What size and action rod do you suggest to use for planerboards?

Answer:

When we designed the Walleye Angler Signature Series Trolling Rods for Bass Pro. We first of all wanted a stiff enough butt section to handle all the weighty things we use for trolling. Deep Diving Cranks, Big spinners, Offshore Snap Weights, In-line Weights, In-Line Planer Boards, Lead Core… But, we wanted a tip that would be fairly flexible because you often times have to fight in a fish a long way – and the biggest head shakes inevitably come at boatside.

So, I would say our rods are a Fast Taper as most of the be occurs in the last 1/3 to 1/4 of the rod (at the tip). I would call the action Med Heavy in the butt section, Medium to ML in the tip section.

For lengths we chose 7&1/2, 8 and 8&1/2 foot. All of the rods telescope down about 1’3″ shorter for easier storage. I would suggest going with the longest rod you can store in your rod holder when they are collapsed down. The longer the rod, the more fighting tip we were able to encorporate in the rod – so I think you will loose fewer fish.

Now, there are some people who just prefer shorter rods (that is what they are used to or maybe they are not real tall) which is fine – the 7’6″ are very popular in our line-up.

If you like the short ones, then you won’t like our newest rod in the line-up – it is a 12 footer. We use this more for running lines without boards (referred to as flat lines) because they give us a huge amount of spread. They do take a little getting used to – kind of a pain to string up line through the eyelets – but they do their job well – covering more water.

Bite On!

Gary Parsons