A couple of frog fishing tips

[Steve81]

The first couple have to do with hollow body frogs and I'll make these changes right out of the package. If you read my frog article then you've probably remember these. Anyhow, most hollow body frogs come with rubber or silicon legs made out of a skirt material. These are usually a few inches long. To make the bait "walk"easier, I like to trim one leg about an inch shorter than other. The next thing I'll do is take a pair of needle nose pliers and bend the hook points away from the body by about a 1/16th of an inch. It's amazing how much this increases my hook up ratio!

This next tip is for buzz frogs. For the majority of the time that I have been fishing one of these baits, I've simply used a single hook with a light bullet weight and texas rigged the frog. I've also dabbled with using the newer double hooks designed for these baits. Recently, a friend and I have experiemented with a different type of hook with better results. We have been using belly weighted swimbait hooks with a screw lock. While still using a light weight, it seems that because the weight is located on the bottom of the bait, we have been hooking more bass. Plus, it allows the nose of the bait to ride a little higher in the water, making it easier to slow the bait down.

[AK]

Thanks for the tips

[nickdeufemia]

good tips thanks

[Dark3]

I keep hearing about that belly weight. I bet a big plus of that is also keepin her right side up better.

[Steve81]

I keep hearing about that belly weight. I bet a big plus of that is also keepin her right side up better.

It certainly does. And I think that is part of the reason that the hook up ratio is better.

[kickerhunter33]

I keep hearing about that belly weight. I bet a big plus of that is also keepin her right side up better.

You should see a fluke work on those belly weighted hooks unreal the action you get.

[analfisherman]

Steve thanks for the pointers!

I use weighted screw locks for flukes but I always felt on a frog it would hinder it's floating abilities.
You also mentioned texas rigging with a small bullet.

Do you ever fish them weightless with a screw lock.
Another thing I like to do is put a bead in front of hook to help with not accumulating grass when fishing pads and such with loose vegitation.

Good idea or Bad idea?

[Steve81]

Steve thanks for the pointers!

I use weighted screw locks for flukes but I always felt on a frog it would hinder it's floating abilities.
You also mentioned texas rigging with a small bullet.

Do you ever fish them weightless with a screw lock.
Another thing I like to do is put a bead in front of hook to help with not accumulating grass when fishing pads and such with loose vegitation.

Good idea or Bad idea?

I've never had any issues with weighted swimbait hooks negatively affecting the hook sets on a frog. If I were to give it any drawback, I'd say that it makes is harder to slow the bait down because of the weight. On the other hand, I think that the added weight has helped the fish take the bait a little deeper and allowed for solid hook ups.

I have fished them weightless and I really didn't care for it. However, that was with using just an EWG hook. I would like to try the Owner Beast screw lock hook. I believe I could rig the frog on it to where it would always ride with the hook point up.

I think the bead in front of the hook is a good idea. Another tip that you could try (if you are fishing with a screw lock, weighted or unweighted) is to screw the hook in to the bottom of the nose of the frog. Really, a better description would be to screw it in about and 1/8" behind where the lower jaw bone would be. This allows the bait to ride nose high. That helps it to avoid vegetation and keep the frog on plane at lower speeds. This tip is something that I picked up by watching a video of Bryan Thrift fishing Clear Lake.

[analfisherman]

Thanks Steve!