat line w/ 100+ leads running stix behind these type boards.