Page 11 - Crappie NOW | April 2016

Planer Board Tactics

for planer boarding will quickly reduce Dannenmueller’s trolling setup with Driftmaster
the costs. rack/holders, BnM Silver Cat Poles and Off-

The Technique Shore Tackle Planer boards.

“Trolling planer boards is basically
longlining on steroids,” says Dan spooky. Getting baits out away from the
Dannenmueller. He is CrappieNow’s boat is a huge advantage and leads to
publisher and a regular on the Crappie more crappie. Another advantage is that
Masters National Tournament Trail. He boards are good in windy weather when
and partner Garrett Steele have been slow tactics like slow trolling is a problem
experimenting with planer boards for a due to boat control and bouncing baits.
couple of years and plan to be using them The boards are stable.”
a lot this year. Note that fishing with boards is not
“The boards have many advantages,” without disadvantages. It takes practice
says Dannenmueller. “One is covering up and work to put boards on, put them
to 400 feet on one pass. This helps to find out and remove them when retrieving a
fish but also to catch fish when they are fish. They can be a pain. Also, running
really scattered. Another is the speed. For the boat and handling them after a fish
example, a fisherman can move boards at hits requires knowing what to do. Turning
a comfortable 1.2 mph allowing a lot more requires a lot of room making sure there
water to be covered compared to slow is not slack in any of the lines.
trolling. A variety of baits can be used “The boat driver,” says Steele,
making it more versatile.” “has the job of keeping the lines taut.
Steele says, “Maybe the best That’s critical. He has to watch lines, pay
advantage of the boards is when fish are attention to the locator and watch ahead

11 Crappie NOW April 2016