How to make your own planer boards for cheaper than retail

[lugoismad]

The finished product.

You will need:
A 12"x24" sheet of plexiglass
Eyebolts, 2 nuts for each and 2 large washers for each
Line clips.
Solid core pool noodle
Planer Board Clips. I bought mine on ebay
Zip ties
3M Spray Glue

Last week I went on a striper fishing charter with my dad on Lake Cumberland.
They stock Hybrid Stripers in a lake near my house and I wanted to learn how to fish for them better. We've not had a lot of luck in the past

These are the planer boards they were using. I looked them up online, and they were selling for $120 for a 4 pack. No way I'm paying that much for something that simple.

All of the stuff you will need for the project (Besides the planer board clips, which I forgot on my desk in my office). You will need a razor knife, drill and jigsaw.

Cut the plexi into 6x12 pieces.

Here we are after cutting them up.

Zip tie on your line clips. This is what will keep you from losing the board after the fish bites and your planer board clip comes loose. I may upgrade these to something stronger in the future, but I didn't have any metal rings like on the clear board product.

I installed the eye bolt 2" down and 3" over from the opposite corner of the line clip.

Attach your planer board clip. I bought a set of 6 on ebay for $12.

Cut a slit in your solid core pool noodle with the razor knife, spray the top of the plexi with the 3M glue and give it 20 seconds or so to dry, then slide the plexi into the slit. Tada. Your done.

 

[Stumpalump]

What are they?

 

[overboard]

Thank you for the instructions on how to make them, I may have to upgrade my old bulky wooden ones to a set or two of them.

 

[LDUBS]

What are they?

Used for trolling. Instead of dragging a lure behind, the planer board takes the line out to the side of the boat.

 

[Captain Ahab]

You do not need to use plexi - wood will work as will lots of other similar material.

 

[Butthead]

Very cool idea. What kind of trolling weight can these boards handle?
I'm assuming these are used for light lures like trolling with crankbaits or stickbaits? Can they handle big tandem rigs or umbrella rigs?
I need to make a pair of planer boards that can each handle about 3 or 4 sets of tandem rigs, but don't want to deal with the big wood ones on my little 18'er.

 

[lugoismad]

Very cool idea. What kind of trolling weight can these boards handle?
I'm assuming these are used for light lures like trolling with crankbaits or stickbaits? Can they handle big tandem rigs or umbrella rigs?
I need to make a pair of planer boards that can each handle about 3 or 4 sets of tandem rigs, but don't want to deal with the big wood ones on my little 18'er.

I've not actually taken them out yet! I'm going to do so on Sunday.

That pool noodle I used is super thick and the 5 foot section is meant to float a fat lady jazzercising in a pool. I'd say it could hold up a few ounces easily.

 

[KMixson]

Very cool idea. What kind of trolling weight can these boards handle?
I'm assuming these are used for light lures like trolling with crankbaits or stickbaits? Can they handle big tandem rigs or umbrella rigs?
I need to make a pair of planer boards that can each handle about 3 or 4 sets of tandem rigs, but don't want to deal with the big wood ones on my little 18'er.

You can get them to handle some pretty decent lure weights. When I was younger and would go fishing of the coast of South Carolina we would use these to drag the lure down to whatever depth we wanted the lure to be while fishing for mackerel, wahoo and such. We had outriggers to keep the lines spread apart.

 

[Butthead]

Very cool idea. What kind of trolling weight can these boards handle?
I'm assuming these are used for light lures like trolling with crankbaits or stickbaits? Can they handle big tandem rigs or umbrella rigs?
I need to make a pair of planer boards that can each handle about 3 or 4 sets of tandem rigs, but don't want to deal with the big wood ones on my little 18'er.

You can get them to handle some pretty decent lure weights. When I was younger and would go fishing of the coast of South Carolina we would use these to drag the lure down to whatever depth we wanted the lure to be while fishing for mackerel, wahoo and such. We had outriggers to keep the lines spread apart.

It sounds like you're talking about a different kind of planer:

 

[Captain Ahab]

Very cool idea. What kind of trolling weight can these boards handle?
I'm assuming these are used for light lures like trolling with crankbaits or stickbaits? Can they handle big tandem rigs or umbrella rigs?
I need to make a pair of planer boards that can each handle about 3 or 4 sets of tandem rigs, but don't want to deal with the big wood ones on my little 18'er.

You can get them to handle some pretty decent lure weights. When I was younger and would go fishing of the coast of South Carolina we would use these to drag the lure down to whatever depth we wanted the lure to be while fishing for mackerel, wahoo and such. We had outriggers to keep the lines spread apart.

It sounds like you're talking about a different kind of planer:

That is a planer - used to get your lure down to a depth. What he built does not dive but rides on the surface to spread the lure out to the side,. The ones we use for stripers in the chessy handle a 16oz mojo no problem - you can troll about 12 to 20 lines depending on the set up (and number of rods you have )

 

[lugoismad]

Update: I tried them out yesterday. Worked fantastic! Didn't catch anything, but at least we looked good trying!

 

[LDUBS]

Very cool idea. What kind of trolling weight can these boards handle?
I'm assuming these are used for light lures like trolling with crankbaits or stickbaits? Can they handle big tandem rigs or umbrella rigs?
I need to make a pair of planer boards that can each handle about 3 or 4 sets of tandem rigs, but don't want to deal with the big wood ones on my little 18'er.

If you want depth as well as going out sideways, take a look at Dipsy Divers. Might work for you.

 

[LDUBS]

Update: I tried them out yesterday. Worked fantastic! Didn't catch anything, but at least we looked good trying!

Nice. I've never used these but am intrigued after seeing your homemade versions.

 

[Butthead]

Very cool idea. What kind of trolling weight can these boards handle?
I'm assuming these are used for light lures like trolling with crankbaits or stickbaits? Can they handle big tandem rigs or umbrella rigs?
I need to make a pair of planer boards that can each handle about 3 or 4 sets of tandem rigs, but don't want to deal with the big wood ones on my little 18'er.

If you want depth as well as going out sideways, take a look at Dipsy Divers. Might work for you.

I've got a bunch of Dipsy Divers, but they just don't plane out wide enough with my baits, even when adjusted to the max. The spread would be fine for fishing smaller baits, but not for how I'm using them. And I don't want to go to larger Dipsys, because then the Dipsys would be way bigger than the baits I'm pulling...and knowing my luck, the fish would probably hit the divers and ignore my baits. :LOL2: