Guide Corey Thomas (left) says using planer boards has dramatically improved his
crappie trolling success, especially in the clear waters of Dale Hollow Lake.
Up Your Crappie Game with Planer Boards
by Greg McCain
Trollers have long dealt with the problem of spooking fish while approaching too close or passing over them.
Whether they spider rig or long line, fishermen know they spook fish. It has become even more apparent with the use of live imaging sonar. They combat the issue in various ways – using longer rods while spider rigging or letting out 100 feet of line, or more, while long lining. Neither remedy is a cure-all for spooked crappie.
Crappie guide Corey Thomas says he has found the perfect solution – at least for him and especially on crappie mecca Dale Hollow Lake on the Kentucky-Tennessee border. Thomas loves to deploy planer boards for skittish fish in the extremely clear Dale Hollow Lake.
Thomas’ trolling game has evolved from traditional long lining, which involves a spread of lines directly behind the boat, to what he believes is the new-and-improved version using planer boards. The boards pull Thomas’s lines far out to the side of the boat where fish haven’t been spooked or perhaps, fled when the boat did approach.
Thomas admits his planers boards sat idle in a storage compartment for years, until he realized he was spooking fish. He said the boards but immediately produced when once he began to put them into play.
“I still enjoy long-lining, especially early in the year when the fish are a little deeper,” Thomas said. “Everybody thinks that using planer boards is complicated and difficult to do, but I have fewer tangles than I do when I am (traditional) long-lining.
“It’s just easier. I love planer boards. (Clients) love the visual of those planer boards taking off. I’ve basically gotten away from traditional long lining and pull planer boards the whole season.”
Thomas can launch his spread of six rods, with boards, in less than two minutes. And through experience he knows exactly how to rig his jigs and how much line to let out to reach the desired depth.
Thomas helped design planer boards for Bubs Daddy. They clip to the main line above a single- or double-jig set-up, much like the bobber above a split shot and minnow. Off Shore Tackle Mini-Planers are also an excellent option.
The deeper the fish, the more line is used to reach the desired depth, but Thomas emphasizes that the “short leads” behind the boards are one of joys of this type of fishing, minimizing the tangles created by thrashing fish in traditional long-lining.
Thomas favors B’n’M Poles and spools his reels with Trout Magnet SOS 4-pound test line, emphasizing the need to avoid hi-vis versions in clear-water situations. At the end of the line, Thomas uses a variety of jigs up to 1/16th oz., including various offerings from Crappie Magnet. He says he experiences his best success with the Fin Spin Pro Series.
When the water is in the 50-degree range, he pulls Jiffy Jigs or hair jigs and moves to the Fin Spins when the water temps increase above 53. The Crappie Magnet Tiny Dancer is a favorite plastic to pair with his jigs.
Once rigged, Thomas puts the combination to work regularly in March on Dale Hollow. In addition to the rigging suggestions, he offers several other practical but often neglected details that will help anyone become more efficient pullers.
One bit of advice he believes in strongly is the use of loop knots.
“Use the planer boards to get your lines out a boat length or two to the side, and it’s
like scooping them up with a butterfly net.” ~ Corey Thomas, Crappie Guide
He recalls pre-fishing a Crappie USA tournament 10 years ago on Weiss Lake in Alabama. His pre-fishing was poor but back at the ramp a local suggested using a loop knot.
“That might be the most valuable thing I’ve ever learned,” Thomas said. “We had caught six or eight fish, but those guides were raking them.”
Lesson learned. Thomas said the loop knot frees up the jig so it swims more naturally.
“The fish just react to it,” he said. “You could have told me that, and I would have never believed it would happen in a hundred years until I saw it happen. We tied that loop knot the rest of the week, and we slayed them. We didn’t win but finished fifth or sixth. That little tip alone changed everything I do.”
Thomas suggests this YouTube video will demonstrate his techniques.
“Make sure you are above the fish,” Thomas said in relation to positioning his lure in the water column. “If you’re one inch too deep, you might zero out there. Shallow it up six inches, and you will limit out. It is a matter of precision. The fish will come up two or three feet to get it, but they will not go an inch down.
“Some people think they quit biting,” he said. “They didn’t quit biting. They moved. They didn’t move horizontally or away; they moved up and down in the water column. Continually re-adjust your depth.”
How does Thomas determine a precise depth of the jig behind the planer board?
“I usually ballpark it, but the main thing is to err on the conservative side and make sure you are above the fish,” said Thomas, who normally pulls at .9 to 1.1 mph. “With 4-pound line and 15 or 20 feet of line behind the board, I’m probably in the four- to five-foot range, and that’s where I want to be if my fish are at seven feet deep.”
Thomas offered a final subtle tip about depth control, one not often practiced by other crappie anglers. He trolls a serpentine path and focuses on which line gets bit in the turns.
“Regardless of whether I am long lining or pulling planer boards, I like to swerve back and forth,” Thomas said. “What that does is speed up the outside, which makes the jig go higher. The inside will get lower. That’s a key, especially if you don’t have a lot of electronics.
“Am I getting bit on the outside of the turn or the inside? You understand that the inside is getting deeper. If you’re getting bit deeper, then you might let a little more line out. If you’re getting bit on the outside, you might need to shorten your leads up.”
“Those fish get real spooky on Dale Hollow,” Thomas said. “Use the planer boards to get your lines out a boat length or two to the side, and it’s like scooping them up with a butterfly net.”
(Greg McCain is a retired educator and freelance writer from prime crappie-fishing territory in northwest Alabama. His regular stories appear on the ACC Crappie Stix blog, in Georgia Outdoors News, and on the Alabama B.A.S.S. Nation website in addition to his contributions to CrappieNow.)
