Inline Vs. Big Boards

[alex1young]

Hi everyone, 

 

I am very familiar, and pretty successful with fishing inline planers, but I'm just tired sick of having to fight the board when I have a nice fish. (cost me several nice Finger Lakes Bows)  All of that said, I have the opportunity to get setup with a mast and some big boards.  Personally, I have never used them, but it seems much more simple.  I have read nearly every thread there is on this forum about using them, and I feel pretty confident but have a few questions.  

 

1. When mounting the mast, how far should your planer line be from the rod tips?  I would only have about 3-4 feet max.

2. Would a good board be able to pull 3 coppers up to 300 feet on 1 side(100,200,300)?

3. Do you experience a lot of tangles when deploying shallow lines over top of deeper ones along side the boat?

4. If the fish doesn't trip the release is it easy to see that you have one on?

 

Thanks for your knowledge!

[cpate1]

ok 1st my mast is right about where my rod holders are on my boat I have had no issues here

2) get the otter boards and you can pull 3 coppers if u have the 2 rudders on it

3) I have never had tangles with otter boards

4 if it doesn't release you will tow the fish till you check it but sometimes if it is a decent fish you will notice the board pulling more to the back of the boat instead of to the side

[John E Powell]

My response is framed from the viewpoint that I value the ability to get a fish to hook up as more important to me than what I experience while fighting and landing a fish. 

 

1) If that's what you have to work with then adjust your turns appropriately to avoid problems.

2) Good boards can pull any length copper.

3) Since you're experienced with inline boards, there's no real difference in this respect with large boards

4) That depends on a lot of factors but once you know what to look for it's similar in difficulty to dragging a small fish behind an inline board.

 

Big boards are easier to set up initially than inline boards, but during the day they will require more line manipulation when it comes to cleaning debris or fleas. For example, if you're running three different length lines per side, you will need to keep them in their sequence throughout the day. This means when the middle line is cleared, you will also clear the inside line, then reset the middle, then the inside. It's worse with a third outside line, you're clearing and resetting all three. With inline boards you can clear and reset lines individually.

 

I believe what ends up happening a lot of times, especially when your talking about fishing copper lines, is that people end up getting lazy in maintaining their lines with big boards and this cuts down on the number of fish they catch.

 

I run my big boards when i'm fishing lines of similar depth and length because it's convenient to just slide an inside-set line to the outside as needed without causing problems. I'l also run them with lines of differing depths and length but usually only when i am running one or two lines per side. I'll also run the big boards when rough water conditions require it. In just about every other case I will stick with my inline boards because I can work the lines with more control and precision.

Edited September 10, 2014 by John E Powell

[Chas0218]

I keep my mast as far forward as possible. this allows my line in turns to stay away from my poles. I used to clip it to the top of my windshield and on turns it would get into the poles.  One year I almost lost a pole on a tight turn with the big boards.  If I am in an area where tight turns are a must I use my in-line boards other than that it's always big boards.

 

I have lost a good amount of walleye on the in-line boards and are harder to read than the big boards. 

 

For me there are pros and cons of both but I prefer big boards.

 

Big Boards

Pros: Easy to read, Easy to deploy, Easy to attach fishing line, Deploy more lines (over eight rods).

 

Cons: Harder to turn, higher cost $$, more equipment needed, takes up more room.

 

 

In-Line boards:

Pros: Cheaper, Easy to deploy, tighter turns,

 

Cons: Fight board (loose more fish), cannot run as many lines (6-eight), sometimes releases need to be wrapped, sometimes difficult to attach/detach from line, harder to read without tattle tails, more line out\

I'm sure others will have more to say but these are just my observations.

Edited September 10, 2014 by Chas0218

[FleetTracker]

The responses you've received are all good. I'll only reiterate the following: Get your mast as far forward in the boat as possible - allows fastest reaction to the boards from boat movement and gives you more mobility in traffic and better turning radius. This will also avoid issues with the planer tow line interfering with your rods on turns.

[BAZOOKAJOE]

If you are fishing out of a smaller boat don't be afraid to put your junk lines in the rear rod holder. The line runs over your rigger and dipsey. You do have to lift up the copper rod and go under it to fight a fish on the dipsey or rigger. But it keeps them away from the tow line. My riggers are run off the side of the boat. And I only run one copper per side in this situation.

Edited September 11, 2014 by BAZOOKAJOE

[Chas0218]

The responses you've received are all good. I'll only reiterate the following: Get your mast as far forward in the boat as possible - allows fastest reaction to the boards from boat movement and gives you more mobility in traffic and better turning radius. This will also avoid issues with the planer tow line interfering with your rods on turns.

Can't stress this enough.  My mast is a good ways forward, I'm probably going to re-mount it even further forwards.

 

See my far left photo in my signature with the mast in front of the windshield.  Mine will most likely go further to the bow with pull lines to attach releases.

Edited September 11, 2014 by Chas0218

[FleetTracker]

Here's where I mounted my mast on my little boat. It's a welded seat base style from Tony at GLP. I used to run it in the factory deck platform seat position. Not far forward enough. I bought another seat base and mounted it to the trolling motor bow platform. Higher up and further forward. It works great up there!

[justtracytrolling]

Alex,

I use both inlines and big boards both on the finger lakes.

Inlines shine when you are running less lines and following tight structure, when there is alot of floating scattered weeds and mats, and during peak boat traffic.

Big boards are best when you have some help on board and run more lines, rough water, and not much floating weeds. There are days on Otisco that before you can get 3 lines per side in my otters are weeded and its a fire drill. I started with masts on the bow like many have mentioned, but now my pulleys are 18 inches in front of my trees. I hated not being able to reach the tow line to clip releases on so I switched to a glp captains pak with the 18 inch offset bar. Ive never had the tow line touch my rods with this setup. Im not far from you if you wanna try before you buy. Here is a pic of my setup.

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[justtracytrolling]

Alex,

I use both inlines and big boards both on the finger lakes.

Inlines shine when you are running less lines and following tight structure, when there is alot of floating scattered weeds and mats, and during peak boat traffic.

Big boards are best when you have some help on board and run more lines, rough water, and not much floating weeds. There are days on Otisco that before you can get 3 lines per side in my otters are weeded and its a fire drill. I started with masts on the bow like many have mentioned, but now my pulleys are 18 inches in front of my trees. I hated not being able to reach the tow line to clip releases on so I switched to a glp captains pak with the 18 inch offset bar. Ive never had the tow line touch my rods with this setup. Im not far from you if you wanna try before you buy. Here is a pic of my setup.

Sent from my LG-L38C using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[justtracytrolling]

I do agree the further forward the tighter the turn but if I need more maneuverability i go smaller...if you run your boards out a full 150 feet you arent gonna follow the steep structure of the finger lakes and if you are out in the open you wont need as much maneuverability...and when there is peak traffic there is so little water for the number of boats you wont go wide. Best advice is get on a couple boats try their setups and get what YOU need for what YOU plan to do on Owasco.

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[John E Powell]

One other thought here, you can also create tow line clearance by having two separate reels mounted along the side of the boat (again further forward is better). Most big boats use the two reel setup because it's difficult to go forward around cabin, but you can apply this concept to smaller boats using two masts each with a single reel. If you can afford the extra expense for the second mast you probably find this a bit easier to fish with. 

[justtracytrolling]

I also should mention I had to cast around the masts when they were up front. Now with them in the middle the front deck is wide open. I often troll and cast in the same trip with 4-5 guys. Of course this isnt likely on Ontario, but in a finger lakes setup jigging and trolling the same trip is common.

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