Planer board fishing from shore

I have not tried that before! Not a bad idea, all I've seen is someone driving in their car with a rod out the window and a plannerboard in a canal.

I have tried it with not much success. I have however witnessed it in use and seen it as very successful. 
Ill just say the person was taken as a "Sucker" by others on shore but he was "Blue" away by the results. (wow that was a stretch, but you get the idea)
I have seen it where the board is tied off on a seperate line and then a break away clip was used to free the fishing line with the fish. I think its one of the only methods that will get you into the main channels from shore. 
I plan on working with it more this summer. 

http://www.roughfish.com/content/thousand-miles-blue-sucker

Someone I know tried one out. There are a couple of location around here I thought it would work well  at....

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemVersion&item=370505877257&view=all&tid=557003244024

"Appears to be a clone of the Luhr Jensen Hot Shot Side planer."

Right now I am treating it as a novelty but ya never now ;)

I have tried this on several occasions and will tell you that you will need to have some patience and persistence, and match it to the right conditions.  I originally had visions of sailing a board out to the middle of a large river but had another thing coming - it is amazing how many swirls and back currents are out there to mess with your hydro-dynamics.  Don't give up though, as aluded to above, there have been some incredible results produced by an innovative shorefisherman.  Another major challenge is in managing a live/soft bait for light biting species.  I think the most accessible opportunity might be in getting a light crank bait out in a discharge, canal or other location with consistent current for something like a white bass or striper bite.  I also think some modifications to a board designed for trolling may need to be tried. . . one thing I can guarentee though - you will get some looks from other fishermen!

The other thing to consider are the different types of boards:

1. Mast boards - run on a long line and weighted clips drag the bait out.  the only negative is the potential for some slack when they pop off the clip
2. Standard Inline boards (bigger church, Off shore) - no slack but can cause problems with removal, especially if the lead from fish to board is short
3. Smaller church, yellow bird, and hot shot styles - release and slide down the line.  No slack, no removal but then you have that damn thing flopping around

Definately some serious potential, it is pretty popular some places (more so to the west).  Though a lot of screwing around to get it working for each situation.  Like Josh said, probably the only way to really shore fish some spots.  I'm gonna give it a go once spring gets going this year

1) as jKnuth mentioned, this works much better as a 2-rod breakaway set-up w/ a release -- if your planer is bigger than tiny, it needs to be on its own long, stiff, vertical broomstick of a rod that would not be enjoyable, even w/ a bigger fish

2) you get much more downstream than "out" distance, so you need high-capacity reels & no other anglers downstream

3) you really want to try & position yourself somewhere that's jutting out into the river (dock, pier, point, etc.)  otherwise, it's tough to present your bait/lure far behind the planer and/or well below the surface...  if you can find an upstream point at the mouth of a decent tributary -- YOU'RE GOLD!

4) a 2-man operation is a good idea: you could set up very quickly & go use other methods w/ individual rods, PLUS w/ 2 guys ready to retrieve the 2-rod planer set-up, you could handle some flotsam...  if you're by yourself, even minor debris in the current could ruin your day

5) MOST IMPORTANT: if you only have one Planer it better be REVERSIBLE!!!  If it's dedicated port or starboard & you're on the wrong side of the river, it will promptly & happily run straight into the bank 

Check out planerbobber.com. They are different than regular planer boards. I thought of trying them out, but they not cheap!

I got a couple planerbobbers cheap off eBay, when they were just starting out.  They restrict you to using fairly heavy rods (esp., from the bank).  I fish some places w/ outrageous current & rocky snag-city bottom, where you really can't present a stationary bait any other way (unless you donate terminal tackle almost every cast).  Otherwise, they're of limited usefulness from the bank -- not worth the hassle, in most situations (IMO)