Wiper Fest - 6/28

[BearLakeMack]

Finally got into the wipers hard. Caught everything on the troll. No good boils but we had some surface activity around us a couple times. Casted into it and had some followers but no takers. Tried out my new in-line side planar board and with chrome and blue thundersticks seemed to be the hot ticket. Also caught one wally. Ended up catching close to 20 fish.<br><br>

[PREDATOR]

Skeeter and I found a bunch of fish. A boil every couple seconds in just about every direction you could look. We got some fish trolling, a couple walleye abd wipers, caught some throwing jigs on the island, and out of boils. It wasnt quite the day we should have had considering the ammount of fish we had around us. The boiling fish were in a different location than the past couple days, just hope to be able to find them again tommorow. Good luck to all. The wipers are boiling and active so get out and find some fish. Strange thing was we caught the walleye in the middle of the day, and the wipers boiled early then the fishing sucked as it got darker. Who knows whats up with willard this year.<br><br>UNICORN CATCHER F.L.P.

[BearLakeMack]

There is no doubt that there is a learning curve to go thru with planar boards. Really the directions tell it all. I can say from a few observations:<br><br>1. Difinely use mono. I use a lot of super lines and they are a pain in the butt to hook up to the releases.<br><br>2. A heavier rod is in order. I was using my standard spinning rod outfits and the planar boards put a lot of additional stress. I went out and bought a longer heavier rod and hooked a small baitcaster to it. No problems now.<br><br>3. The darn things don't run level! Get used to it. Also the slower the speed the farther they go out. If you troll fast ( 3 mph) they will not go out as far. No big deal.<br><br>4. I use the pro method and use the two releases to attach to the line. When you hook up on a fish, reel in the board and release it (two people do this best, a pain for just one), don't just throw the line over the side. You just given the fish mega slack. Adjust.<br><br>5. You will tow smaller fish if they hit and you don't notice the hit. I towed a small walleye around for a while. They have the tattle tale flag kits that draw the flag down when you get a strike. I don't have these yet but they sound like a worth while investment.<br><br>I hope this helps. Is there anything in piticular you had problems with? Let me know, I'll help if I can. <br><br>

[PREDATOR]

Skeeter and I were out with planers the other day and trolling fast will produce more problems than slow. They can work and do well, if the fishing is good, just throw out the lines and forget the boards. They become too much to hassle with. I have trolled as many as five lines out the back of my boat and had very very little problems with tangles not using planers. The trick is cooperation and boat control. In fact WH2 and I got into the worst tangle ever running four lines, no planers and it wasnt that big of a deal. Some tips for when the going is slow and you want to cover more water.<br>Swing the planer out wawy from the boat and drop it in then provide slow resistance. This will welp the board to keep from diving and just move out to the side. <br>Unlike bear lake mack, I always use fireline on my planers, not to say its better or worse, just that its what is on my biatcasters to help with backlashes and so it gets cliped onto planers as well. I have no problems with it. <br>When going fast, dont let out a lot of line, like bear lake mack said, they wont go far at high speed, but if you let out too much, the board will turn in the water and you will have the water smacking it rather than it cutting through the water. <br>I use very small planers made by church tackle, I used to use offshore planers but they were too heavy for light spinning tackle and completley loaded down the rod. A smaller board provides less resistance but waves will sometimes roll over them and give more of a chance for them to dive. <br>Bottom line is if you can catch fish with out ANY extra junk, planers, downriggers, snap weights, ect. do it. <br><br>UNICORN CATCHER F.L.P.

[BearLakeMack]

I'm using the Off Shore planar boards and they handle the chop really well. I have literally bounced them through the chop only to have them glide very nice through it. I have not really found them to be a hassle except for two things. If they release from the line you have to go back for them and after dark you better not use them for that reason unless you use the "traditional" attach method that permanently attaches them to you line.<br><br>One good thing about them is if you get hook ups on lines behind the boat you don't have to worry about the planar line, it safe and away from all the action. It's one less thing you need to worry about. <br><br>another advantage to planar boards are not only do you have the luxury of fishing away from the boat but also if the fish are close to the surface, any fish that are scared away by the boat, could be driven outside in the planars path.<br><br>Just my two cents....<br><br>