Well, it is officially that time of year again; time to get your frog stick out of the back corner of your boat or garage.
A lot of guys will wait until the dead of summer before they start to throw their frogs. Well, I tell you what – if you love frog fishing you’re making a big mistake. I have some general rules I follow for when I like start throwing it, but really I have caught fish on this bait 10 months out of the year on Clear Lake and the Delta.
In spring as soon as water temps start hitting the high 50’s and can heat up to nearly 60’s in the day or just above, it’s time.
Time of Day: I usually let my own body tell me when to start throwing the frog. If I am wearing a sweatshirt and I can not stand to have it on anymore, it’s time. This usually comes around 12:00 or 1:00 in the afternoon in the early months of spring. Summer is a different story. When the water is already in the 60’s, throw it first thing in the morning. It can only get better as the day go on.
This last weekend at the Won Bass Pro Am on Clear Lake I used a frog as a search bait in pre fish. Not a lot of the fish were exploding on it just yet, but gave up their location so I could go back and get them later.
Location: For early year frog fish I like to start in quiet areas such as creeks, sloughs, corner pockets and points inside bigger coves. What I mean by ‘quiet area’ is an area where there is less water movement so the water will warm up quicker and stay warm longer throughout the day.
Umbrellas: I start by looking for “umbrellas”. This can mean a number of things: umbrellas can be patches of pollen, leaves, reed dead fall, trees, or shade. Anything which provided underwater shade for bass will work. You will not find much moss yet this time of year, which is what most people think of first when frog fishing, but don’t let that stop you.
Equipment: Before you go out and tie on a frog there are some factors to consider regarding your equipment. You need a very specific rod for froggin’. It needs to be a stout rod with a fast action tip somewhere in the range of 7′ to 7’6”. I prefer one right in the middle – about 7’3″ or so. I use a Powell rod that Gary Dobyns designed. I will probably break down and buy one of his own new Dobyns rods in a week or two.
Fishing Line: As far as fishing line goes, you need to use braid. I don’t go any lower than 65 lb. and will sometimes use 80 lb. Power Pro or the same in Suffix. These are my personal favorite braids.
You will need to winch these bass out. There are two ways to approach this: you can use the power of a 5-1 reel ratio or the speed of a 7-1. I prefer the water ski method of landing frog fish so I lean towards the 7-1 ratio. You want a reel with a big spool that can hold a lot of line – some of the bigger braids are big in diameter and will fill up a spool rather quickly.
Setting the hook: I have been asked a lot what I think is the best hook set is for a frog bite, and have heard a lot of different answers to this question. Unfortunately I do not have a dead-set-steady real answer to this question – I do have some general guidelines however.
Most blow ups are not the same. There will be days when for some reason all the fish strike the same and this will really help with each hook set. But most will vary slightly.
Sometimes the fish will come up behind the frog, sometimes from either side; sometimes the front and some of the most subtle strikes will be from right underneath the lure.
If you lose sight of your lure, swing for the fence – and I mean it give it the old Made-For-TV, Roland-Marten-Rip-Their- Face-Off hook set – do not mess around.
This will do two things: 1) it will set the hook 2) it will begin your retrieve. Yes it will sometimes launch the fish up out on to the surface of the water away from all those snags, and this will put you at an advantage before the fish reburies itself in the cover.
Some people say wait – count to 1, to 2, to 3. I say every fish is going to be different and there are no rules as far as the hook set except one: if you get too excited you will lose more fish. Learn to relax when you see the fish come up and explode.
Be very aware of the surroundings. I become very sensitive to noises and movements when I am frog fishing for bass. A lot of times I see when I am going to get bit before it happens, or in those cases when I am rattling off to my fishing buddy I hear a strike and set the hook without ever seeing it. I think it is just a feel thing and really wish I had a better answer.
Color: How do you decide on the color? I like to keep things simple. Black, white, green, black with red head, and black with yellow head for the Delta and Clear Lake. I choose color depending on light levels. I am not a huge believer in color so much as making sure I have a good frog I believe in. 9 times out of ten I throw River2Sea frogs or Spro Frogs. My hook up ratio went up greatly when these frogs came out. You can improve some of the old favorites with a new Gamakatsu wider gap frog hook – the new Bobby Barrick frogs come with them as well. I just feel that the bodies on the Spro and River2Sea frogs are second to none.
A lot of people use the new soft plastic frogs. I just never got that into them. I do have a couple uses for them – they work well on day when fish do not want to commit, and you can let them sink and get clobbered, or as a follow up bait for open water followers that do not want to break the surface. I will use these baits on a big 6 ought weighted Falcon hook.
Retrieve: In general, a good steady cadence will work 80, 90 percent of the time, but there are days when you may need to slow down or speed it up a tad. This will have to be trial and error thing. A lot of time when the fish do not want to commit, I will speed it up before I slow it down; it gives them less time to think. I can guarantee that bass can out-swim your fastest retrieve. The only time I will not do this is when a fish will not be able to physically get through the cover before my frog is 2 feet away. I personally think a bass has a canny way of calculating their strike, and are going to come up before your lure hits that spot – meaning that if your lure is consistently traveling at say 2 feet per second then that bass is also taking that into consideration as it strikes. Give it a shot. You will be surprised, I’m sure of it.
I hope this article got you even a 10th exited as I am about fishing the frog; it is hands down my favorite way to catch a bass.
Please e-mail me if you have any questions regarding tackle set up, lure choice, etc.
