Off Shore Tackle’s OR12 Side-Planer
By Keith “Catfish” Sutton
Consider adding planer boards to your catfishing gear.
Catfishing enthusiasts are always on the lookout for innovative techniques and tools to improve their success rates. One such game-changing development in recent years has been the adoption of planer boards. These specialized devices are used to spread lines out to the sides of a boat, allowing anglers to cover a wider area of water. They consist of a flat board with a mast and a clip, designed to hold the fishing line and move it away from the boat. The design of planer boards allows for precise control over the depth and distance of your bait presentation.
Planer boards were originally used when trolling for species like walleye and salmon, but they are quickly becoming popular with catfish anglers, too. If you’re getting started with planer boards, we recommend you take a look at the top-quality products available from our sponsor, Off Shore Tackle. The American-made products Off Shore brings to market are fisherman favorites and widely considered the best money can buy.
More than two decades ago, Off Shore introduced the OR12 Side-Planer, which quickly became the in-line planer board all others are compared to. This was the first injection molded and ballasted planer board on the market to feature high quality and functional line releases.
Prior to the introduction of the Side-Planer, other in-line planer boards were made from hollow hard plastic or compressed foam. Both board designs were fragile, the tow arms broke easily, and the line releases sometimes damaged the fishing line. On top of these shortcomings, these early in-line boards didn’t plane out to the side all that well. What good is a planer board that doesn’t plane?
The introduction of the OR12 Side-Planer was a game changer, and recent improvements have made it even more popular. All OR12 Side-Planers come equipped with an improved flag that features an extended tab on the flag stem. This tab design allows the flag to provide four more tension settings to the popular Tattle Flag System. The flags are also sold after market for anglers who wish to update any previous generation OR12 Side-Planer to include the Tattle Flag System.
The ballast chamber on the OR12 has also been redesigned to allow anglers to remove a set screw and move the ballast weight. The ballast weight comes factory set for average trolling conditions. Anglers who pull long lengths of sinking lines now have the option of removing the set screw and sliding the ballast weight forward, increasing the planing ability of the OR12 when towing extra-heavy gear.
The OR12 is just one of the great products available from Off Shore Tackle. For more information, visit www.offshoretackle.com.
