When is a frog not a frog?

When is a frog not a frog? The answer, at least to Ish Monroe, is when it’s a shad. Have you ever fished a weed-choked lake and when the bass started schooling all you could catch was grass? With fall still in full swing around much of the country, it’s time to break out the frogs to catch those shad-frenzied bass.

The dominating way Monroe corralled bass on the final day of the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Northern Open on Oneida Lake was a lesson to everyone in thinking outside the box. Monroe was fishing clumps of grass not too far off the bank, when a group of bass came up busting bait in front of him.

He tried a topwater walker and a buzzbait as well as some sub-surface plastics, but all he brought in for his efforts were pieces of grass. The lightbulb went off; he switched to his white frog and within 30 minutes he was culling. Aside from being weedless, the frog had another big advantage. He could let it sit in place on the surface right where a bass had blown up.

The fish were thick in the grass, so Monroe devised the right technique to get to them, one that can be adapted for any grass lake in the country. “The fish were keying in on shad, but nothing else could get in there to the fish,” Monroe said. “The grass was too thick. When I designed my frog, I wanted a shad pattern to use when you can’t get any other baits in there.”

The bait in question was a Snag Proof Ish’s Phat Frog and on the final day he used both Cristyl and Platinum Plus colors. Both are flashy and shad-like in appearance, featuring metallic bodies and white legs. He also used a regular white color as well as a black frog when he wasn’t around the schooling fish.

The rod was one Monroe designed himself for Daiwa, a 7-foot, 4-inch Daiwa Steez XBD frog rod that he paired with a Daiwa Zillion Type R 7.3:1 baitcasting reel. For frog fishing, he recommends 55-pound Samurai Braid. “I designed this rod for fishing frogs,” Monroe said. “That means you can skip it or make long casts and still get those big fish out of anything.”

Monroe also did a little flipping in between the schooling activity. For that, he advises using a heavy weight like this 1.5-ounce River 2 Sea Trash Bomb with a 5/0 Paycheck Baits Punch Hook and Punch Stop. “It’s a reaction strike,” Monroe said. “The one thing different about this weight is the matte finish, which helped to get more bites because it doesn’t shine. Between the matte finish and the heavy weight, it was just awesome.”

For flipping, Monroe again went with the Daiwa Zillion Type R and 70-pound Samurai Braid, which he put on a 8-foot Daiwa Steez flipping stick. “It’s the perfect flipping rod and the lightest 8-footer on the market.” His bait of choice was a prototype black and blue creature bait.

The one-two combination proved deadly in that Monroe could catch some flipping on other parts of the bank and then as soon as the bass started schooling in the key area, he could toss the frog into the mix and go to work.

The Power-Pole was a big advantage for fishing in shallow water. Wind is always a factor in the fall and when Monroe located the schooling fish, he just dropped his Power-Pole and was reassured that even though the wind was blowing, he would be able to make cast after cast or cull after cull without drifting off the spot.

Having Lowrance electronics and a Navionics chip played a role in his victory and are important for locating productive fall areas. In this case, Monroe was searching for deeper areas where the contour lines swung into the bank. “There was a creek channel on one side and the main channel on the other,” Monroe said. “That area was the perfect spot for a fall transition. It was a pattern you can look on your Navionics and see. In this spot, there was a little depression on top where those fish were holding.”

One final thing to remember about fall fishing: Bring your rain gear. Weather can change rapidly late in the season, and Monroe depended on his Simms rain suit to keep him dry. “That was a cold and rainy morning," Monroe said. “The waves were blowing water over the side of the boat – having good rain gear made life a lot better out there."

With fall still in full swing through much of the country, take advantage of this opportunity to find bass feeding heavily on shad in preparation for winter. If your home lake is full of weeds, try out Monroe’s frog tips to take advantage of this great late-season bite and put more bass in the boat without suffering the headaches grass can normally cause.