Quinte Fishing

I spoke to a professional angler this week and asked for some advice regarding pickeral fishing in the Hay Bay area at this time of the year.
His response was that you won't catch fish unless you use planer boards!!
Unfortunately. I do not have planer boards, and I am wondering if I am wasting my time flatlining.
Any replies will be appreciated!!! Thanks-----tight lines!!

I trolled with my dad for about 4 hours on Saturday. We trolled with deep diving crankbaits without planer boards. We managed to catch one that weighed 9.75 lbs. I guess it must be the luck of the Irish but I'm not Irish!

One thing that I must add is if you do use planer boards, be courtious to other anglers when trolling. We almost had a run in with another boat that tried to turn. With planer boards on both sides of the boat you are gonna take up a lot of room on the water. So when turning make sure that there are no other boats around you!

Thats ludicrous RJ, you don't need planar boards. I find it funny, with all

of todays technologies, planar boards, graphite rods, hi-tech fishing line,

how did those people 30 years ago plus manage to land a fish at all? All

kidding aside RJ, this will be my first trip up to Quinte in the fall, and the

only reason I am willing to freeze my butt off is because of my Dad's

success in the fall, he's had several days where he has caught 40+

walleyes in a night, none under 10lbs, released of course, without the use

of planar boards. Do planar boards help, I'm sure they do, but are you

lost without them, heck no. I for one am willing to prove it, boy am I

brash.

I've seen both Wayne-O-Mac and De-Prop pull up 8-11 lb. big pig walleyes flatlining at the same time that my lure is out the side of the boat on a planer board.

You can so catch big pig wallys flatlining. Pro, my svelte sexy little ass.

There you have it. You can catch'em without planer boards. Here's a tip that might help a little. Depending on how loud your outboard is, you should vary your line lengths. For instance, with a nice quiet motor you can run short lines, like you would off planers because the fish aren't spooked as much by the motor sound. If you're trolling with an old loud motor from the seventies, let out lots more line. Your lure will dive deeper and maybe those fish that were spooked by the motor will move back where they were when you spooked them initially.
The thing is, you can go out without boards and get skunked and say" If I had used boards I would have caught something" But you'll never know for sure. What about if you use boards and get skunked, would you say "If I hadn't used boards I would have caught something" Keep watching and find out what's working for other boats. And if you do decide that you have to get boards, in-line planers are easy to use and take up next to no space in your boat. Then you don't have any excuse except "They just weren't biting" ( I use that one all the time!!)

It's not a matter of whether or not you can catch walleyes without boards or not. It's a matter of optimization. Are you happy catching 2 or 3 fish a day without boards. If so keep on fishin. If not spend a little money and move up a notch. To me , if you are not catching 10 to 15 big walleyes a day on Quinte you are doing something wrong. Night fishing is a different animal. I have met some night fishermen that called me a liar when I told them of my daytime success. I look at it this way. It costs me more for a round trip to Quinte in fuel than it costs for a couple inline boards. Every PWT competitor I fish against has at least a half dozen of them. It's not a coincidence or a sales promotion that causes this sort of dedication to a particular tactic. It's results. If you have to ask the question" do I need boards " then there must be something lacking in your results. If you were filling the boat every day you wouldn't be questioning yourself now would you. Go out and buy 2 Offshore boards and dedicate yourself to learning how to use them well. It took me a full season to get confident in using boards so don't be impatient. I wouldn't take out a client without them.

Point taken targa2. Note, I absolutely respect your fishing knowledge, heck, your on the PWT, that says it all, and heard your a heck of a nice guy too boot. That being said, theres no question planar boards can only help, its logical, even in my earlier reply I stated they do, however, don't you have to buy heavier rods, and possibly heavier line than what a normal flatliner is use to? I can be wrong there. As well, don't you miss the feeling of the strike using planar boards?

Just like any technique, fishing is all about increasing your odds of catching fishing. By using planar boards you are doing this. This is not to say that you won't catch fish when not using planer boards.

Think about it. How many times have you been fishing all day with the best equiment and techniques and still haven't caught that lunker big fish. You come into the dock and there is someone on the dock, without a boat, fishing with a Canadian Tire special rod and reel, and they show you a fish bigger than you caught all day. In this scenario you could argue why buy a boat if you can catch fish off the dock. Now who is going to say that. Of course a boat is a valuable fishing tool but you can still catch fish with out one.

Don't be afraid to try new things but what I will say is stick with what works for you. If you are catching fish simply flat lining, keep flat lining. Don't change when what your are doing is working.

Just another side note, you can still feel the strike when using planer boards provided you are holding the rod.

Cheers,

Mike

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Wish I wasn't here...Rather be fishing if you know what I mean

Well I Never use boards, more because I'm not familiar with their use. Do most of my fishing between the hours of 15:00 and midnight. We've had great nights and slow nights. Generally near the pump house working to the C plant. Targa2 hit it on the head...it's about optimization....Fish 'On.....WIG

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WIG

The beuty of the boards is your not competing for the same fish, everyone on board gets his own strike zone.
the next thing is the action is different on each side, in a turn the outside line runs faster and the inside might stop and sink, suspend or rise up depending on the lure.
The waves will put some action on the lures too.

The downfalls are, you can get into a mess if you stop to fight the fish and drift over the lines before you get a chance to clear them. Clear the downwind board first. This is more of a problem salmon fishing where you might take 1/2 or more to land them.

Black boards are hard to see, its up to you to make yourself visable so bright colour boards with lots of fags help, and if you show your broadside for a couple seconds in the direction you want to turn it can help out those around you.
If everyone knows the collision rules there should be no problem using boards. (mind you the guy running a 150' spread on opening day might be asking for trouble)

Always remember rule #? If the other guy dosn't know what he's doing, its up to you.