To release or not to release?

[soko44mag]

I cant figure out what is best, Im a total newbie to boards and have purchased a set of Church's but cant figure out what is the best way to run them. Please post what you guys do and why. Thanks

[jimcr]

Most guys and some charters run church boards so they don't release. If you set it up to release you must have some type of stop, such as a swivel. if you don't it will hit the fish in the head. The last thing you want to happen. When pulling in boards that do not release , keep the rod tip down and to the opposite direction from which it came . once you get the board off its just you and the fish, Rj if you like I could take you out or be happy to go out with you if you need help figuring out the boards, when setting lines , set the farthest line out first working back to the boat. To reset a line let out your core , attatch you board let your line out until your in the correct position. and let it pull back into line with the others.

[soko44mag]

Jim, Did you modify your boards at all, I saw in a previous post that some guys were reversing the clips so the line pulled towards the clip making sure it doesnt release, or do you just crank em down.

Jim, Let me know if you need a rider, I would love to see how you set things up,

[jimcr]

Rj What you do is pull the line all the way to the back of the clip, you may have to increase the pressure some . I have had a couple release but were still able to get the boards in before it hit the fish.

Are you available during the week? I try to get out a couple of times during the week if I can . We usually leave for the launch about 5 If everything is ready and get back home about 10 pm . I will be in town this weekend and weather permitting would be doing a lot of fishing this weekend , My wife is working the weekend Saturday/Sunday so I am free to fish.

[Adam Bomb]

No release for me. I use the church boards and crank down the front metal release(mine are the originals) and use them that way. Works for me.

[ALLEYES]

I am in agreement with Adam. No release. I also run all Church boards.

[mattmishler]

Well im a big fan of them with a relase. I take it off and put a big jon barrell style release. They hold in really big seas and when a fish hits there not diving and there not pulling back when you have a fish on. i also have two rubber bands half hitched to hold them with the pins. I know alot of the big charter guys rig them like this

[Sea-Mac]

Just like Matt I like to have my boards be able to release. Used to go the half hitch rubber band method, now its a red OR clip with the pin.

It really makes things ALOT easier. Both when fighting a fish, and if you desire to change a set up on one of the outside boards.

[Nailer]

One other to do when pulling long cores or copper lines is; move the weight on the bottom of the board forward to +1 or +1.5. this helps to offset the weight of the line on the back.

The only thing I do to my boards is; tighten down the release a bit.

I splice a pc of 40 pound mono between my copper and backer to hook the board to.

[A-Fishy-Anado]

Just like Matt I like to have my boards be able to release. Used to go the half hitch rubber band method, now its a red OR clip with the pin.

It really makes things ALOT easier. Both when fighting a fish, and if you desire to change a set up on one of the outside boards.

Same here with the OR-16 attached to a small eye hook I add to a church board and i also run a piece of mono between my core/copper and power pro like Ken.

[hunter7x7]

IMO you are better off tightening the clips way day, cinch the line as far back in the clip as possible so they do not release. If you are running copper or lead, set your lightest rig to the outside and your heaviest rig closest to the boat. For instance from the boat out: 300ft copper, 10 color lead, 5 color lead.

When you originally set lines you should always set the outside first, then middle, then the one closest to your boat. Lets say you hit a fish or have to reel your outside rig in, you can still set it back out without bringing all the other rigs in. Simply let you core (or copper) out as you normally would and clip on your board. Now, drop it in the water and let it free spool with just enough tension to keep the board sitting upright but not tracking to the side. Let it fall back until it looks like it will easily clear the other lines. Once it looks like it's out far enough, let it go out another 100 plus ft further. You can always reel it back in a little. Take it off free spool and place it in the rod holder. Once it has tracked over reel some line in until it's tracking where you want it. If you are trying to reset the middle board, simply let the outside board out further and bring the inside board closer to the boat and do the same thing then once the middle rig is tracking where you want it, adjust the outside and inside rigs back to where you want them.

We typically run 3 copper or leadcore rigs on each side and do it this way all the time. You can add the "Stinger Dive Bombs" to run your rigs deeper if you need to get more depth out of your rigs. We have leadcore rigs of 10 color, 8 color, 5 color and copper at 300ft, 200ft & 100ft and use dive bombs as needed. For innstance a 5 color leadcore rig with a 4oz dive bomb will be slightly deeper than a 10 color leadcore. The bonus with having multiple leanghts of lead or copper is that you can run them high or low and adjust accordingly with dive bombs depending on where the fish are. If the fish are 30-40ft down and all you have are 10colors of lead or 300ft of copper you only have 1 or 2 rigs that will run in the right water column. Same goes if the fish are 80-100ft down, you can use dive bombs on your lighter rigs to adjust and get down deeper where the fish are.

If you have any questions or need some help, send me a PM and I can call you.

Good luck