CrappieNOW Publisher and professional crappie tournament angler, Dan Dannenmueller,
says he doesn’t consider his arsenal fully equipped unless he has Off Shore Tackle planer boards on the boat.
Planer Boards for All Seasons
by Alan Clemons
Quick as a flash, the undersized crappie grabbed my Road Runner with a curl-tail grub and tried to dart away as I set the hook. At the time, my aunt’s pond was loaded with stunted crappie, big largemouth bass and bluegills. As the hooked crappie darted to and fro, a largemouth appeared and engulfed the little spec with one big gulp.
Pond crappie aren’t like those on a lake or river system, of course. But the scenario rings true in regard to baitfish. The hungry largemouth bass saw the flittering crappie as a big, tasty meal. That it was struggling indicated easier prey the bass quickly took advantage of.
It left me momentarily stunned, then giddy like a kid having fun, and ultimately with a dying, half-scaled crappie after the bass spit it out. I got my Road Runner back, adjusted the grub and went back to catching undersized crappie.
Knowing about baitfish is key to any kind of fishing. Whether it’s for crappie, bass and bluegills on a lake, or redfish, grouper and marlin in the ocean – having insights on baitfish helps with catching anything. Baitfish makes the fishing world go ‘round. Without it, there are no bigger fish. And the cycle isn’t just about bluegills for cats or big minnows for crappie. It starts with the base of the food chain — plankton — consumed by minnows and shad, which are eaten by bluegills and crappie, which are … and on and on.
Trolling for Crappie
Few things are as enjoyable as quietly easing along at slow speed for crappie, rods in the holders and lively minnows or lures trailing along.
One thing about trolling, though, is unless you’re using a reel that measures how much line is out, you may not be in the hot strike zone. You may be close, but close doesn’t always count.
Consistently putting your bait or lure at a specific depth — and keeping it there — is what puts more crappie in the boats.
Planer boards are generally the best way to do that. Spider-rigging is great, but if crappie are spooky, getting lures away from the boat means more fish.
“Crappie can be boat shy but using planer boards enables me to present the lures away from the boat,” explained Capt. Scott Lillie in last month’s CrappieNOW. “I adjust the line length trailing behind the planer board to target deeper water as necessary.”
It takes some time to figure out the perfect combination, but once you do arrive at the magic formula it will work time and time again. And not just that particular day, but throughout that season and probably the next year, and the next and so on.
Unless you live where your water freezes in the winter, planer boards work year-round. The area, lures and depths you fish will change with the seasons… but planer boards allow you to always provide that super consistent presentation perfectly.
Off Shore Tackle is one purveyor of numerous trolling accessories, including a cool item called the Tadpole Resettable Diving Weight. You use the Tadpole to get your lure or bait deeper, thanks to its lip-style design. If you’re trolling with crankbaits, for example, or minnow-tipped jigs, this could put them in deeper water.
Another cool item for crappie is the Awesome Crappie Mini Planer Board with Float. It’s perfect for light-tackle fishing — like crappie — and runs directly off your rod’s line. The boards are carefully weighted and designed to help keep your baits running in the correct line and depths.
Off Shore Tackle provides a super library of videos showing different products, rigging tactics and other information to help get started. If you’re already trolling, you might pick up a hot tip to try next time on the water.
As the seasons change, a crappie’s food preferences change. When spring rolls into summer and then autumn, baitfish spawn, grow, move around and seek their own preferred areas. Predators are happy to follow along, gorging on everything from just-hatched fry to 3- and 4-inch meals. Trolling for crappie with feisty minnows on heavy jigs and crankbaits that also work for bass blew me away, until I saw the results. Adding trolling methods can help you catch fish all year long.
Alan Clemons is an award-winning professional writer who has hunted and fished in more than 40 states and three countries. He has written about news, sports, outdoors and more since 1984. Some of his first memories of fishing are of catching catfish. Clemons is married and lives in Alabama.
