Quote Originally Posted by BigRiverMarine View Post
Steve, I have a question. Does the tadpole work on a bandit 300 with a 3-4' leader running it inline instead of using it as a drop weight with the clips and a long leader? Thx in advance for your answer.

It seems like a lot of work to remove a board, remove the tadpole and then reel in the fish.
Bill, We don't remove the tadpole. Here is the basic stuff on how we rig it: We put an OR10 release on the split ring attached to the tow arm then attach the OR16 to the back of the tadpole. We have experimented with different tension releases for the tow arm and the OR10 with it's light grip works very well for Crappie sized fish. Rigged this way it will allow you to put any amount of lead length between the lure and the tadpole...we use 8-10 feet most of the time but it can be shorter depending on water clarity. We add the diving chart depth (for whatever lead length we are using with a particular crankbait) to the chart depth of the tadpole (using the lead length between it and the planer board) to get the crankbait depth. When a fish is hooked the front OR10 clip will release and the tadpole will be hanging from the rear OR16 when it gets to the boat. We will have already unhooked the planer board and have the fish in the net by the time the tadpole gets close to the boat (one smooth motion) so we usually don't bother to unhook it. Just reset the clips, attach the board and go again...... It also works the same way when straight lining without the boards....and that's even easier.