When I started throwing frogs for largemouth bass, I was under the impression that if I matched the local forage I would be in a position to give the fish what they were feeding on the most in the region that I was fishing in. Here in central Ontario, most bass fed on leopard frogs which are either green or brown on the topside and usually white on the bottom. Some bass would eat bullfrogs on occasion which were green with a yellow coloured belly. Really, it came down to what was found on the body of water I was fishing.
So when it came time to buy my frogs, I focused on green leopard frog patterns that came with a white/yellow type of belly. I rounded out my selection based on what frog fishing guru Dean Rojas stated during one of his many interviews, selecting a couple of all black and all white frogs. Every hollow bodied frog purchased was one of the Spro Bronzeye family. Little did I know how important those selections would be.
Over the last few days I found myself in swamp after swamp, searching for some big largemouth to inhale my green leopard frog patterned lures. I saw the frogs hopping around everywhere, so I was pretty sure I could convince the fish to eat what I was throwing. It started well and I was catching fish on numerous casts but nothing over 1lbs in size. Believing that I was throwing the right lure as I was getting bites, I continued using this frog the next day…but while the numbers were there, the size was lacking. So I decided to make a switch. I looked through my box of topwater lures and decided to tie on an all black frog. I threw the new colour into the same water with the same retrieve that I used on the leopard frog patterned lure, only this time the fish were all over it and were bigger in size. Suddenly I was connecting with fish in the 2-3lbs range and nothing smaller which made me one happy camper. The weather was a mix, with the sun being out sometimes and overcast at others. The fish were relating to lily pads and dock edges with lead in cover. I know that time will tell if this pattern of larger fish liking black frogs will hold up, but for now, I’m definitely a convert and believer that black frogs catch more and bigger fish than the classic leopard patterned ones.
As many of you know I’m a devout Daiwa product user, but this time I wanted a change. Working at Bass Pro, I want to make sure that I was using gear that other anglers had expressed an interest in so that I could provide them with feedback on its performance. After speaking with the Canadian frogman Pete Garnier about rod selection, he outlined the benefits of the Quantum Smoke 7’ MHF action rod and the success he had found with it while frog fishing here in Canadian waters. I matched the rod with a Team KVD left handed bait casting reel with a 7.0:1 gear ratio and an amazing 16lbs of drag behind it. After loading it with 65lbs timber brown Power Pro Super 8 Slick, I felt confident that I could horse big fish out of the slop I was expecting to fish and this combo didn’t disappoint.
Below are two fish, showing the difference in size when it came to fishing the two different coloured frogs.
Cheers, and sorry for the long write up but I really wanted to share my experience on this the start of my hollow bodied frog journey. I was mentioning to a friend that I’ll probably have a whole box devoted to frogs by the end of the summer…and that’s not such a bad idea I think.
