I tried some frogs last year and had a lot of strikes. I'm sold on their ability to get bass to bite, but not on their hook setting abilities yet. I know its probably my setup or in my hook setting.
This is all I know is that you can't set the hook when a fish first hits it. You have to give a second or 2 before setting the hook. I tried doing that last year and the percentage was not good. So I'm thinking it more my tackle, rod and line combo more specifically. I've also tried several brands. Maybe the ones I tried weren't that good, don't know.
Should I be using a stiff rod or a more of a medium action. Mono or the no stretch power lines?
Last year on the St. Louis River I got one of my biggest smallmouth on a frog. A few seconds after it landed near some weeds, i saw a fish swirl at it. So I slowly inched it back. I then saw a fish move thru the submerged weeds following it. I let that frog sit for at least 2 minutes, just slowly twitching it. Then wham!, a large smallmouth comes shooting out of the water. The frog was only about 10 ft away from the boat, scared the crap outa me, but was able to set the hook.
But I've missed so many fish it's not even funny anymore. Someone tell me their Frog! stories, lol.
First off that is a nice smallmouth!!
Fishing frogs and top water for that matter is all about the line and the rod.
Rod: (in my opinion) Needs to be at least med-heavy with a stiff backbone.
Line: (in my opinion) NO MONO you want zero give because most of the time they are coming out of that water and at you. Unless you can set hard with no give you will miss more then you wil get.
I use PowerPro Superline 20lb which has a 6lb dia. You can rip 5-6lb buckets right out of the thickest weeds, reeds, pads and milfoil. I have not snapped a line yet.
Just curious were you using a baitcaster or spinning rod?
OUITDEE where are you located? Maybe someday we could get a bunch of us together and go hog hunting with some frogs.
I think getting a bunch of us together for a hog hunting party on a good hog lake would be awesome.
Hey I have a med heavy 7.5 ft rod with 20# spiderwire hi viz for bass this year. I set it up like that for pitching senkos and skipping them under docks. But it sounds like it should be a good combination for frogging too. What do you think? Do you use the hi viz line? I know that frogging is more visible then the senkos, but I don't think the bass will care about the hi viz.
Sounds like a good setup to me.
I have never used Hi-viz not sure what the purpose is. I would doubt it would make a difference.
Oh and what is a senkos? I have never heard of them before.
Thanks for the info T Aqua. Come to think of it, i tried using my spinning rod, that was spooled with power pro 10 lb. But the rod was a medium I believe. I think I did this because whatever I had on baitcaster setup (which has 20lb power pro) I didn't want to take off. I was mainly trying to see if the frog would even work, which it did, but I failed to switch a lure I trusted on my baitcaster. Actually going to get another baitcaster, and I think I have a baitcaster rod that would fit the bill. Ahhhhh, have to add another rod and reel to my collection
I'm located in Duluth, MN. Just a stone step away from the St. Louis River, where that smallmouth was caught in my picture. Actually not to far from that picture is where I caught another large smallie on the frog.
Senkos is a brand of plastic worm. It's pretty much a style of worm now, because there are alot of brands on the market.
I'm starting to get this fishing stuff down, always something new to learn.