I've been working on a theory lately. It's the same school of thought that makes baits like the Ned Rig and Trick Darters extremely fun and productive baits- downsizing. Now this makes perfect sense in most approaches, but frogging? Can it be?? YES!! I've been obsessively testing and experimenting and I'm happy to say I have definitely got some encouraging news to report.
I figured that all things constant, a smaller hollow bodied bait *should* draw more strikes as well as allow more of the bait to be taken into the fish's mouth, which is where a lot of the problems from missed strikes come from on frogs in the first place. This seems like a given but it raises a few issues. Namely, how are you going to cast it on your frog setup? Most people have Heavy rods and 50#ish braid and a 1/4oz frog is going nowhere. Believe me, I tried. Not worth anyone's time.
Wanting the same exact effect but smaller, I looked to my Jig & Worm setup. A stout MXF rod, 20# braid and a light baits reel with a decent drag. Bingo- it would BOMB the 1/4 oz frog and I could put it on a specific lilly pad with almost no noise even on the longest casts. Casting issues solved and walking abilities retained, I went to work again to see how it changed the bite.
Let me tell you... I've tested this multiple times now because I didn't want to report a fluke- I'll work an area of a couple hundred feet of weed line with my favorite heavy frog gear, then do it again with the finesse setup. A few times I even reversed it and went finesse first. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. The number of hits was WAY up on the finesse side. It wasn't even close.
Every fish in the pond hit those little hollow bodies- but it was lacking in terms of hookset percentages. The fish would inhale it, and from there it was a crap shoot as to whether or not the hooks made it into something or if they were just holding it in their mouth... Likely a combination of less backbone in the rod and smaller bodies sometimes having tough compressions along with a less than stellar drag on my reel when I started this endeavor. So I went to work again to figure out how to make it jive and capitalize on the windfall of strikes.
Having a whole stash of tiny frog and hollow bodied creatures at this point, I basically took them all apart and put them back together with bigger salvaged hooks into my favorites. Pics below to show my top 3 producers and illustrate the hook upsizing I'm referring to.
Thats a snag proof leech with about half the weight snipped out and glued into the tail, a Live target 45 (iirc) and a LH 1/4oz Lunker frog with skirt legs. All have hooks that *look* too big and cumbersome to be effective, but the light weight of the baits helps them not get hung up to a surprising degree.
As for hooksets, just wow. I've been testing this out for a while with outstanding results but today was the day the jury delivered a final verdict- I can't hold this in anymore. This morning I went from a really tough bite to an absolute nonstop hootin and hollerin slamfest. I probably boated 25 fish in the final 2 hours with several hat trick back-to-backers once I switched to the finesse frogs. Just plucking them off the edges of the pads one after another... I'd say I couldn't believe it but it's been happening every time I use them!
So. Now you know pretty much what I know. The quiet, tiny approach flat out boats fish when all factors are properly addressed. Even when the bass are seemingly tight lipped and it's "too hot"... Try the little guys and use light pops in the tiny spaces around the edges of the pads to tease them out. A couple little splashy twitches and a long stall seems to be the dinner bell combination for whatever reason, but results have varied day to day and space to space.
If you use it, please report your findings! I want to compile as much input as possible, but in my studies the results seem undeniable. I just switched reels to a Pixy R and it made a big difference too, so the same concerns are valid as big frogs, but add lightweight finesse casting in there now. Big drag, light baits and fast ratio with an extra fast rod, appropriately sized braid with *OVERSIZED FROG HOOKS IN YOUR FROGS* and you're good to go.
Now go forth and pillage! Be sure to report your findings!! Cheers and I hope it works out for you as well as it has for me!
