After fishing back-to-back Elite Series tournaments in Texas, I made the long drive home to New Jersey. When I arrived, my 14-year-old son Vegas immediately wanted to go fishing.
He had competed in a Junior B.A.S.S. Nation tournament the day before and finished second by fishing a frog. He was on a frog kick, and you can’t blame him for that. There’s no more exciting way to catch bass.
Despite being tired, I launched the boat. Vegas and I spent the next few hours working frogs over duckweed and lily pads. We caught 10 or 12 bass, missed a few more and had loads of fun.
The frog bite is beginning to materialize across the country. To make the most of it, I believe you need three distinctly different types of hollow body frogs.
Walking-pushing frog
What I call a walking-pushing frog is the most basic style. It has a realistic frog-shaped body, a pointy nose and a stout double-hook. It’s the most versatile of the three types of frogs I employ.
You can make it walk side to side like a hard stickbait by throwing slack into the line between each twitch. You can’t beat this basic frog for covering vast amounts of water, such as an expansive field of lily pads.
My basic walking-pushing frog for these situations is Molix’s Sneaky Frog. It’s easy to make that bait sashay.
This frog also serves well for a pushing presentation over matted hydrilla, duckweed or some other aquatic vegetation.
I’ve also caught bass by pushing this type of frog over sawdust mats that form when the water suddenly rises. I’ve even caught bass from mats comprised of plastic trash on tidal rivers.
Most of these frogs have a weight built into the back of the body. Every time you twitch the rod, the frog’s nose flops down as the bait moves ahead. This disturbance attracts any bass beneath the mat.
Popping frog
A popping frog is the opposite of a walking-pushing frog. It has a cupped face like a hard plastic popper. I tie on Molix’s Pop Frog when I need to slow way down while fishing hard cover, holes in grass mats and even in open water. I have better luck in these scenarios by popping the frog and leaving it in place.
If I’m fishing down a bank and come to a dock or overhanging tree, I’ll skip the Pop Frog under the cover and let it stew as long as possible. Same thing when I’m fishing big holes in a giant field of hydrilla or some other matted grass. However, a popping frog does not come over matted grass worth a darn.
Buzzing frogs
Over the past five years or so, several companies have introduced frogs that feature kicking legs almost like a toad bait. It’s a hybrid between a solid plastic toad and a hollow-body frog. The advantage a buzzing frog has over a toad is that it doesn’t sink when you stop reeling.
My favorite buzzing frog is the Molix Supernato. The legs activate on this type of frog whether you reel the bait or just twitch it. On a steady retrieve, those kicker legs spit and gurgle water like a buzzbait.
How many times have you been fishing a regular buzzbait and come upon a patch of matted grass? You can’t run a buzzbait over it, because the blade would tangle. A buzzing frog dances right over that stuff.
This style of frog also skips under docks and overhangs much better than a regular buzzbait. Whenever I feel the need to kill the bait, it floats in place.
More frog considerations
When it comes to frog colors, I think about the forage. If I hear bluegills popping in a grass mat, I want a bluegill color. If I see shad flicking under trees, I’ll opt for a white frog. A white frog and a black frog cover multiple situations.
One important modification I make with every frog is to slightly turn the hooks out with needle nose pliers. I never want the hook points flush against the frog’s body. A gap of, say, no more than 1/16 of an inch ensures better hookups.
My other modification is adding a rattle, especially when I’m fishing matted grass or stained to muddy water. I shove a short, fat tube rattle into the hole in the rear of the frog where the hook comes out. The extra weight also helps bass find a frog when I’m pushing it over a mat.
I fish frogs with a 7-4 to 7-6 medium-heavy action rod, not a heavy action broomstick. You need a little tip action for casting and twitching the bait. A flexible tip also slightly delays your hook set. That prevents you from snatching the frog away before the bass has engulfed it.
I like a reel that has a 7:1 or faster gear ratio, and I fill it with 50-pound Berkley X9 green braided line. Braided line floats, which helps the frog stay on the surface. It also doesn’t stretch, so you can really sock those hooks home.
A frog is not just a frog. Pick the right one for the right situation and you’ll get more bites and land more bass. You can learn more about how I fish frogs and other baits at www.mikeiaconelli.com or www.youtube.com/c/goingike.
