Planers

[Jennie@ifish]

Plainers?
Has anyone used these?
I can't get them to work right!
They have been known to be the poor man's drift boat. I can relate!
Jen

[nipper]

I first used a planer on the Sandy at the Stark Street bridge. I climbed down the bank and rigged a planner up with a HotShot. I let it out carefully and walk very slowly down the bank with it. Definitely the "poor mans driftboat" One thing that helped was to keep my rod tip high. This seemed to help the blade catch the water better and get the rig out farther. Anyway, the thing worked and this is how I caught my first two Sandy Springers. They sure were tasty on the grill. I think its a valid alternative to plunking if the current is right.

Nipper

[Carver_OR]

Jen,
I used them for my clients on the Deschutes and had fantastic days...they work great!

Getting ready...
Run your line through the planner as shown in the directions. With the planner pointing up river use the large blade and have it attached and pointing to the oppisite side of the river that your on. Stand in the water or be at a spot that has current within reach of your rods tip.

I think your ready for the hard part...
Hang onto your rod and hit the free spool letting the planner be held in your hand (put your rod under your arm in your pit). Take the plug and hook it on your body don't put the plug in the water yet, its the last thing to go in the water.
Okay you have your reel in free spool, the planners in your hand (pointing up river) and the plug is hooked on your body.
From the back of the planner pull out line two feet at a time and count how many times you do this..two feet times ten times = twenty feet behind the planner the plug will be...adjust the amount of line pulled off the reel to the size of the hole your fishing.

Remember I said you need to be standing in the water in a current if possable.
The line you have been pulling off needs to be in the water in the current...so now you have a bow in the line and its not all balled up at your feet .
Twenty feet of line in the water below you, planner in your hand, plug hooked on your clothing , rod in your arm pit...trust me it will work.

With the plannner in your hand and pointing up river flip the wire TOWARDS you and lock it in. Now take the line between the wires eye let and the hole in the body that the line goes through and wrap it three times around the nub/tip at the front of the planner...pinch the line with your fingers so the wraps don't come off the nub. Now take hold of your main line a foot or so above the planner holding pressure on your main line to the planner, let go of the nub. The planner is now in the air hanging with the raps aroung the nub, the wire pointing towards you, the wing pointing towards the oppisite side of the river, the plug hooked on your pocket, and the line from the planner to the plug in the water below you.

Is this going to be a novel?
Okay, you have the planner in the air holding onto the line above it with your hand. Don't touch the planner, hold it in the air with the line. Any slack line to the planner is going to let the three raps come off the nub. Gently take your rod out from under your arm and suspend the planner with your rod. So now the planner is hanging three to five feet off the tip of your rod. Set the planner into the water in current it should pull out and away from you and head to the other side of the river. Move it away from you 10 feet or so and make sure the trailing line to the plug has cleared from the bank not stuck on a stick or garbage. The planner is working away from you the line from the planner to the plug is clear..take the plug from your pocket and throw it BELOW the planner. Your fishing!

A few things to tune you and your planner...

Raising your rod tip will move the planner farther out in to the river.
Letting your line touch the water will move the planner towards you.
Use a small piece of pencile lead attached to the wing of the planner will prevent wind and heavy current from turning the planner upside down.
The planner will pull on the tip of the rod don't set the hook till the planner takes off down river or disappears under water ( or you'll need to do steps 1 through 100 again).

They work great...we'll all be waitng for the first fish story on a side planner.

Pat

[Jennie@ifish]

I tried the planer last year.
I'll try again with your helpful info.
The fact remains... I have to get to the other side of the river!

----
October
Never mind that I have a whole stretch of river bank to fish. I need to fish the other side!
My bobber floats down the current, mid stream, and my arm is suspended high. I am trying to avoid a large belly in my line. I mend it, but am unable to reach that pocket that must hold thousands of big lunker chinook. They are just out of my reach. Plans run through my head... the canoe! I could put the canoe in, run over there, sit on that rock and then I would be into these fish!
The fish may not even be there, but my imagination insists they are.
They are there, therefore I am not.
The canoe might be dangerous, I tell myself... I have kids who care, ("My Mommy drowned trying to get those fish") and besides, how would I haul that 50 lb chinook back to home base? My mind races with possibilities, scenarios.
Back to the garage to get the side planer. This is my canoe, my poor mans drift boat. Thirty minutes at my kitchen table, reading and building my weapon of choice, I head out to experiment.
It's like learning to fly a kite. Constant maneuvering, constant attention paid to which currents are swift enough to carry my lure, and yet deep enough to hold the weight off the bottom. I will get to that magic fish producer over there. I am an addict desperate for a fix.
Two hours, and two aching arms later, I know. I must get the canoe. Yeah, sure, the side planer got me over there, but the fish need bait. Eggs and shrimp, not a wobbler. (A spinner, not a herring. Eggs, not shrimp. The Wilson, not the Trask...A drift rig, not a bobber...) Those fish are still there, those magic, invisible fish that are eluding me. They eluded me the whole of Chinook season on the Kilchis last year. This year I cannot let that happen. My fish ego will die.
My fitful sleep was full of ideas last night. I did trouble shooting in my mind.
Bill could get out the drift boat and give me a ride. "Please, Bill.... to the other side". He will comply, but will he remember I am there? Will he begin mowing the lawn, the last of the late summer growth, become absorbed in his chore list and forget me? Would darkness come and I would be lost in the forest? The fish I caught become bait for the bears to come get me? Or would he see me catch those fish, become green with envy and purposely leave me there? Would some friendly drift boat-passer by have mercy on me and let me hitch a ride?
"Let's give that poor girl with those big fish a ride home." I don't think so. It's hard to play innocent girl on the other side of the river when you have a limit of fresh, chrome chinook.
I do know, if I could only get to the other side of the river, life would be good again. Salmon would be dancing on my line, cast after cast. Dream upon dreams will be made.
From my standing place on the bank, I stare past the waters that hold me back as effectively as a bull in a meadow. That moss covered rock over there, where I would lay out my tackle and bask in the dim winter sun. The dark, green, depths of chinook holding water, so close to me that I could reach out and touch the backs of those silver flashes in the water.
The grass is always greener, the river always more full of fish... if I could only get to the other side.

Print this Jen. Kinda' a pain to get going, but once you do, you can walk the bank with a plug and cover a lot of water, or hold them in spot like you were sitting in a driftboat, dependent on the bank angles.

http://www.luhr-jensen.com/tr_hot_shot_planer.htm

[ 11-15-2001: Message edited by: ****** ]</p>