Frog Hook Set Problems!!!

[fsuboy99]

iv had big hits on the kvd frog but they all ways take it under then spit it out i dont no what im doing wrong i wait a couple of seconds for them to try and swalloow it but they just spit it out or just take it under and let go help please and thanks.

 

[Chris Wilson]

What i do when i get a hit is i wait a few seconds, raise the rod tip and feel for pressure, then set the hook hard. reel in and give slight pressure back again to make sure the hook is in, then just bring it in as usual. I use koppers frogs and spro frogs. Try shortening up the legs a bit, bend the hooks out and up a slight bit, so they aren't on the body so much. Most of it is just patience though.

[Sodus Bay Scooter]

My guess is its a timing thing. You say a couple of seconds, well that could be one second too long. I know it seems trivial but like I just told someone else with a similar problem, I count to two but set the hook on two. Not after but right on two but you have to get the timing of when the bass hits the bait till you start the count.

And I don't even really count. It's just a feeling thing. You just kinda "know" when to set it. I used to fish only top water for like a year so I got pretty good at it. I don't get spooked either when the bass busts out of the water because I'm always expecting it. Keep at it.

Oh, and buy yourself a hula popper. Do a chug chug chug pause retrieve. That bait will help break the anxiety of setting the hook because the pause will give yourself a chance to be prepared to set the hook when he takes it.

[airborne_angler]

Best way I learned to fish topwater baits and time the hookset is at night. Youll need to use your feel more than your eyes.

Sometimes the noises made at night may not even be a fish but a nearby bird. At night if you swing on every noise you hear...well you'll haul lots of water. Feel for the fish, and as it happens Sometimes, you'll set the hook, swear you have the fish, and haul in nothing but salad.

Teach yourself to feel the fish at night, become successful at that, and do the same thing during your bites in the daylight. Braid is your friend...it helps cut through the vegetation.

[gobig]

I swing as soon as I can't see the frog. I don't count or wait to feel them. If you can't see the frog you have waited long enough.

[Chris Wilson]

Fishing a senko or jig also teaches how to feel out a fish.

[Megastink]

......... i wait a couple of seconds for them to try and swalloow.........

I don't. I get a bite, I set the hook immediately. I don't buy that whole "wait for them to swallow" thing. You don't do that with other topwaters. You have to understand the anatomy of a bite: when a bass takes a bait or prey initially, they engulf it. They don't "nip" at a frog; any misses are user error. Don't get me wrong, I do miss bass, we all do. But I have a very high strike to land ratio.

Don't believe me? Ask Dean Rojas. He feels the same way. I also fish with Clackerbuzz on this forum. He'a a frogger too.

[J Francho]

Do not wait to set the hook on a hollow body frog.  All you are doing is increasing your odds of failure by giving the fish time to realize it isn't food, and spit the bit.  Frog disappears, swing hard.  Simple as that. Now, a Texas rigged toad is a different deal.  There is a slight delay when lowering the rod tip and reeling down before setting the hook.

[MARSH MASTER]

TRAILER HOOK

[Mike L]

What I do with especially the harder body frog like a spro is really check the hook placement in relation to how it sits on the body.

More times than not, I open the hook's a litlle with a pair of plairs so the hook is opened a little. And yes, if I'm in really heavy slop, it will pick some up but to me the advantage out weigh it. 

 

With a soft body like a scum it's not necessary.

 

 

Mike

[BassinLou]

Keep at it, and also be aware of the angle of your hookset. Depending on how the bass took the frog will depend on how you set the hook. Now if your night fishing, then I agree its a feel thing. However during the day, observe the frog and when a bass blows up on it wait to see if the frog is gone and then swing for the fence. If a bass just slurps the frog like an oyster,  observe that it indeed took the frog and then set the hook.

[CountBassula]

I've had a similar problem last weekend, was throwing Booyah Jr pod crashers and KVD Sexy Frogs and out of the 12-15 strikes i set zero hooks :-( I'll have to try bending the hooks out.

 

TRAILER HOOK

 

I have to try that for sure!

[BrettD]

Bending the hooks out so there is just a slight air gap between the hook point and the rubber body is a must. You wont believe the hook up ratio difference its easily 2:1.

[J Francho]

I've had a similar problem last weekend, was throwing Booyah Jr pod crashers and KVD Sexy Frogs and out of the 12-15 strikes i set zero hooks :-( I'll have to try bending the hooks out.

 

 

I have to try that for sure!

 

The Lake Fork Tackle trailer works pretty well.  My only gripe is that after getting a bunch of "misses," and adding the trailer, I was hooking dinks on the trailer.  Any decent fish ate the whole frog, and the trailer was just in the way.