Going, Going, Gone Crappie Fishing with Planer Boards by Brad Wiegmann

It's not like you haven't seen those yellow boards being pulled around by anglers before, however, the anglers using them were normally walleye fishing. Why in the world would any sane crappie angler think pulling a lure out to the side of the boat would actually catch a fish? In fact, crappie are too smart to be tricked into biting anything being pulled by some high-visible, large yellow planer, but the naysayers are quickly being proven wrong about planer boards when it comes to crappie fishing.

Planers boards have been around for years and years. They are great for allowing anglers to pull multiple lures and lines out from either side of the boat. A large planer board can handle bigger or heavier lures while mini planers are ideal for light tackle fishing.



Professional crappie angler Dan Dannenmueller Sr. has been around for a long time, he knows how important it is to keep up with new techniques when it comes to fishing. "Planer boards are just one more tool crappie anglers can use to catch more and bigger crappie while out fishing. They are so easy to use any angler can rig them on a line and start fishing," said Dannenmueller.

Dannenmueller prefers Off Shore Tackle (www.www.offshoretackle.com) planer boards. He uses the larger Off Shore Tackle OR12L and OR12R. OR12L is the left model meaning it moves away from the boat to the port side while the OR12R is the right model running on the starboard side. Both come with stationary red flag, orange release, red release clip, screws and instructions on rigging correctly.



"To rig them, I simply attach the red release clip to my fishing line then attach the red release clip to the line towards the rod clip that way when I set the hook, my front orange release lets go and I reel in the planer board and fish," said Dannenmueller. After Dannenmueller has it ready, he deploys it and the trolling motor takes the planer board and his lure out.

When using planer boards to catch big slab crappie, Dannenmueller uses several different styles of lures. “I use everything from hard lures to soft lures, but what most people don't think about trying behind planer boards, I have been trying like crankbaits or RoadRunner heads with soft plastic lures. I have even been trying out mini Rat-l-Trap lures normally used while casting for panfish, but it works great for crappie," said Dannenmueller.

Anglers using trolling planer boards have the option of adding a strike indicator to planer boards to see the bite even light bites better. Strike indicator for Off Shore Tackle planer boards are Tattle Flags. Tattle Flags indicate a strike by being pulled down when a fish strikes or if it is fouled by weeds.

"Our crankbaits being pulled behind planer boards have just gone ballistic. Everyone wants to know the secret of trolling using planer boards and how deep each Arkie crankbait runs attached to one. Trolling pulling planer boards is so hot right now we even added more new crappie catching colors to our large selection of colors available," said Mitch Glenn with Arkie Lures.



Arkie Jigs (www.arkiejigs.com) has two poplar crankbaits crappie anglers have been using when trolling with planer boards according to Glenn. "The bigger 350 Series Diver Crankbait is popular in the spring when the bait is larger while the 220 Series Diver Crankbait in the summer or fall when the bait is smaller. The 350 Series Diver can dive up to 16- to 18-feet when trolled and the 220 Series Diver 6- to 7-feet deep," said Glenn.

For crappie anglers planer boards are the new hot technique when paired with crankbaits. Not only do planer boards allow anglers to cover lots of water, but control lure color, depth of lure and size.