mono for frogging

[kickerfish1]

I can see it both ways. Really fishing comes down to 3 camps. In camp one you have what I call the "old school" guys. These guys have been fishing for years, been using the same rods, reels, lines, baits, etc. They catch fish the same as anyone else yet they never feel the need to "keep up with the Jones's". In the 2nd camp you have what I would call the "young'ns or new school angers? They may have never used mono, don't know about old baits, lures, and slow gear ratio reels. Finally in camp 3 you have the "adapters". These anglers have been around for a while and tend to tweak things to their liking after fishing with about everything out there. They have tried mono, flouro, braid, copoly and most other superlines. They have their preferences for what setup (rod/reel/line/lure type) they would want for fishing a jig or a frog in this case. Usually they can catch fish with any setup a friend or stranger gives them but through trial and error they have developed what they believe to be optimal choices for that application. More than likely they will have technique specific gear for their favorite apps...

If I needed one line to cover every app I would select mono and be plenty happy. In this case if I could afford to have a dedicated "frog only" setup I am picking a 7 foot plus MH or Heavy rod, a high speed gear ratio low profile BC in a 7:1 ratio or better, braided line, and something like a Spro hollow body frog.

For years I used mono but that was before I had a dedicated setup. I am one of the few people that royally hate braid but for frogs I prefer it. The casting distance strength, and ability of the line to slice through vegetation are all of my personal factors for picking it.

Just my $.02

[Raul]

On 5 de febrero de 2016 at 10:25 AM, Verisimilidude said:

I tried for a long time on mono.  I missed so many fish and I didn't understand why.

 

I switched to braid and my hookup success increased by 80%.

 

Frog fishing went from being a frustrating activity to my favorite technique overnight.

You suck at fishing with nylon.

[Catt]

While I agree with kickerfish1, I'll add camp #4 which is guys who can catch bass with any rod, reel, line & technique!

I can catch bass on a frog with braid or mono with no dropoff in hookup ratio. 

Once you understand it's you not the tackle everything about your fishing success with vastly improve!

[MRG]

I fish mono quite often for other presentations, but never anymore for frogging. I don't see any advantage mono would give you when fishing in thick slop.

[Raul]

43 minutes ago, Catt said:

While I agree with kickerfish1, I'll add camp #4 which is guys who can catch bass with any rod, reel, line & technique!

I can catch bass on a frog with braid or mono with no dropoff in hookup ratio. 

Once you understand it's you not the tackle everything about your fishing success with vastly improve!

Hmmm, I think I´m in that boat too. 

[desmobob]

I prefer braid of just 30 or 40 lb. test for its smaller diameter and ability to slice through heavy weeds better than mono.  It sucks winching in a 20 lb. mass of weeds with an unknown size bass in the middle of it....  ;-)

Tight lines,

Bob

[Pondboss16]

On February 5, 2016 at 6:59 PM, MIbassangler30 said:

Braid. 50-65 lb 

Every Pro Angler uses it and their livelihood is at stake. 

The fish can't see it. Gill nets have caught fish in clear water for centuries. The fish has a brain the size of your pinky nail. They don't see a hollow body frog and say... "What's that silly looking thing pulling that piece of rubber across the waters surface?" They think... "FOOD, CHOMP!"

Will mono work, certainly. So will my daughters Barbie pole, but I'll be fishing a hollow body with a mag heavy swamp donkey super stick. It's by far my favorite way to fish and I've become pretty darn proficient at it. Mag heavy rod, high gear ratio reel, drag locked down, and 50 lb Sunline FX2. Done the research, backed it up with experience, those are the right tools for this job. 

 

JC

Preach to the fishing gods??

[Molay1292]

Sometimes this forum is a very good place for useful information, sadly this is not one of those times.   Do a little more research on your own, or ask people in your local area what they choose to use.   

You might do a little research on Dean Rojas or Ish Monroe, two very good frog fisherman, see what they recommend.

 

[Jrob78]

11 hours ago, Catt said:

While I agree with kickerfish1, I'll add camp #4 which is guys who can catch bass with any rod, reel, line & technique!

I can catch bass on a frog with braid or mono with no dropoff in hookup ratio. 

Once you understand it's you not the tackle everything about your fishing success with vastly improve!

While I do agree with you, you have to understand that not everyone has 40 years of bass fishing experience.  Heck, half of these guys are just learning how to use baitcasters.  If a fisherman doesn't have the best fundamental rod and reel control, mono isn't going to be the best choice for fishing heavy cover with a frog.   That's probably the reason so many use braid for every other technique where line strength shouldn't be a concern.

[Catt]

.ghoti., Raul, me didn't start with 40 yrs experience!

If an angler doesn't have the basic fundamental rod & reel control how does braid give him that?

20# mono, 35 yd cast, how many yards of stretch do y'all think there is?

Mono doesn't cut through grass well; yet I read "it sucks winching in a 20 lb mess of weeds", don't sound like it cuts to well to me, my mono does that!

Joe blow pro uses it; so according to y'all if Rojas went from braid to mono his hookup ratio would drop by 80%!

[iabass8]

Hey guys! I'm not here to help you out. Just wanted to tell you how great I am and that if you don't use what I use and fish how I fish, you're wrong!

[Maico1]

Not sure were this thread is going but in my opinion is that if you are catching bass on mono and it works for you then keep on using it , however the same applies to braid. No one is right or wrong if you are hooking up and producing fish since that is what everyones goal is.

[lecisnith]

I imagine that for a lot of us, when you're a novice and using a frog you're usually using mono by default.  Everyone starts with mono.  Then, as you get better, start doing more research, see what a lot of other anglers are using, you switch to braid for certain applications.  That usually coincides with actually becoming a more competent fisherman.  So it would stand to reason that you don't have as much success with mono; you're not that good.  I bet after you gained confidence in frogging with braid and went back to mono you would be a lot better than the first time you tried it.  I have a number of times where I have a different size/color/style of frog tied on an alternate rod to my dedicated frog rod with 15# mono and haven't noticed a drop-off in my performance.

[desmobob]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

Mono doesn't cut through grass well; yet I read "it sucks winching in a 20 lb mess of weeds", don't sound like it cuts to well to me, my mono does that!

I guess I didn't make my thoughts clear... I prefer small diameter braid for frogging because it doesn't usually bring in a 20 lb. mess of weeds like larger diameter mono sometimes does.  It seems to me to saw/slice through the weeds better than mono.  That's pretty much the only reason I prefer it.  I use mono for all my other topwater fishing.

I'm not sure why this thread has become so negative.  The OP asked if anyone used mono for frogging and I guess .ghoti's first response set the tone.  I'm sure it wasn't his intention, but I read it as, "I use mono because I know what I'm doing.  Hence, braid is for people who don't."  I may be the only one who interpreted it that way...

Anyway, I hope the OP has gained something form this thread!  :-)

 

Think Spring,

Bob

 

 

 

[Raul]

3 hours ago, desmobob said:

I guess I didn't make my thoughts clear... I prefer small diameter braid for frogging because it doesn't usually bring in a 20 lb. mess of weeds like larger diameter mono sometimes does.  It seems to me to saw/slice through the weeds better than mono.  That's pretty much the only reason I prefer it.  I use mono for all my other topwater fishing.

I'm not sure why this thread has become so negative.  The OP asked if anyone used mono for frogging and I guess .ghoti's first response set the tone.  I'm sure it wasn't his intention, but I read it as, "I use mono because I know what I'm doing.  Hence, braid is for people who don't."  I may be the only one who interpreted it that way...

Anyway, I hope the OP has gained something form this thread!  :-)

 

Think Spring,

Bob

 

 

 

I don´t see where .ghoti says something like: "braid is for people who don´t know what they are doing". 

Fishing with braid is not new, back in the old days ( 40´s the only line available was braided silk or cotton ), synthetic fibers like Nylon and Dacron displaced natural materials as fishing line materials, nylon as monofilamentous material and dacron as braided ( mutifilamentous ) so in reality ----> fishing with braid is what is "new", what is new also is the material used to manufacture braided lines. Actually when the new materials arrived some years ago nobody new how to fish with the newer braided lines.

The problem here, what I can see is that nowadays most newcomers to the sport are practically "taught" of wrongly influenced by the belief that you can only fish "properly" or "efficiently" certain bait or certain technique if you use X or Y, in this case, braided line, and that is absolutely false. 

You don´t "need" a 20 ft bass boat, you don´t "need" a deck full of setups, you don´t "need" braided line to fish topwater frogs. What you really need is to learn how to get the most out of the elements you have at hand.

Most of the time I fish from the bank and I can fish every single lure in my t-box with just one rod, one reel and one line type, in my case I like nylon monofilament.

[desmobob]

7 minutes ago, Raul said:

I don´t see where .ghoti says something like: "braid is for people who don´t know what they are doing". 

And I'm sure that was not the interpretation he intended, but my own personal first thought when I read it was as I posted above: "I use mono because I know what I'm doing.  Hence, braid is for people who don't."  As I said, I may be the only one who saw it that way. (Hopefully!)

But again, I think it's curious this thread this thread became so passionate.  I guess it IS February...  ;-)

I agree with the points you make and I'm a firm believer in doing things in the way you enjoy doing them.  When I'm fishing, my intent is not to win money, put food on the table, or impress people; I'm out there to have fun!  Being more successful can make it more fun, and asking advice from a group of fellow enthusiasts with an absolutely enormous amount of collective experience is certainly a way to learn to be more successful -- and have more fun!

Tight lines,

Bob

 

 

 

 

[Buckeye Ron]

I've used 17lb mono for frog fishing for a long time and don't have too much trouble with missing or losing fish. Not sure anyone hooks and catches 100% of the time. While braid has its place I've just never been a fan so I've learned to stick with what I know,which is mono. But hey,I go against the grain by using single,super sharp hooks in my frogs and I believe that alone helps me catch my share. What do I know?

[WRB]

On February 5, 2016 at 5:36 PM, shackman said:

Fisherman caught fish with mono on frogs for years before braid!  

Actually braid was around decades before mono. 

I rarely use braid today, however fishing frogs and punching heavy cover braid works better because it cuts through the vegetation. Just depends on how thick the cover is.

If you can control the bass using mono, use it.

Tom

[Pondboss16]

8 hours ago, desmobob said:

And I'm sure that was not the interpretation he intended, but my own personal first thought when I read it was as I posted above: "I use mono because I know what I'm doing.  Hence, braid is for people who don't."  As I said, I may be the only one who saw it that way. (Hopefully!)

But again, I think it's curious this thread this thread became so passionate.  I guess it IS February...  ;-)

I agree with the points you make and I'm a firm believer in doing things in the way you enjoy doing them.  When I'm fishing, my intent is not to win money, put food on the table, or impress people; I'm out there to have fun!  Being more successful can make it more fun, and asking advice from a group of fellow enthusiasts with an absolutely enormous amount of collective experience is certainly a way to learn to be more successful -- and have more fun!

Tight lines,

Bob

 

 

 

 

totally agree with bob on this one, thanks for the glass half full approach to it. Much appreciated

[Pondboss16]

EDIT: i keep getting mixed replies (mono vs braid) I usually fish ponds with little to no water vegetation. There are just so many different things that go into the fishing line you buy. The thing is i only have one rod (abu garcia black max) spooled with some 10 or so pound mono. Ive only caught a few frog fish and am wanting to really get into it this summer. But with the fact that have one rod i need to find a line that is universal between soft plastics frogging and hardbaits which may be impossible. If i get braid the fish might see it, if i get mono the stretch will lose fish when frogging. And even if i go with mono it has to be under 15 pounds cause thats all my real can take I just don't even know what to do

[Rick Howard]

I fish mono for everything but flipping.

[Pondboss16]

1 minute ago, Rick Howard said:

I fish mono for everything but flipping.

may i ask what pound test u usually use?

[Rick Howard]

12Lb tri line xt

[Pondboss16]

 

7 minutes ago, Rick Howard said:

12Lb tri line xt

hope I'm not being a pain but how does it hold up when frog fishing?

[Jeff H]

I've used mono for every type of presentation from 6lb to 20 lb all my life.  I don't really care for braid that much but I do use it now mainly for 2 things....froggin' and pitchin' slop or heavy cover.  For those 2 things it's just easier than using mono for me.  I intend to try some 14/30 Fireline for frogs and see how I like it.  Still, hand me a rig spooled with 17lb XT and I'll throw frogs with it without raising an eyebrow....as I did for many years.