This blog post was written by Matt Fed, CEO of Barb Catch Fishing (contact@barbcatchfishing.com), to share his expertise on winter finesse fishing techniques. In this article, product links will support Matt and give you 10% off all Reaction Tackle products!
Everyone loves fishing a frog. There probably isn’t a single other lure that is more fun and exciting to fish than a hollow body frog.
The huge blowups and incredible versatility of a frog give anglers a fishing experience that no other lure can replicate. As soon as the water gets warm enough, I’m just itching to tie on a frog and start whacking ‘em.
And obviously, all of us want to make the most of our time on the water and catch as many bass as possible. This frog fishing season, keep these 3 tips in mind to ensure you maximize your frog success.
Tip 1: Use Straight Braid
When you are fishing with a hollow body frog, it is absolutely imperative that you use a braided line.
You simply won’t have much success if you are using fluorocarbon or monofilament lines. There are two big reasons for this.
First, you need your line to float in order to properly work the frog. If you were to use fluorocarbon line, which sinks, the line will pull the nose of the frog down as you try to retrieve it and ruin the action.
Trust me, I have tried this before and it is incredibly aggravating. But the braided line floats on the surface and doesn’t mess up the frog’s action at all, making it look much more natural in the water.
Second, you need the line to be very strong and have zero stretch. Because a frog has two thick hooks, it takes some power to drive them into the fish’s mouth.
Lines like fluorocarbon and monofilament are a bit stretchy and will absorb much of the power from your hook set.
Also, the extra strength of a high pound test braided line is crucial if you are fishing around thick cover or matted vegetation. If you are fishing that stuff, a 50+ lb test line is required and braid is the only type of line that is thin enough to use at that high a lb test.
Simply put, if you are fishing a hollow body frog, you have to be using a braided fishing line.
Tip 2: Focus on the Walk
The walk the dog style of retrieve is by far the best way to fish a frog. Walking the frog side to side, as if it were a spook drives bass crazy. I honestly don’t know exactly why that is, but walking a frog produces tons and tons of huge bites.
It may be that a walking frog looks like a struggling baitfish, frog, or bird on the surface. Or it may be that the side to side, rhythmic action is just incredibly satisfying and triggers the bass to bite out of curiosity.
Whatever the reason may be, it is a simple fact that walking your frog simply catches the most bass.
Although it is quite simple, it will take a bit of practice to master the walk the dog retrieve. Once you make a cast and the frog is floating on the water, begin by pointing the rod tip downward and to one side of yourself.
Then on a slack line, give small but quick jerks of the rod tip. The hardest part is getting the frog to make its first turn. But once the frog turns off to one side, keep giving the frog those small jerks on a slack line and it will dart back and forth.
Walking a frog is a bit more difficult than spook style baits, but after 10-15 minutes you should get the hang of it.
Once you're walking the frog well, you can almost keep it in the same place, just turning back and forth without moving forward very far. This can be lethal when picking apart a very small area or trying to keep the frog in front of the bass longer.
Tip 3: Make Some Modifications
Modifying the frog a bit will make it easier to use, improve hook ups, and catch you more bass. There are tons of different modifications that guys will do with their frogs.
And over time, I do suggest trying lots of those out on a bunch of different baits. But when getting started, it’s better to just keep it simple. There are only really two modifications that just about every frog fisherman does to their frogs out of the package.
First, trim the legs of the frog. Every brand of frog you buy will come with very long legs. Manufacturers have to put long legs on them because everyone likes a bit different length, so the longer legs give each angler to trim them how he likes.
There are two reasons why trimming the legs helps you catch more fish. Mainly, the super long legs have tons of drag coming through the water and give the frog a parachute effect. This makes it harder for the frog to smoothly walk side to side.
By trimming the legs shorter, it greatly reduces the drag and helps the frog walk very easily and have a wider walking action. The other reason is that you will miss more bass with super long legs.
Often, if you leave the legs super long, bass will come up and try to eat or slap at the legs, but they will miss the actual body of the frog. But if you trim the legs shorter, the bass are much more likely to actually inhale the entire frog and not just eat the back half, which doesn’t have the hook in it.
The second modification you should make to your frog is to bend the hooks slightly outwards. Each frog is a bit different, but most of the time, the hooks of the frog will be slightly bent in, pointing towards the eye of the hook.
This tucks the hooks very close to the body. Now if you are fishing matted vegetation or super thick cover, then leave the hooks how they are so that the frog stays as weedless as possible. But if you are fishing in sparse cover or open water, you want to very slightly bend these hooks outwards.
Try to position the two hooks parallel or nearly parallel to each other. This will bring the hook points a tiny bit off the body of the frog and make it easier for bass to get hooked when they eat the frog. After years of fishing frogs, I would estimate that this small modification increases my hook up ratio by about 20%. Which, in the bass fishing world, is a big difference.
Get Your Frogs Here!
Tying this Off
Frog fishing is one of the most thrilling ways to catch bass, but success doesn’t come by accident.
By sticking with straight braid, mastering the walk-the-dog retrieve, and making a couple of simple modifications to your frog, you’ll put yourself in the best position to get more blowups—and more fish in the boat.
So next time the water’s warm and the pads are thick, tie on a frog, keep these tips in mind, and get ready for some serious action.
Special thanks to Matt Fed, CEO of Barb Catch Fishing, for contributing this valuable guide to winter finesse fishing. If you’d like to connect with Matt or learn more, reach out to him at contact@barbcatchfishing.com. Shop using Matt Fed’s affiliate link here to support him and enjoy 10% off all Reaction Tackle products.
