Frog Fishing by Randy Walker
With summer coming up, it’s about time to get your favorite frogs and go in search of some big bass action. It used to be thought that frog fishing was just for the heaviest, thickest matted slop you could find, but over the years anglers have been finding good numbers and size of bass working the frog in open water. This technique is referred to as “walking the Frog”, which can offer just as much heart pounding, fish catching action as heavy cover fishing. This also offers better hook up rates and fish landing percentages in many cases because you don’t have to worry about horsing the fish out of the heavy cover. When open water frog fishing, you can also get away with lighter line and even a lighter rod. Braid is still a good idea because you want to make sure the dual hooks penetrate the fish upon hook set and braid takes care of this. You can easily go with 30-50lb braid and don’t have to use a heavy rod, which often makes walking the frog more difficult. Using a rod with a little bit of a softer tip will also allow you to make pinpoint casts under overhanging tree limbs, getting the frog back in the shadows where some big bass will be taking cover from the heat of summer. Now, fishing the matted slop will require a heavy rod that will allow you to get the head of the fish to the surface so you can slide the fish across the top of the slop to the boat, otherwise with too light of rod and the wrong line, the fish will own you. I use 60 to 85lb braid, which if offered from several great companies, but I have been happy with Suffix braid.
There will be days that you can go out and catch a bunch of fish throwing frogs, but many times you will go a while without any action, but don’t put the rod down. Try different colors, techniques and areas and you will run into fish.
There are a number of ways that you can customize your frog. You can color it or draw lines, put dots and so on. You can add rattles, bells, bb’s, glass beads and for sound along with extra weight. If you are fishing heavy cover, adding weight will allow for better hook ups in many cases because it presses down on the mat allowing it to be closer to the fish when it explodes after it.
From what I have found, the Spro frog is really easy to walk because of its shape. The new bleeding hook series from Snag Proof is redesigned with a slimmer back end which makes it easier to walk. Even when fishing heavy slop, you will want to walk the frog in the little openings of open water to draw more takers.
Throw the frog all day and stay committed to it and you’ll be happy you did.
Good Luck,
Randy Walker
