Three-Dimensional Trolling Systems for Working Open Water

Church Tackle Gary Roach Mister Walleye Super Clip Drop Weight—A tongue twister if ever there were one, but fortunately, not one to twist your line. Insert line into a stainless steel clip and spring mechanism, coated with a soft grip face, to hold the sinker in place. Kit available with multiple clips and sinker sizes.

Wille Chief’s Zonie—This modified planer board release arrangement will affix a wide range of light to heavy 0(a pound or more) weights to your line. Twists as tight as necessary, using a rubber liner to prevent line damage. Weights above 3 ounces typically are too heavy for use with online planers, but they’re a good option for trolling excessively deep for lakers, trout, salmon, or walleyes.

Big Jon Elberta Clip’er—Big Jon features their Elberta Clip’er as a multiuse downrigger slider, cannonball release, and sinker slider. The sinker slider application works like a snap weight. Add a snap to the furnished swivel, attach a weight, and you’re set.

Redi Rig In-Line Releaser—This multifunctional release can be used as either a sliding or fixed-position snap weight. Add a sinker, thread onto your line, retract the shaft to expose the clip, wrap line once around the clip, and release at the desired position. If you rig it to release and let the weight slide down the line on the strike, add a barrel swivel inline ahead of the lure to prevent the sinker from bonking the fish on the nose.

Snap weights grip monofilament without accidentally detaching during strikes; mono’s inherent stretch absorbs strike impact. Nostretch superlines, however, receive sudden impact strikes, possibly causing the clip to prematurely detach, losing the assembly. When trolling with superlines, add a safety snap swivel between the clip and your main fishing line, or thread your line through the clip before attaching via the pinch pad. Then, if the clip detaches, the weight assembly slides down the line, much like a Redi-Rig In-Line Releaser.

Planer Boards

In recent years, on-line (in-line) planer boards have become the rage among open-water walleye trollers. Boards feature an angled front forward surface and carry lines either to the left or right of the boat. Because boards clamp directly to the line, they provide an alternative to investing in heavy hardware like downriggers.

While most popular boards feature an easy snap-on attachment, all boards are not created equal. Some are larger, featuring increased flotation. Most are weighted to ride better in rough water or at extremely slow speeds.

Yellow Birds were the first in-line boards. These lightweight boards were originally designed for presenting crankbaits to salmon and trout in shallow water, and they worked best with lures that didn’t have a lot of pull. They initially lacked ballast because they were never meant to be used at low speeds.

Boards without ballast are designed to run at about 1.75 to 4 mph; any slower and they fall over. Then when they start moving again, they tangle 20 to 40 percent of the time.

Stop-and-start trolling can be effective for walleyes, muskies, stripers, and other fish, but the board has to stay upright when stopped. If it tips, it submerges when you start again.

When a salmon hits, it’ll strip 30 to 60 yards of line. Boards rigged to pop free and slide down the line on a snap work best for salmon, because hard-fighting fish can’t use them for leverage to create slack and undue stress on line.

But for livebait rigging or slow-trolling crankbaits, boards with ballast are best. Walleyes don’t make gut-wrenching runs. Don’t pull on a walleye, and it doesn’t seem to know what’s happening. Walleyes grab a lure and try to swim off with it. If the board pops and slides, you lose fish. Maintain positive tension between the board and the fish.