I have seen a lot of questions about frogging, and have added to them from time to time. However, my thoughts on the topic confers that the hollow bodied frog is probably the most versatile topwater anyone could use. Over the past year, I have used frogs to much success in late-prespawn, spawn, post-spawn and summer patterns. While not all the patterns are exactly alike, they all will have good fish attacking a frog. Just ensure to tie a good loop knot. I used to tie directly to the frog, but tried the loop once and won’t tie a frog any other way. If using SPRO Frogs, I seem to be able to walk them better by trimming the legs no more than an inch. I used to cut them really short, but I have found the dancing of the legs helps with strikes. Also, many times people tend to think of frogs as the bigger the frog the better fish. Not the case. Downsize to the small Koppers or my favorite SPRO Bronze Eye Jr. I find with the larger frogs, they will slap at it, but more times than not miss it.
First starting with the prespawn period. The fish are hungry from a cold winter. Most of the time the water temps will be in the mid 50's to low 60's. Thus during this time one should focus on anything that is going to radiate the most warmth. Shallow flats with isolated timber, grassy patches amongst wood, or even a laydown itself will produce. Because of the low water temps the use of the frog should be thought of more like a finesse worm technique, and used later in the day. As with all presentations one should cast past the key terrain and retrieve towards it. What I like to do is walk or chug the frog back to the piece of cover. Once I reach the cover stop the frog. Let it sit. Light a cigarette, and let it sit some more. Twitch the frog, and wait again. All the while watch your frog. It is this time of year you won't get the bowling ball splashes when they hit the frog, it will be a slow slurp and your frog disappears. Once it's gone, count one two and swing for the fences. Many will say wait until you feel the fish, but with hits like this, you probably won't feel the fish. I found them to take it and sit back in their key piece of cover, not moving. So the count is to make sure you let them try to swallow it without letting it go too far as to gut hook. In early spring frogging is painstaking, but can produce good fish.
The spawn is tough, but if you find a bed chug or walk the bait until it is directly over the bed and let it sit. This only applies to beds that are in 1-3ft of water. Any deeper than that and my guess is the fish don't find it a threat. Spawn with a frog is just another way to change up the normal sight of 'nest robbing' shaky heads or dropshots. Hook sets are the same as prespawn.
Post spawn, likely my favorite frog time of year. This is when you have a few weeks for the fish to be fattening up before hitting their summer patterns of lazy days in the shade. Sunny or cloudy, the frog will work. In addition to this, the fish are also protecting fry. If you find the fry look for the nearest key ambush point. Here in SE Va and NE NC the fry will focus on protected areas from the wind. If you have a wind swept bank, find the few spots that are shielded by tall reeds. The best spots have wood right next to the greenest reeds you can find. The fry will be there. Cast to the reeds and walk/pause the bait back. Your pauses should be no more than 5-15 seconds. Chugging isn't the greatest here, but it does have its place in matted grass. As one will notice in the spring, the milfoil and other sub aquatic grasses will begin to bloom. Most of the time they haven't hit the surface yet, and are about 6-8 inches from the surface. In the mornings you will be able to find the fry here. Cast up onto what is matted, then chug the frog off of the mat. Once off the mat, then walk the bait and try to pause over the fry. If a predator is there for fry they may find the frog a bigger/better meal, if a parent finds the frog to be a threat, then they will kill it. Either way, good for you.
Summer patterns cover two different elements. Those elements have a lot to do with the type of cover you are fishing. We will start with matted grass, cover lily pads, and finally swamp-type situations.
Matted Grass, mainly milfoil because that's all we have out here. In the thickest of the mats in 2-3ft of water is usually where bass will congregate (again, this is area specific for out here). If there is a healthy bait population around, many times they will keep themselves between the mats and the shoreline, if there is a gap. So what one would find is the fish will ambush from the mats to the shallow section and then return to the mat. In this scenario keep a punching rig handy in case a fish misses the frog.
Now we will move to cypress swamps. During the heat of the day the bass will take refuge amongst the root system of the tree, much like they do in mats. Morning time, if you have grass near trees they will feed in the grassy area then return to the knees. With that being said, the grass is milfoil and that’s already been covered. When they do move to the knees you can still catch them on the frogs. This time of year, pausing is of little value, in my experience. Most of the time I get hit as I walk the frogs so close to the cover they are bumping it. I’ve caught fish in 91* water in the heat of the day by doing this in the swamp. The best root systems are when the water is high and they are back in the shade of the trees. Cast as far back into the trees as you can and walk it back. I’ve had tournament partners who prefer to chug their frogs back there and they couldn’t buy a bite, meanwhile I was killing them walking the bait.
Lily Pads are a different animal. I usually walk the bait with my rod tip down, but I was fishing lily pads and found I wasn’t catching any fish and would lose control of the bait due to the line getting wrapped under the pads. So in an experiment I tried holding the rod tip high at the 10:00 to 11:00 position. Then I would quickly move the frog across the pads using a shaking motion as if I was fishing a swimming jig. Pausing, again this time of year, hasn’t been a necessity for me. I will change it up like anything else, but usually find the fish track and attack the bait more often when it’s moving. Once I hit the edge of the pads I drop the rod tip and walk the bait about 4 ft away from the pad before retrieving and starting again. Occasionally you will see a bass come out of the pads and get the bait, my assumption is they are tracking it under the pad then attack when it’s walked on open water. Don’t truly know the reason why, I asked Mr.Bass, but he wasn’t in a talkative mood.
So those are my successes with frogs in different settings. In the ever progressing mindset of self improvement I would love to hear any experiences or techniques not mentioned above that have worked for you.
Chaz
