Guys, Thought I'de try trolling with planer boards as the water heats up . Got some smaller 5 and half inch jobs from Cabela's for lighter tackle I use on crappie . Figure to try some Bandits either 100 or 200 series . Any input from anybody that's done this before would be a help . I've long lined and gone deep and trolled with 4 to 6 oz weights but never tried boards before. I'll take any suggestion or input from all . Thanks .

not all that expirenced with this technique, but was working for me and a buddy of mine last year on shenango. We were trollin berkely frenzy crankbaits probably about 3 inches or so in length. We didn't get any true slabs but the ones we were gettin were in the 12 inch range. Some pulled the board under like a bobber and some just added weight to what you were pullin and made the board look funny in the water. A suggestion i make for trolling would be to use husky jerks in the smaller sizes.. Some where around 2.5 inches. Not sayin your gonna kill em' but i have caught crappies on them just throwing them out and reelin them in with a little pause here and there.

Good luck and have fun.

P.S. Just a little side note, i have caught crappie while trollin crawler harnesses for walleye, accident of coarse, but haven't caught a one under about 11 inch or so by doing this.