Hollow Body Frog Fishing. To experienced froggers, hands will tremble, hearts will skip beats, and incomprehensible words will be mumbled when the mere mention of frog fishing is up for discussion. Yes. This technique is that exhilarating! The symptoms mentioned above were the exact feelings I had when I was contacted by Mike Cork to provide Ultimate Bass a Terminator Walking Frog review.
I have been avidly hooked on hollow body frog fishing for over ten years now. During this time, I have had the pleasure of fishing with numerous hollow body frog brands, and Terminator Walking Frog has been on my radar since its introduction to the bass fishing market a couple of years ago. Although there have been countless reviews written about this particular hollow body frog, my goal is to provide non-bias feedback on my findings since fishing with this particular frog.
I will focus my review on the five key areas I look for in a quality hollow body frog. These areas are: design, presentation, hook quality/hookups, durability, and cost. The primary location for testing this frog was on the famous Lake Okeechobee, FL. The primary cover for this Terminator Walking Frog test consisted of pads, grass, and sawgrass clusters.
Terminator Walking Frog Review – Design
One of the first features to stand out to me when I first saw this frog was its pronounced bulbous head. I quickly thought to myself the head was too big for the body, but after fishing with this frog for a few days, the head and body match up nicely. The body of this frog tapers nicely from the tip of its nose to the end of its body. At the back end of this frog, there is a drainage hole and a uniquely shaped counterweight flushed nicely against the frog’s bottom end. Compared to other hollow body frogs on the market today, I quickly learned why this hollow body frog has such a unique shape.
Terminator Walking Frog Review – Presentation
This frog lives up to its name and then some. The Terminator Walking Frog is a true walking frog! If I were tasked to go teach someone on how to walk a frog inside of ten minutes, this would be the frog I would teach them on. “Yes, it’s that easy to walk.” Walking and keeping this frog in place for an extended amount of time was a breeze. I did notice, however, when the frog is walked too aggressively, the braid will have a tendency to wrap around the hooks, but this just means I had to scale back on my walking speed a bit. Not a deal breaker.
Terminator Walking Frog Review – Hook Quality/Hookup
Terminator Walking Frog comes equipped with very sharp, sticky VMC hooks. What caught my eye compared to other hollow body frogs was how these hooks are positioned along the body on this particular frog. The hooks sit cradled at the ready on either side along the frog’s backside, preventing the need to modify. Traditionally, when modifying hooks on a hollow body frog, an angler opens the angle of the hooks to increase the odds of hooking up the bass when it strikes. No need to do this on the Terminator Walking Frog. The hooks are uniquely positioned on this frog to increase the odds of hooking a bass right out of the box. When fished correctly, this frog will deliver a solid hook up if a lunker bass decides to tangle with it.
Terminator Walking Frog Review – Durability
The Terminator Walking Frog is very pliable and collapses quite easily when a bass takes hold of it. I did, however, find a kink in this frog’s armor. After several solid hookups, the hook assembly on this particular frog would pop out of its nose. This is not uncommon and happens quite often when fishing with a hollow body frog. The critical quality trait, however, is how many times a hollow body frog can withstand the hook assembly popping out from its nose and sliding up the line before the frog’s actual nose begins to tear. On the Terminator Walking Frog, this did not take too long. I think the culprit is a metal cone on the hook assembly, positioned right below the loop of the line tie and right above the hook. When a fish strikes and causes the frog to pop out from its hook assembly and slide up the fishing line, I believe the metal cone aids in tearing of the frog’s nose. Unfortunately, when a hollow body frogs nose begins to split, water enters the frog at an accelerated rate, changing the fishing characteristics of the hollow body frog.
Terminator Walking Frog Review – Cost
The Terminator Walking Frog in my humble opinion is very reasonably priced in the $ 8- $10 range, depending on where an angler looks. This price point falls in line with other hollow body frog brands out in the market today.
Terminator Walking Frog Review – Equipment Used
The outfit used to test this Terminator Walking Frog was a Lee Smith Point Blank Custom Build Frog Rod, along with a Daiwa SV103 baitcasting reel, spooled with 50lb Power Pro (Yellow) Braid.
Terminator Walking Frog Review – Final Thoughts
The Terminator Walking Frog is a fun hollow body frog to fish with. The way this frog easily walked in conjunction with its unique profile makes this hollow body frog a big bass catcher in my book. Although I do not recommend overly abusing this frog, I do believe anglers will be pleasantly surprised of this hollow body frog’s abilities.
See you on the water,
Luis Lagrange
Luis also provided a great instructional article on fishing Hollow Body Frogs
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