Thread: Do any of you guys ever use crank baits or planer boards?

Originally Posted by Southern Young Gun

I just ordered some boards to play around with. I got mine from offshore tackle.com., these are the same boards that the winners used. I got the mini board that is reversible and can be used to pull off both sides of the boat. If your going to pull cranks with the boards I would get the next size up from the mini, the cranks have a lot more resistance than small jigheads. I just wanna play with them and see what happens, i think they will have decent success on some of the shallow lakes I fish like Loochloosa.

Way cool! Let us know how you like them. I think I would use them with jigs in the Florida lakes since I know nothing about using crank baits. I started to read the post on crank baits in the Sippi forum and had to give it a break after a while... lol. So much fun stuff to learn. Did you get the ones that have the flags?

Ginny

Here's something posted on the main forum a while ago about planer boards....

Planer Boards are for people who enjoy trolling.. if you are a die in the wool tighliner or float n jig fisherman you probably wont like it.. you may but i have found most dont...if you enjoy sprider rigging or longlining you will love it and this method will be your go to method....

Fist off their are several advantages to the boards...

1. once they are deployed the boards move away from the boat so you are fishing an area undisturbed by the motor and the boat..

2. you can fish at any depth no matter what your speed because the board works as a float to keep the bait at the desired depth..

3. because of this depth control you can stop, make fast sharp turns, and not get hung up.

4. The boards will keep your lines apart so you dont get hung up.

5. This is the biggie: when i got into longling i had to buy all new 12-20 ft rods.. this is not neccesary for pulling boards.. you can use any rod you have and get the same result because the board creates the space between line not the length of your rod.

6. its much easier to watch the board at a distance than it is to watch rod tips on both sides of the boat and getting a crick in your neck..

I pull cranks all the time during the hot summer months on the big four in Mississippi...don't make it complicated. I pull off the side using rods of 14, 10, 6 feet long. Get a copy of the depth chart for bandits and run your cranks at varying depths to establish a pattern of depth and color of bait. Pull at 1.7 to 2.1 mph, if they bite on the turn take note of inside the turn or outside the turn rods...inside turn baits slow down, outside baits speed up...let the fish tell ya what speed they want. Watch your electronics to see how deep the fish are...put those together, depth, speed and color of bait they want and then hang on. I have planer boards but seldom use them anymore....personally only find them necessary when the water really slicks off and I want my baits further from my boat. Awesome technique, used by most during the hot summer months, for catching schooling white crappie. Good luck!

Originally Posted by Rip a Lip

I pull cranks all the time during the hot summer months on the big four in Mississippi...don't make it complicated. I pull off the side using rods of 14, 10, 6 feet long. Get a copy of the depth chart for bandits and run your cranks at varying depths to establish a pattern of depth and color of bait. Pull at 1.7 to 2.1 mph, if they bite on the turn take note of inside the turn or outside the turn rods...inside turn baits slow down, outside baits speed up...let the fish tell ya what speed they want. Watch your electronics to see how deep the fish are...put those together, depth, speed and color of bait they want and then hang on. I have planer boards but seldom use them anymore....personally only find them necessary when the water really slicks off and I want my baits further from my boat. Awesome technique, used by most during the hot summer months, for catching schooling white crappie. Good luck!

Cool, I just googled the depth chart for bandits. Pretty easy to understand that. How do you gauge how far you let your line out?

Ginny

If you pull planer boards your rods need to be the same length so you can shuffle them front to rear while landing fish when using multiple boards on each side. You need different length rods when NOT using boards off the side of the boat---16-12-8 or 14-10-6 etc. on the rod lengths.

Go to the fishing website The Next Bite and watch the videos, and read the articles. The walleye guys use planers all the time, and can offer Much Better advise on them.

Amen on "being on the bucket list"..............I too would love to fish it once or
twice...........same for Reelfoot, although, been told Reelfoot nothing like it was
15 - 18 yrs ago..........

Nickajack dam by Chattanooga also has fanciated me to pull to fish it once.

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

Cool, I just googled the depth chart for bandits. Pretty easy to understand that. How do you gauge how far you let your line out?

Ginny

I use line counter reels now but when I first started I just pulled out an arms length at a time, approximately 3 feet. It is a pretty simple fishing technique...dont over think it. Check the internet for a show called crappie time with Russ Bailey and look for crankbaits on Sardis with Kent Driscoll. Russ had the best shows, they not only fished different techniques but also showed you exactly how to fish that particular technique. Good luck!

Glad you asked the question Ginny. During my recoup period(10months) i found several articles on planer boards and gave some thought to trying some out the side, but as you know my fishing was limited last year. i may give it some more thought.