boards

[fishsniffer]

went on a trip in holland(see post)capt.don runs offshore boards..i run the walley boards...ive always had trouble with the way mine spread out....then the other night i went out and picked up the speed (4.5)and they started sinking on me...ive thought about going to the offshore because the ones i seen in action were trouble free...i really dont want to spend the money on a wholesale change of boards but what i seen i liked....chances ar im not setting them up right..how do you set up youre boards..i might buy 1 or 2 off shores and see how i like them everyday...think there will be a problem mixing boards?

[tangled mess]

I have mixed them in in the past with out a problem just have to watch what you are doing.

[mattmishler]

iv went up to 4 mph and i have no problems. They work hands down for me

[1mainiac]

Don I started with Church boards and had a lot of trouble with them. I went with my father in law to a Salmon seminar at his church held by Love it Charters they were very adament about their methods much of what they said was do it this way period. So that year I did and my results went way up. The folowing year they did another seminar and I went again and this time I took better notes and listened. They again were very straightforward pounding a very simple approach this time I had many more questions and got good answers. I have talked to them and others many times over the following years and figured out their basic idea which was not to teach every thing just to set a basic plan based on what worked for them. Of course they did not give out many of their secrets but what they did was build a solid starting game plan that would put most anyone on fish into catching them. They setup basic conditions that the average guy would really see. As such they only gave a few setups for each but they were solid on several things which I am also still doing. Off Shore boards set to release from the front but not slide down the line which allows them to trip and fall in behind the boat when hit or when changing lures. I made a change in my boards last spring which I am going to change back in my front clip I went from the black clip which tripped too often to the orange clip which seldom tripped this year. I lost a lot of fish on 2 and 3 color rods this year because the boards would not trip so my outside boards are going back to lighter releases. Other things they were pushing was Owner hooks and Ande mainline with gama Flouro leaders. They said to never use factory fly setups and showed us how to make our own with Gamma Flouro and Owner hooks. They really kept it simple down to about 6 Flasher fly combo's 4 or 5 spoons and a couple of J plugs. I have not kept it simple I have hundreds of spoons and flasher fly setups I will run but much of it is modeled on a simple program and now when I have a bad day I know it is just that a bad day and I will likely run the same stuff again next time out. When I leave the dock most days every rod allready has the lure and setup it will run for most of the trip. The only time I make a major setup change is when the fish are not where I setup for or if the weather report is completely wrong and we know how seldom that is LOL. If you like making lots of lure and setup changes I am boring to fish with because I make most of my changes with the boat driving and location till I dial in a pattern. But I was able to pretty much promise you would take home fish if you went with me ( might be a bag of frozen filets if we had a bad day). I am by no means a world class fisherman but I do allright for a old fat hippie with a attitude.

[Priority1]

I have run the Offshore OR12s and the OR31s. Most of my time with these boards have been for walleye, but I have pulled some core with them for salmon. I regularly run a 10 board spread, along with some other lines. I just like the way they perform. There are many ways to rig them, and a number of releases to choose from. The OR12s now come with the orange releases.

Edited October 25, 2009 by Priority1

[jay d]

i switched from the church boards to off shore boards with the snapper release,i think they run more uniform than the church boards.i run up too 300 ft of 45# copper off them.

[Nailer]

Don, do you move the weight forward?

[fishsniffer]

Don, do you move the weight forward?

i do all kinds of forward and back...depending on type of core ie.#of color..and then with different wave heights...thats the thing ...it would be nice to just throw and go...dont get me wrong..i like the church boards....but im also up for some winter additions and since i need to buy more boards i will buy what is best and it seems like the offshore is more maintenance free..as far as just throwing them out ...

[mayvillemark]

I am with maniac and priority 1 we run alotof boards this year in manistee I was running 8 boards because the boat we were on only had 2 downriggers I run the OR12's all spring and summer on the bay over here at speeds below 1.5 so going over there and running over 2 is awesome. I also had the church boards gave them away and got these offshores those church boards are made to run slow they are made by mark martin a pro walleye fishermen and I honestly didnt like them for that let alone going faster.

[tangled mess]

Another good thing about offshore board is the foam dose not fall out of the back of the board and if something happens to the foam you can replace it for under a dollar with Church you pay between 3-5 for there replacement foam.

[Justtrollin]

I ran all offshore board this year, Lost one board late in the season, so I thought I would give the church board a try. was pulling a 300 copper set up on it and it had fish on twice but both times the board turned and dove instead of staying up. That really pissed me off, I allmost lost stuff.

the the line release in the back pulled out of the board. Needless to say was not impressed, I'll stick to my offshore boards.

[2UNREEL]

I have hated the Church boards from Day 1. Why I have 10 of them, I don't know. I don't have an issue with my short cores but my larger ones can get problematic. I will have to give the offshores a try but I really would like to have someone help me build a board specificly designed to run coppers and heavy cores. I just need a foam guy, and a plastic guy willing to build stuff for beer and I am all set. I have a few designs in mind I would love to test.

[1mainiac]

Off Shore has a prototype board that is larger designed for Copper and heavy trolling we just have to convince them we will buy it if they put it in production. If it is not out by next spring I am building a set of my own. I have a design in mind as well.

[jay d]

they could pu me on the list for a bigger off shore board for copper:grin:

[Rayman96]

Found these boards on another site and thought you guys might want a look.

Should be able to handle the longer copper and core set ups.

http://www.sideplaner.com/index.html

[Line Dancin]

rayman those planers are used out west a lot. they are actually designed to be used on a liter line rig to work a larger river with a plug like a hot n tot or hot shot. when they are talking heavy line they are talking like 12 to 15 lb test. this way a shore angler has more access to the rivers. Luhr Jensen makes one also called a pink lady or hot shot board. I have used them on a few different rivers and they work well for that. i dont think they would have the umphf to pull copper or lead while trolling.

I am using the orange off shore board. i tried the church boards and sold them all off on craigs list. They were just a pain in the a$$ to set and dove a lot with longer lengths of copper in heavy water. Havne't had a Probelm with my off shores. if they did come out with a larger one i would have them for my long coppers. it would be nicer to pull out a little bit better.

Edited October 28, 2009 by Line Dancin
add info

[Rayman96]

The pic below shows how it was rigged as an inline. Not my photo but borrowed to illustrate how it can be adapted for boat use.

[Line Dancin]

right it can be rigged like that but it is meant for a boat that is anchored at the top of a hole not trolling with heavy gear.