# Trolling w/o a planer board?



## Rembis50

Just getting into fishing from a boat and I have a question hopefully someone could answer. Would it be possible to troll for crappie/panfish without planer boards? Planning on just having two rods out at a time from my jon boat in rod holders. Maybe troll with soft plastics under a slip bobber? Just curious! Thanks!


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## meats52

You can troll without boards. We either drift for crappie or anchor and cast for them.


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## Misdirection

You can also use a pop bottle as a planer board straight out the back. Just rig up a clip and let it float out the back.


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## Popspastime

I almost always flatline for Crappie with jigs and soft tails. I use 4# line so it doesn't plane up in the water. Slow as possible is the trick. Trolling mertilizes them..lol


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## Skippy

Big Joshy used to make an umbrella rig that has caught a good number of crappies for me. Used with 1 big swim and 2 small swims on jigs. Trolling slow just pull it forward a little and let it fall back but keep some tension on your line. Go to fast and it will spin a little so I just rig it up using 2 good ball bearing swivels in front of it. Never caught 3 at one time but a number of doubles.


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## Rembis50

Popspastime said:


> I almost always flatline for Crappie with jigs and soft tails. I use 4# line so it doesn't plane up in the water. Slow as possible is the trick. Trolling mertilizes them..lol


What is flatline?


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## EyeCatchEm

Rembis50 said:


> What is flatline?



Flatline means just your line and lure, no board, no dipsy, no jet.


Sent from my iPhone using Ohub Campfire


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## Rembis50

Oh ok thats what I plan on doing! Haha


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## sherman51

its real easy to troll 4 lines if you have 2 or more people in your boat. you need 2 holders off the back corners at about a 45 degree angle with 6' or 6'6" limber rods and 2 going straight out the side of your boat. about a 9' rod out the sides will keep your lines from tangling. eagle claw feather lite rods works great. you can pick them up on ebay for less than 25.00 per rod. and they are soft enough they wont pull the lips off the crappie. but they still have enough backbone to bring in white bass and small walleyes.

back when we drift fished the western basin on erie I used 2 of the 6'6" rods for eyes. and brought in some pretty good eyes and some big sheep heads.
sherman


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## Raybo92255

I troll without planer boards on inland lakes all the time. Line counter reels/trolling rods with bottom bouncers & night crawler harnesses catch everything including crappies, perch, white bass & bluegill. Also catch a lot of crappie on a Berkley Flicker Shad crank baits in sizes 5-7. Just cast them out and put them in a rod holder on the side of the boat. A size 7 will dive to 12-14' with 15 lb. braided line.


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## Rembis50

Anybody troll with slip bobbers?


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## c. j. stone

Rembis50 said:


> Anybody troll with slip bobbers?


Probably would pull the line(and lure) up to the bobber. If you want to try this, use a clip on bobber set to a reasonable/preferred depth, and move s-l-o-w!


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## sherman51

Rembis50 said:


> Anybody troll with slip bobbers?


I have drift fished with bobbers and split shot and live minnows. but for trolling I just use small cranks and troll slow. with a bobber on your line you cranks aren't going to dive very deep.


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