I have spent a lot of time using hot shot side planners trolled from my boat for trout. the hot shot is in my opion the one to use if you modifiy it a little. The main problem with the other board systems to me are the cost and the trouble. the big boards that run off of towers are expensive and not suited to small boat and small lakes. At the time I started to play around with side planners I was running a 12 ft delhi with a 25evenrude and a electric trolling motor on small serria lakes. there is not enoght room on the smaller lakes to run big boards with all the skiers and other fishermen who are not looking for side boards. even with hot shots I have had a few ran over.( high vis line helps)
So here is what I have came up with and it works pretty good. I use the hot shot side planners for afew reasons. thier cheap and they attach to your line. they also run even with the back of your boat not behind and to the side. In a small boat or if you are not side planning every day its much easier to just add the side planner to your line when you need to. the best rod and line to use is fire line in about the 5/20 lbs on a long light bait caster or a mediuen spinning out fit of 7 ft. I like a light casting rod the most. the fire line is thin enought not to catch the wind and heavy enought to put up with the abuse of the side planner. I have been using the same spool of line for 5 years with out any truoble. now Iam waiting to see how long the line will last. also the higher you can get the rod tip from the water the better. I put my rod in a holder so it points striaght up. this keep the line off the water. The next most important trick is to always use a good swivel above your leader so when you get a strike the side planner will not slide all the way in to the fish.
Also do not use a leader after the swivel that is longer then your rod. It makes landing the fish easier when by your self.The other problen with the side planners by hot shot are the horrid release springs. they will not release when a fish hits and if you adjust them down to light then they pop off all the time. what i have done is to remove the spring and AB weld a downrigger type release on the board. Iam still playing with this alittle but it works pretty good.
Where and when to use this set up. In the winter for browns and in the early spring for rainbows. i target shallow water next to dropoffs for the rainbows and stump and rocky areas for the browns really close to shore. iam talking 2 to 10 ft from shore. the side planner will allow you to fish 5ft of water for 60 ft away and never have to drive over that water. also you can weave in and out of stump fields by raising the line over a stump so you lure goes behind it. I troll large flies, spoons, and broken back rapalas. the rapalas are the best.
My best brown was taken the day before chrismass on sly park lake. I was using this set up close to shore in 3ft of water . when my planner went by a stump I saw a swirl and 5 seconds later when my rapala went by I got hit by a 6lbs brown that was laying next to the stump. the shallow water left the brown with no where to go but up. he cleared water about 10 times. it took about 15 minutes to land that fish.( would have been better if i had used a shorter leader) . Any how its a great method to use that few if any do use. give me a call is you have any questions about how I rig. I rig better then I type.