Water bugz planer boards full#
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I was able to understand instantly what he wanted and assist in getting the rod right back into the trolling array. At one point during a flurry of action, Philips passed me a rod and instructed me to let out 50 feet of line and then another 50 feet of board line. There are other practical benefits to line counters. Line-counting reels allow you to refine your arrangement and dial back into a productive setup once you find it. The added thickness of the monofilament also helps the board clips to hold.

Water bugz planer boards free#

Seventeen- to 20-pound mono is preferred, because it offers some stretch to reduce the pressure the board might place on a fish while playing it, hence reducing the chance of the fish tearing free or shaking the hook. This requires that the board be unclipped from the line once it gets to the boat, but with a little practice, it’s only a minor inconvenience.Ī light-duty line-counter trolling reel and an 8- to 10-foot medium to medium-heavy downrigger rod are ideal for this type of work. In this way, much of the board’s pressure is released when you want to reel in the lines or fight a fish. On the front of the board, Philips leaves the light-duty factory clip, which will disengage when either a fish hits or the angler applies a sharp snap to the rod tip. This enables the board to be reeled back to the boat, rather than coming off while fighting the fish. It has a centre pin that makes it almost impossible to unclip from the line without some effort from the angler. Examples include rocky ledges and boulder fields or humps, which are common shallow-water hangouts for lunker pike.Įven in open water, you will find cases where pike and muskie close to the surface move to the side of the boat.Īt first glance, Philips’ system seems simple, while in fact every aspect of it has gone through years of testing and refinement.įor planer boards, he opts for clip-on models from Offshore, which he modifies by replacing the rear clip with a drop-weight clip. Planer boards can also be used to reach into areas too treacherous for a boat. This is especially true when running multiple lines, where fish might be exposed to more than one lure in your trolling spread.Īnother traditional use for planer boards is to intercept fish that spook from the boat, particularly in clear, shallow water. The simple fact that they spread lines out over a wide area means you’re covering more water and fish. There are good reasons to use in-line planer boards for pike. It was a clear example of how effective in-line planer boards can be in the right situation. The weedbed yielded a seemingly endless supply of feisty pike ranging from 3 to 7 pounds.

Water bugz planer boards full#

This set the tone for the rest of the morning, as the three of us struggled to keep a full complement of lines in the water. There would be little time to admire the first fish, as the second rod went off, followed shortly by the third and final one. Our guide had grown to rely on the consistency of this area’s burgeoning pike population to put a few easy fish in the boat for his clients, and the approach was working like a charm.Here’s a short list of popular models to consider. Choosing the right board is as much a matter of personal preference as it is selecting one with enough buoyancy and pull to manage the size of your lure. The first fish is always an important milestone, and this one provided my son with a much-needed outlet for the pent-up anticipation that started building when I first offered to take him along.Ĭlip-on planer boards offer simplicity and convenience that work for both big and small boats alike. My eldest son snapped up the trolling outfit and engaged our first fish of the day. We no sooner had lines in the water when one of the planer-board rods started to sing. In places, the vegetation was so thick that it reached the surface.Īs is typical for Philips at this time of year, he clipped on in-line planer boards and began trolling, in hopes of locating hungry post-spawn pike scattered throughout the many acres of lush weed growth spread across the area. The depth ranged from 5 to 8 feet, and there was just enough colour in the water that we could barely make out the bottom if we looked really hard. On this trip, he opted to start working a large weed flat adjacent to a known pike spawning area. While his territory straddles the Ontario, Quebec, and New York borders, his approaches are applicable to any number of waterbodies. Philips guides for pike, walleye, and muskie on the St. Such were my thoughts while fishing for pike with fishing guide Mike Philips last spring, where he shared an approach that was so simple and effective, it seemed hard to improve upon.

In many cases, complex solutions are merely stepping stones toward a more simple and effective way of doing things. For me, the true mark of excellence is when something looks so easy that you lose sight of its cleverness.