new to planer boards

[Joe W]

Not having any experience with planer boards i am looking for advice. i am considdering purchasing a big jon double reel mast and using the bow floor flange to mount it and want to buy a pair of boards. does churchs make a mast cable board or do they only offer inline boards? if so what is the model # reccomended to be best.

[Chas0218]

Church does not make a big board set. I made my own boards that have worked out well and cheap enough to throw around without fear of them breaking. Look at the sticky thread at the top of the section it has plans for homemade boards. If you don't want to make your own I have ran the collapsable walker boards and they work ok not the best by any means. Lots of people run the big jon otter boats and they have great reviews but I have never ran them.

[pvelyk]

I just bought Otter Boards this winter so I can't give much of a review but I shopped around pretty hard for them and the best deal on them new I could get was from http://www.anchorexpress.com/ .

 

The boards were $95 each and second keel if you want is $42.  There is a guy on the board selling homemade second keels for around $40 to.  I have seen the homemade ones at a neighbors and they look pretty good.

[Big Water]

The second keel is just a piece of bent metal so I won't worry about after market quality.

[justtracytrolling]

Not hard to have your own made either...I had these bent up and cut em myself but you can definitely get them made like the stock extra keel cheaper than buying. These 4 keels were 63 total...its not necessary to weight the second keel if you use stainless steel instead of aluminum. Just have them bent to order and drill a couple holes...

[King Slammin]

It depends on what your pulling too. If your pulling 300' of copper or more, get a mast and otter boats with double keel. If your pulling 300' copper or less, church makes the tx44 inline that will work for a fraction of the cost. I have mine rigged with tattle flags to match my tx22's when running stickbaits or harnesses for eyes and Browns.

[Joe W]

Thats great, thanks for the information guys, i will look at the otter boards for sure. dont mind spending the money as long as its a good product. dont care to fish with junk.

[phil2]

I am also looking at boards will the TX 22 or 44 hold up a regular size dipsy will say 300 ft out with braid?

[King Slammin]

The tx 44 will pull mag dipseys according to the church website.

[Sk8man]

Don't bother with the TX 22's they aren't great .The TX 44's or the Walleye boards work fine 300 copper and below if only running spoons or sticks and not .real heavy stuff like a dipsey with it.

[King Slammin]

Don't bother with the TX 22's they aren't great .The TX 44's or the Walleye boards work fine 300 copper and below if only running spoons or sticks and not .real heavy stuff like a dipsey with it.

I like the tx22 so far. Just started using them. What don't you like about them. I need another set of boards for light stuff as my 44's won't cooperate while pulling sticks for Browns.

[Consigliere]

Offshore I think are much better for inlines. Pull better and run in tougher conditions. They are more expensive though and you have to rig them a bit different than they come in the box

[phil2]

I fish the lake two three times a year I have no down riggers,ran dipsys Last year had fish located 100 ft down in 175 ft of water so I was running them back on 40# braid 300 ft if I didn't pay attention I would wrap up. Figure if I can run two on boards one down the middle I'll be fine.

[King Slammin]

I fish the lake two three times a year I have no down riggers,ran dipsys Last year had fish located 100 ft down in 175 ft of water so I was running them back on 40# braid 300 ft if I didn't pay attention I would wrap up. Figure if I can run two on boards one down the middle I'll be fine.

Dipseys shouldn't tangle like that. I run two on each side consistently and rarely have issues (unless it's operator error) Run one on a 3 setting with more line out in front of one on a 1 or 1.5 setting with less line out.

[phil2]

Was running 2 at 0 and 1 at 1.5 turned to sharp took a half hour to get the mess fixed

[guffins fisherman]

I am interested in what people have to say regarding the Church tx-22 vs. the walleye boards. I have, and run both at the same time. My take: they both plane to the side the same, with the 22's running a little more consistently. The walleye boards have a weird up/down surge. The walleye boards are more customizable and plane very well, and even better customized. The tx-22's come with a flag to make them more visible from the boat and to others. Walleye board does not. The tx-22's float upright while stationary making them more visible if broke off or you have to stop for some reason. What do others have to say? I am in the market for another set, and can't decide which to buy.

[RD9]

I love my Tx 22's. We pull ten colors with them fine and they do real well in rough conditions. Good all around board. We don't use the flags. We were always big board guys and now we own 10 different size church boards. We pull up to three colors on the tx 12's.

[jason]

I have ran copper up to 400 on the 22 boards with no issues. To the 44 are a big pain in the butt.

[TyeeTanic]

We've pulled regular Size 1 dipsies with TX44s. It works. I'm not guessing as we've tried it.

[alex1young]

I've run the TX-44, 22 and Walleye boards. I love the 22s and have run up to 4 per side without any trouble.  I regularly pull 10 color cores and up to 300 coopers with them. If the seas are a little rougher the 300 cooper goes on the TX-44.  The Walleye boards are a different story and have given up on them.  Mine constantly would get pulled under water even by the smallest fish.  

[boho607]

Are the tattle flags for the tx-22s worth the upgrade from the standard flags? Ive never used them with the tattle flags.

[Sk8man]

To answer King Slammin - I think the Walleye boards are more flexible at least for the trolling I do as you can slide to shift/adjust  the bottom weight on them to accomodate stuff as it gets heavier so they run right. I wasn't saying that they weren't any good just not as flexible to use and the walleye boards seem to pull about the same stuff as the 22's. I use the 44's for the longer coppers when I use boards and not running down the chute (most frequent use). I don't run any over 350-400 anyway.

Edited March 16, 2016 by Sk8man

[RD9]

I think the flags are a waste of money. We can tell when there is a twelve inch silver bass on a 10 color without them.

[guffins fisherman]

I agree with RD9. The tattle flags are a waste, but I do like to use the stationary flags that come with the 22's. They really aid in visibility when trolling in and amongst other boats. It can be pretty crazy in May and June trolling for walleye on NE lake Ontario. Not only for me, but others can see them well too.

[Chas0218]

Are the tattle flags for the tx-22s worth the upgrade from the standard flags? Ive never used them with the tattle flags.

Yes and no. If you are used to reading the boards then no but if they are new to you then yes. Cabelas has their boards with tattle flags on sale for $27.99, I have used them for 3 seasons and no major complaints. I did purchase some extra off shore releases to replace the ones that break. I have only replaced 1 so far and I think it was because I was trying to use too heavy of mono (50lbs.)

 

Also once you get a board with tattle tail flags you can just make your own it is really simple I made mine from galvanized fence wire and nylon bushings from tractor supply.

 

http://www.cabelas.com/product/ADVANCED-ANGLERS-PLANER-BOARD-W-STRIKE-FLAG-KIT/1807049.uts?searchPath=%2Fbrowse.cmd%3FcategoryId%3D734095080%26CQ_search%3Dadvanced%252Bangler%26CQ_page%3D20

Edited March 16, 2016 by Chas0218