TX22 vs. walleye board

[Gnarf]

Does the TX22 run any different or better then a walleye board?

I have been using walleyes for all my longlines, just curious if their is a better option.

And on that note, you guys who run TX44's, do you find them helpfull? ive heard of it pulling so hard so sometimes miss fish.

[Killin' It]

Joe,

I have 4 of the TX44 boards for my "long" coppers 300+ and it does make a difference. They pull nice out to the side which allows a nice spread even in choppy water.

As for fighting fish on them, as long as you don't berry the board nose first into the water 100 feet from the back of the boat by pumping the rod there is no difference. IMO

[KJ pluggin]

I have never run the TX 22's but I would think the walleye boards would have an advantage over them since you can adjust the weight forward to offset the heavier copper pulling the back of the board down to far. I have not had a issue with losing fish with the TX 44 boards. The only issue I have had with them is sometimes it is tricky to get the outside board in if you running multiple 44 on one side, usually due to currant direction. And like Dave said, if you bury the nose on a TX44 with a fish on your going to be in for a battle, and probably a lost fish.

[mattmishler]

The 22s were made for slow trolling, I ran them side by side. Walleye boards seem to pull better with heavier lines and faster trolling speeds.

[Just Hook'n]

Interesting question...We sampled the TX44's this year because we liked them pulling 450s. They pull out to the side so nice that we bought 4 and ran them in tournaments with 2 TX44s per side and put our walleye boards away. Ended up having all kinds of trouble with landing ratios. We kept getting strikes on the 200's and 300's and could not for the life of us get the fish to the boat. Never burried a board, just for some reason had really bad landing ratios. So we switched back to the walleye boards and the ratios went back to what we are used to.

[1mainiac]

Personally I will be going back to big boards for my long copper setups. I will stick with small boards for my short core and copper and the boards will be setup with OR 16 on the back and a release on the front. I am still a fan of the Z boards and Yellow Bird style boards because I can tune them to run as I want them to. My setup is clearly not for everyone but it works well for me.

[Killin' It]

Just Hookin'

I did not see the same issues on the long lines with the TX44. (Not discrediting your statement) When running FF meat rigs on the 400 and 450 we rarely lost a fish if it it.

In saying that however, I only ran FF and plugs on those rods, could it be something to do with the hook up on a spoon.

Food for thought....

[Just Hook'n]

Dave,

I just don't know what it was...could have been direction of troll and not being able to catch up with the fish....just couldn't figure it out. Kept getting strong bites...fish on for several minutes and then gone, before we got the board to the boat...it was almost like there was not enough tension from the board to the fish...at least that was our thought at the time. I'm still using the big board for 400+ coppers.

[KJ pluggin]

Could there have been to much tension and it was pulling the hooks through their mouth? It seems to me going to a smaller board would decrease tension since they can get pulled back by the fish much easier.

[Just Hook'n]

My thought was there was a lot of tension between the rod and the board (because they drag out so well) and not enough tension between the board and the fish... with a smaller board I think you are able to get the board straight to the fish (in other words a straight line from the rod tip to the fish with the board in the middle) faster than if the board was bigger. It was a weird experience. I really liked how they pulled the lines out to the side of the boat and I really thought they would do a better job in general, but we just kept loosing fish after fish on the 200's and 100's. Changed lures, sharpened hooks, tried a bunch of stuff, nothing seemed to help, so we changed the boards out and it improved.

[Killin' It]

Nice constructive coversation guys

[KJ pluggin]

I see what you mean I haven't thought of it that way. I have never run the shorter coppers on them, thanks for the insight.

[Gnarf]

Thanks for the input guys. Guess im not the only one whose got big lake on the mind.

[mattmishler]

As soon as we hook up on a fish with a TX 44 we had another bag or slow it down, seems to help the hook up. We try not to stress the rod when the board is in the water and get the board asap and will speed it up when the board is off.

[UBDSLO1]

I use the Walleye boards for shorts cores and short coppers. The TX 44's are great for pulling longer 300's copper, I really like them. I've never fished a 22 so I can't tell you there.

[Long Lines]

I used TX44s for 300 plus length coppers last year and like how they pull...stayed with the walleye boards on shallower coppers.

We also picked up a couple of the high retrieve ( I believe Tuna Tom modified) CV-55 Okuma reels for those long coppers. Those are GREAT reels for the long coppers and big boards!

We didn't lose that many fish, but definitely a few...some of the fish we lost I believe were big fish that would go from submerging the walleye boards or really tugging on the TX44 to running at you to the point where it was difficult to keep up. We even found that a couple of fish we thought were gone were still there if we didn't stop hauling on the reel. Perhaps that had something to do with some of the losses on the big boards with big fish running at the boat and getting slack. Tough to keep up w/o the high retrieve reels.

[fishsniffer]

tx-44 has been great to me..pulls out to the side nice and comes in a lot better than I would have thought by looking at it..

[TEAM NBK]

What works best for us is keeping tx-44 on 400 coopers and when its rough on the 300. Putting the wieght all the way foward on the walleye board for pulling 300 cooper. Definetly 2nd slowing down to pull in tx-44. Right or wrong we put the rod tip in the water to keep the board on its side and the nose up on the tx-44. I catch the most fish on the boards but they where fustrating at first. Think spring!!

[Dave.C]

Good info guys,was just in Bay City on Sunday,swung by Frank's and picked up a couple of 44's.Prices on everything is so much better south of the border.Plan on running them with the longer copper and cores.

[Far Beyond Driven]

What I'm reading is a bunch of reasons to set a board to trip, so you don't have to fight the board instead of the fish....

[Line Dancin]

What I'm reading is a bunch of reasons to set a board to trip, so you don't have to fight the board instead of the fish....

agreed

[BILLY JOE]

we found if your tx44 board goes under for whatever reason turn to that side[ port board turn port ] will help it pop back up quiker