I launched at 6:45 this morning and had plans to test a few experiments. The Moon had recently risen.
First up, the all brand new to me planer board technique.
I sprinkled boat with Slab Sauce .....looks like coffee but it’s sauce.
These are the mini boards and would be all I am likely to need. I got a rod rigged with one of the Pony Head spinner jigs I have been pouring, painting, and accessorizing, and then attached the line to the board and sent it out. Simple enough. Once at a decent distance I began rigging rod number two. Something seemed odd with the first board and sure enough a nice fish had hit and hooked himself. I was impressed. Less than a minute and the board had a fish.
Later, both boards accounted for about ten fish. I wanted to learn how to use these because the lakes I frequent are very shallow. Vast expanses of grassy bottomed lakes, and one lake is six feet at it’s deepest. When I got my first ever crappie rods I went with 16 feet because of how shallow the lakes are. The boat is 20 feet long and pretty wide and if it were only a few feet above the fish, it is able to scatter them far and wide. I figured if I could teach myself how to use boards I could eliminate the boat chasing fish away.
So I fished two 10’ rods with the boards, and the four 16’ rods were two out front pushing and two out to the sides in the back of the boat long lining. The first few fish were a challenge to bring in without fouling other lines, but common sense prevailed. Like a giant bobber, the crappie, even dinks, caused the boards to indicate for me. No tattle flag necessary. I would see the board reacting to the bite, grab the rod and pop the line in the front clip loose. The board would then swing back and surf in with the fish. The back clip does not slide back, rather holds the board to the line where it got clipped. I had about 8’ of line behind the board which meant that I could swing the fish board and all into the boat and not have to remove it.
I put the two planer board rods in the back, tips pointed at the sky. This kept the line out of the water.
Here i was using boat control to maneuver the lure nearer to the weed line. Can’t see it here but I managed to pass very close in with my lure. I am going to order two more mini boards and run four out the back of the boat. I really liked how the system worked and plan to get good with these devils.
Most of my sixteen fish were of this size, and all released.
This is how I transport the rods over the road. Secures them nicely.
Other experiments were a solar shield.
This shield is promising but needs some tweaking to get it right for me. I read the older men talking about how they wish they had avoided the Sun a little better. Good advice.
Creel counter will be nice later when I get my act together.
I recently poured some bell sinkers, and painted them white and added UV enhancement. Well I added little rubber bands to them and simply looped them onto the main line, where I could adjust the distance between sinker and lure very easily. Then once positioned, they stayed that way. I was very impressed. This will help me pushing, pulling and planing. No damage to the line. I will be able to run sinkers between the boards and the lures and keep everything compact enough that I will not have to remove the boards, just swing the fish aboard. I imagine I could get a jig down about 5 feet on a short length of line.
I also tested my new leader system and it was flawless today. No tangles wraps or snarls. The line is BassPro Shops TightLine in 12lb test. Bright bright yellow.You can see that in the planer board picture.
My hand made jigs worked a little better than the purchased stuff today. It is not easy making my own tackle but it sure is nice when it works. Got some new powder paints coming. Testing out ways to shield the eye and the swivel that extends underneath. Used 1/8” shrink wrap on the eye very effectively. The swivel was too fat to fit and so wrapped those with tape designed to withstand baking. Opening the split rings is a huge hassle, and there is a blade to affix first, then to the swivel. Have willow leaf blades and Colorado. Using wide gap hooks as they look very aggressive, and they did the job today that is for sure.
So as the title says I am getting better. My mentor called to check on me and I had done better than he had. I can suggest that if you are fishing shallow lakes, try planer boards. They look like a huge hassle but it doesn’t have to be that way. Consider using something to ward off the UV rays from the Sun and save your face. The shield may work out for me, but might not. Let me know if you have questions, and I will offer my best newby solution. LOL
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