I would like to know what would be a good brand of planer board to use. Some type that I could troll slow and still get some distance away from the boat. I have seen a few used but it seemed like you had to be moving pretty fast to get them to go on out. Looking to get on the striper scene. Thanks for any advice.......Bluejay

There are many opinions on planer boards.Personally I have used offshore boards they are kind of heavy and a little pricey but they work well.The other brand that I suggest is water bugz made in nc. They are lighter and lower cost not quite as durable but really efficent.There is also the option of homemade. some really good designs out there. Stay away from yellow birds. good luck

What do you not like about the yellow bird planers?

they do not have a aggressive outward track and it takes a lot more foreward motion to make them go to the side. the key with live bait fishing is to pull as slow as possible, if you were fishing with only one set of bds this would be ok,but if you want to fish multiple bds this would not work very well.

I love my Offshore in-line boards. Not only are they great for livebaiting but they will easily handle 8 colors of leadcore, a Cordell Deepfin, or even an umbrella rig with ease. The new Yellowbirds may do this but the old ones certainly would not. The only problem I have is the release wears after time and sometimes releases prematurely but that is remedied by taking a turn around the arm and then clipping in the release.

I bought two a while back on Ebay from a guy who makes them out of aluminum with hard, non-porous foam flotation. He's a Striper guide and said he designed them primarily for pulling live bait. They work great for me pulling cranks too and will run almost parallel to the boat at slow speeds. Get up near 2 MPH and they start to lunge. $30 a set incl shipping.
His web address is http://www.striperaddiction.com/

I bought some of those that JD talks about. They are the best homemade boards I have ever used. For pulling shad <1mph I really don't think there is a better designed board. The offshore brand boards work great too, but they are $20-25 apiece.

Forgot to add, I don't really like the yellow bird's either. They don't pull out to the sides as easily as heavier boards do. Like someone eles mentioned, if you only want to run 1 set of boards out from the boat a little they will work fine for that.

Each board has it pros and cons. I run the Orange SST Offshores cuz I like to pull BIG Gizzards and I like the pigtail clips that are easy to get on/off mainline. No swivels to rust or break. The bigger baits will sink the Bugz and the Redneck boards, but they do great for smaller baits and run much more aft with less boat speed than the offshore.