Otters vs Planer boards..... GO!

[reelintense]

I have heard people debate this, but need to open it up a bit, as a buddy and I decide what to do this year. Give the pro’s and con’s!!!

 

[emoji111]️

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Gill-T]

Double Keeled otter boats.  Because you can run them in any weather.

[ogrob56]

Boards are more cumbersome, take up more room on the boat and should be resealed/painted after two seasons

I use them because they are cheap (no reason you can’t make your own) and they are easily fitted with brass hydraulic quick connects that securely hold a bicycle pennant upright while bouncing around. Provides great visibility for $150 worth of tackle you’ve got out there.

[Bozeman Bob]

Limited space and only going to run one wire/copper line per side,go Otter. Big boat and plan on running at least 2 wire / copper lines per side, go with a 3 board planer board. Pulls like a beast and rides the rough stuff without bouncing all over the place. Foot print is about 2' ×3' laying down.

Edited February 26, 2018 by Bozeman Bob

[ogrob56]

Rough Bob? Ya mean like when both boards wind up on the same side of the boat?

[Legacy]

I would say that it depends on the application. When I had my 18 footer i simply did not have the room to run a mast system and I ran Church Walleye boards all the time. But the bigger boats I have owned, I have stuck with a mast system. Some guys just simply prefer one over the other. They both work but they both do the job differently.

 

Inline boards are extremely versatile. The walleye guys have showed how versatile they can be by running multiple leadcores and snap weights per side. The Michigan guys latched on to this and have adopted the inline boards to run 3, 4, 5 coppers per side. No matter if you are trolling for spring browns or pulling a 500' copper, they can do it all. IMO, if you are looking, Offshore and Church both make great inline boards.

 

pros

versatility (copper, cores, mono, braid, snap weights, divers)

inexpensive vs mast system

ability to run multiple sinking line presentations per side

 

cons

fight the board not the fish

tough in rough weather (boards tend to dive)

a bit more complex to operate

 

I run big boards 99.9999% of the time. They are in the water every day and they spend the entire season in the water. Spring, summer, and fall. I use them for flatlining in spring, pulling short cores, pulling copper. They work for me for everything I do. I run Big Jon Otter boats (double keels) with 200# power pro. Amish outfitter planer board releases for spring flatlining (mono) and Scotty planer board releases for everything else (copper, cores, etc). My planer reels and pulleys are mounted high on the hard top which provide a hard downward angle to the water. This keeps the planer line out of the water and also helps releases slide down the line nicely. This system with this stuff in it works great and Im having trouble improving on it. 

I have fished with big boards that dont "pull" right, or the planer board line spend most of the time in the water, or releases wont slide down or boat full of bad releases. The reason I mention the details is because a poorly setup big board/mast system can be pain staking, frustrating, and hardly worth the effort.

 

pros

releases allow you to fight the fish not the board

pull hard to the side and stay out of the way

very simple to use

 

cons

big investment

lots of components

storage- big boards take up lots of space

almost impossible to run more than 2 different presentations per side (multiple coppers, cores, snap weights, etc)

 

 

[jimski2]

I hook my Otter Boards up to my riggers. Face them forward and they are handy to hook up to. No problem sliding lines out. Great to pull the board in by just flipping a switch.


Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

[thumbburn]

Not to hijack this but..... dual keel otters... mine pull like a mule now.... but flip something awful now compared to the single keels.... what gives??


Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

[Landshark]

For browns or salmon I would say definitely big boards.  Browns swim too fast at in line boards and can cause ya to lose a lot of fish.  Salmon bury in lines and the board can flip underwater and come across an entire spread.  Walleye don't fight hard and swim fast at the boat and they stay buttoned better

[Gill-T]

1 hour ago, thumbburn said:

Not to hijack this but..... dual keel otters... mine pull like a mule now.... but flip something awful now compared to the single keels.... what gives??


Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

 

Never had them flip. 

[Roys Boys]

From my experience it depends on the boat.. inlines are the way to go on my 18ft Lund. Trying to set lines and keeping a straight line with a mast on the bow was a pain with boards and otterboats,between setting rods,steering and clipping to the planer line was a tricky. On my 26ft penn yan the boats heavy enough it doesn't get pulled around like my Lund so it makes it a whole lot more relaxed when setting otterboats and boards.

[Buckmaster7600]

I have otter boats with double keels and run in lines most of the time. Only time I run big boards is for spring Browns and landlocks when were running 4-5 lines a side.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Gator]

If I had to choose, I'd probably go with the Otters. They're mean critters, nasty in a fight and I think that your average planer board wouldn't stand a chance. Not too many around here, thankfully. Beavers, on the other hand...

[reelintense]

Thank you everyone that has responded. Let me clarify a couple of things... when I stated planer boards, I should have stated, like Super Ski’s, not in-line church boards (etc). My super ski’s that I used to run folded down for storage and took up less space ( IMHO) than my buddies Otter boards. I also heard concerns that plastic cracked too easily ( downriggers weights rolling into them, stepped on, etc) or just get brittle in the sun (it is plastic) and don’t last like the super ski’s did. I have also heard mixed reviews on otter boards diving in heavy seals, where I never saw that with my super skis. But I liked that in calm waters, otter boards seemed to swing further 75 degrees out to the side, then the super ski’s that sat at more of a 45-60 degree angle from the stern of the boat. Speed and wave dependent.


Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

[dawg]

I have run otterboats for 8 yrs I have learned a lot about 4 yrs ago I bought a second weighted keel set so I could pull coppers well let me tell you 2 weighted keels and a mmbroken planet board line equals a sunken planer board so I made my own keels with 1/8" aluminum


Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

[dawg]

Tried to correct and it sent the second keel I made corrected the sinking problem but depending on wind direction 1/4 ering from behind you and big waves I too have seen them dive usually though if you change the outside copper to be not so close to otterboat you can correct this


Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

[jimski2]

A winning charter boat operator uses large double boards to let out up to ten lines. He said this increase his catch rate immensely. Smaller boards have tangles. He trips his lines using red rubber bands and shower curtain hooks with electrical clips and lets the fish drift back clear of the other lines and brings them in in line with the open space off the stern. More lines out keep you fishing when you go through a school of fish.

[ogrob56]

10 to a side? Wow! I think 4 off of each side and two off the downriggers is a lot to handle. But hey, I’m no pro.

[jimski2]

Charter boat operators have large crews of fishermen handling three lines apiece. Often they win a lot of contests. Younger, energetic mates help this to happen.

[Broadhorizons]

Building a set of big boards with the plans you find online is relatively cheap. I would try them first and if you aren't happy, look for better.

 

In my experience, the set I built pulled better than the super ski boards I've used on another boat. Then I lost a board one day and decided to buy otter boats and set them up as guys suggest. That lasted a season or so, one broke the corners twice and then was junk and they never pulled as good as my previous wood boards. After that, I got a set of boards from Hank, L&M and they pull very hard, very even with the boat and if its too rough for them, people are also sick. I considered the otter boats a big waste of money.

[vogel451]

I am a fingerlakes fisherman and I only run inlines on my boat so far.  I own the mast system and all the goodies but the ease of the inlines makes it hard to switch.   I run flatlines as well as coppers upto 300' without any trouble on tx-22's.  After a few seasons of great success Ive also noticed the down side to inlines.  If you hook a fish over 9ish pounds and they dive they will take your board down too (Depeneding on how you like to hook up your boards).  Forcing them to spin... its not fun. I have a few methods im going to try this year to correct this... But as far as loosing fish I guess I would disagree with some on this thread.  I almost never loose a fish on inlines.  I think the forward motion of the boat and the constant pull to the side of a inline create a tight line and I almost never loose a fish.  If I was a Lake O fisherman I would only use inlines on browns and in shallow water so they couldnt sink the board...

Edited February 27, 2018 by vogel451

[Xxx]

To eliminate the problem with the above poster, or anyone else that said they fight the board not the fish, make your front line a release line and use the OR16 clip in the rear. This way fish hit the bait, front releases and the OR16 holds the board to the line, now your fighting the fish not the board. You can use the OR19 release but they are pricey, two years ago a buddy of mine fishes for stripers and he had, I think the company was called Silver Hord, they make the slickest release I ever saw, you have to make them fit your boards. I used a split ring maybe a 1” round and you wrap your line around this pin about 5-6 times and then it has a smaller pin where it snaps into and this is tension adjusted kinda like a dipsy diver, when a fish hits the front of the board is no longer hooked up its just held on the line with the OR16 best set up I ever used. It took a lot for me to say this but I guess that’s what this form is all about. Best part is they are like just say $10.00 a piece vs the offshore clip release. You can use braid or mono which I use braid, so this caught my attention right away. Look up silver horde sams release. It comes with all the makings for a down rigger release but use just the release itself.

[Tyee II]

With inlines and weighted lines, you are only fighting the board until you remove the board. After that it's just you and the fish. 

 

I ran a mast and ski system on my small boat for years until I started fishing deeper water. The inlines just make it easier for me to fish multiple depths for multiple species off both sides of my boat.

 

I still have my big boards for shallow Browns and Coho, but the Coho aren't shallow anymore on Lake Michigan. 

 

Also, shorter 7  foot rods pointed right at the board make it easier to get the inline board to the boat.

Edited February 28, 2018 by Tyee II