I first started using sideplaners back when I was a teenager. There was a hole on the Sauk that I just couldn't get my drift gear to. There was a log jam and heavy brush surrounding it. I was tired of watching drift boats pound fish out of there not to mention those damn steelies were rollin' all the time in there. Soon I discovered that I could plug 'em right from the bank with a sideplaner.

What I discovered through a lot of trial and error was that these things are a real pain in the ass to use properly. In a driftboat you let your plugs out somewhere in the fifty foot range so they can dive down and they're not going to be so close to the boat that they spook fish. A little different with the sideplaner as they don't displace water like a boat and subsequently don't spook fish that bad. You still need to let out a lot of line so the plug can dive unless you're fishing at the head of a shallow riffle or tailout.

What I also discovered is that it took two of us to use the sideplaner properly. After running out about 40 or so feet of leader, one guy would throw the plug out in the current and I'd bust tail to get the planer working out in the current so it was in line with the plug. The first time I got a fish with the planer, I had the release mechanism rigged wrong or set too tight and I remember the whole sideplaner going completely underwater and a fish going nuts and jumping at the other end. Holy, sheepnutz Batman! You got one!! The barbless hook didn't hold but I discovered that they do work. Boaters used to get steamin' mad when they showed up at that hole and there were a dozen teenage kids plunking runnin' planers, etc. Pretty funny to watch now that I think about it. How many people out there on this boars remember the circus that I used to have going on on the upper Sauk back in the late 80's and early 90's?

You also need a meatpole to run the planers as they pull hard, especially in faster water. Well, not necessarily a "meat" pole, I really hate that term, but a fairly heavy fast action rod. Good luck and tight lines!

Justin
CEO, Sauk River Steelhead Ranch