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Monday, June 23rd, 2025

Breaking News for

Sportsmen Since 1968

Planer boards are a worthy addition to your angling arsenal once you master the learning curve

A pair of planer boards slices through water below the fog. (Photo courtesy of Joe Shead)

Trolling is a great way to cover water when walleyes are scattered over mud flats or if you’re fishing for early-season trout and salmon on Lake Superior before warm water drives them deep.

In those applications, planer boards spread out your lines, allowing you to cover a greater swath of water to find fish. Using planer boards isn’t rocket science, but if you’ve never used them before, there’s a bit of a learning curve. Jason Julien, owner of Church Tackle in Michigan, provided some tips that will benefit novice and experienced planer board users alike.

“One of the biggest benefits of planer boards is that a lot of walleyes are higher than anglers realize,” Julien said. “The fish are going to go out and around your boat; they’re not going to let you run them over if they’re 6 feet down.”

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Rods and reels

If you’re going to get into planer board fishing, your first consideration should be rod and reel selection. Specialized planer board rods are long.

This helps to keep the lines away from the boat and to pick up slack line quickly when you’re reeling. And they have to deal with a lot of torque from planer boards dragging in the water.

On the short end of the spectrum, you’re looking at a 7- or 8-foot rod, with some measuring up to 12 feet. But most run about 8 to 10 feet long. Some are actually telescoping rods, so they slide shorter for easier storage.

Level-wind reels with line counters are the way to go in the reel department.

Level-wind reels with line counters get the nod in the reel department. They should have a large spool capacity, because you may have a couple hundred feet of line out.

A strong clicker allows you to let a lure pay out behind the boat on its own while you ready another rod. And a line counter helps you set your crankbait to the proper depth – and then replicate the presentation if you catch a fish.

Monofilament or fluorocarbon lines in the 15- to 20-pound range are good choices for planer boards. There’s a lot of drag on the water caused by the planing action, so light lines won’t cut it. Plus, mono has another benefit.

“It’s easier for boards to stay on,” Julien said. “In a trolling application, I think having some stretch is desirable. Braid pulls the hooks out and mono stays in the release better.”

Julien said he likes to keep his lines as short as possible. He would rather add a snap weight to get a crankbait down deeper rather than letting out more line and allowing it to dive deeper on its own.

“Keep it as short as possible,” he said. “It’s less time to set the hook, less time for the fish to reach the boat, and it’s more efficient.”

Setting multiple lines
“To set a spread when running planer boards, the easiest way is to set your outside line first and work your way in,” Julien said.

The number of lines you put out depends on the number of anglers in the boat. For most places, you get just one line apiece. On Lake Superior, you get two apiece.

Generally, you would set out as many lines as legally allowed on either side of the boat. But there are situations in which fish are shallow and easily spooked, and running a boat over them would scare them. In that situation, you might run all your lines off the shallow side of the boat, keeping the boat away from the fish.

Setting multiple lines on one side of the boat can be tricky. Put some thought into your setup to avoid tangles.

“To set a spread when running planer boards, the easiest way is to set your outside line first and work your way in,” Julien said. “When running crankbaits, set your longest lead on the outside and work to your shortest lead coming toward the boat. This is to help in not tangling your lines when bringing in fish.

“While running crawler harnesses or something that is weighted, set your lightest weights on the outside and heavier weights as you get closer to the boat,” he said. “One ounce on the outside, 2 ounces on the second board, and 3 ounces on the closest board, for instance. This aids the outside lines in coming over the top of the other lines without tangling.

“To reset a board back into position, you can let the board back straight behind the boat, then put tension on it and work it back into position without pulling the other boards out of position,” Julien said.

To do this, you might have to let out a lot of line (particularly if you’re resetting an outside board) to get beyond the inner and middle lines. Do this without putting tension on the board so the board doesn’t plane to the side. That’s another reason to use snap weights to keep your lines relatively short.

Once you’ve let out enough line to get beyond the lines that are still being fished (and your line counter will tell you this), you can put tension on the board to get it to plane sideways and into position.

When bringing in a fish, the last thing you want is for the board to suddenly plunge underwater. Then there’s a lot more resistance, the line could go slack, and the fish could get away.
Bringing in the fish

When reeling in a fish, Julien keeps the board on the line. Some boards are set so a jerk will pop them free, allowing you to fight just the fish. Depending on the setup, the board will slide down to the fish or it will come off the line completely and you’ll have to circle back to get it.

“When you release that board, you’ve just introduced all that slack; you’re making a corner,” he said.

When reeling in a board, Julien said he keeps his rod down. “Keep your rod tip low,” he said. “Reel up to four feet and then pick up your rod and the board will come with it.”

The last thing you want is for the board to suddenly plunge underwater. Then there’s a lot more resistance, the line could go slack, and the fish could get away.

“Guys get the board close to the boat and their instinct is to pop the rod out of the water and the board dives,” Julien said.

Another consideration is which direction to troll.

“Go with the waves,” Julien said. “You get a better pull with the boards and your speed isn’t varying as much. If you cross-cut the wind, you create a lazy side (slower-moving boards) and a side that’s pulling hard. The lazy side is almost always less effective.”

Keeping your outside lines shallow and farther back and your inner lines deeper and shorter, you should be able to avoid most problems. The end result is more lines, giving your more opportunities to catch fish.

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