Froggin’ With Dean Rojas
Elite Series angler Dean Rojas has spent more time on the water throwing a frog than just about anybody. His experiences have taught him to frog when and where other anglers would never consider it. The story of how Dean Rojas has forever changed topwater frog fishing has been told many times since he introduced his first Bronzeye frog for Spro at the 2005 ICAST fishing tackle show.
Location:
“Basically, I throw a frog into places where I can’t even see if there’s water there,” the Arizona pro says matter-of-factly. “I try to get the frog into the hardest, darkest places I can find, because that’s where bass don’t see many lures. They’re more relaxed, more apt to come after the frog. “The lure has no limitations. You can fish it anywhere. You can keep a frog on the surface and in the strike zone indefinitely and literally tease a bass into grabbing it. That’s what I do.”
“When I’m fishing the frog, I want to put as many of the percentages of hooking and landing a bass in my favor as possible,” he emphasizes, “but at the same time I want to give the bass as many advantages as possible to get the frog. That’s why I don’t fish the big milfoil mats, the very places where frog fishing was born, because it’s too inefficient. The same is true with lily pads. I want the bass to have a clear view of my frog and an unobstructed path to it. Milfoil and pads have too many obstacles in the way.
Presentation:
“Most fishermen retrieve a frog too fast,” he says. “When I’m fishing around heavy cover, I believe a slower presentation allows bass more time to detect the lure and strike. This could be part of the reason fishermen who skitter their frogs quickly across the top of milfoil beds miss so many strikes. I like to stop my retrieve, too, especially when I think I am in a strike zone. I always try to visualize exactly where a bass is located and where the strike is going to come from so I can adjust my retrieve accordingly. “I like a walking retrieve because it’s slower and keeps the lure in the strike zone longer, but when I do fish through thin, scattered surface vegetation, I may use a stop-and-go chugging presentation, especially if the bass are aggressive. When I’m fishing choppy water and need more commotion, I’ll try a chugging presentation, too, but I can always change back to a walking retrieve if chugging isn’t working.”
Dean’s Frogging Gear:
The rod he designed, a 7-foot medium-heavy action with a 10-inch fast tip and a broomstick butt, is what allows him to work the frog this way; that tip is all he shakes, not the entire rod. The rest of the rod is used for hook setting and controlling the fish. His frog line, Sunline FX-2 Braid, is 80-pound test but has the same diameter as 65-pound braid, and it doesn’t break. When he gets hit, the rod absorbs his hook set and, because of the braid, Rojas has the fish coming toward him instantly. There’s no drag on his Quantum Smoke Burner 7.0:1 reel because Rojas has locked it down. He doesn’t play a bass at all; he swings it into the boat as quickly as possible, using the fish’s own forward momentum.
Why Dean Rojas Is A Better Frog Fisherman Than You June 2012 Bassmaster (Steve Price pg. 42-46)
