Topwater Frog Color

[Shaggie]

Should I be picking my frog color based on the type of frog we have in our local waters? Seems silly that a bass would go after a yellow or black frog if we only have green/brown frogs. Am I wrong?

[gardnerjigman]

Short answer, yes, you are wrong. 

Long answer, use the search feature and you'll find loads on frog color. 

[PennBass]

In open water where the bass can actually see the underbelly of the frog, picking more natural colors may be beneficial. However, because I fish frogs mostly on top of thick mats/weed clumps, the bass have no idea what the frog looks like, so really any color works in those conditions

[Master Bait'r]

There are as many different opinions on this as there are stars in the night sky- that said the Big Three everyone seems to feel they need is black, white and some kind of natural color (usually brown or green) 

I am a big fan of the LiveTarget and Lunker Hunt frogs, but the pad crashers are good too for entry level frogs. 

[Kevin22]

32 minutes ago, Shaggie said:

Should I be picking my frog color based on the type of frog we have in our local waters? Seems silly that a bass would go after a yellow or black frog if we only have green/brown frogs. Am I wrong?

First step, match the hatch. If that doesn't work then try the other colors. There's only 4 colors of frogs (belly of the bait), white, yellow, brown, black. What the top looks like doesn't matter unless its Gin clear water. Note, even live green frogs have white or yellow bellies. 

[ww2farmer]

I use 4 colors of Booyah Pad Crasher frogs in these situations:

Cricket Frog (white belly, brown back, splash of yellow on the throat, brown and black leg strands): Clear shallow water, light grass, early spring-mid summer. This will be the first frog I have tied on in the spring, usually once the water gets into the mid 50's, and unless the water gets real murky from rain, I don't take this one off for a few weeks.

Shad Frog (white belly, aqua green/black back, splash of orange on the throat, green, white and purple leg strands): When bluegills are spawning and the bass are , for the most part,  done spawning...... and this is my usual "open water" frog color through the summer months.

Bullfrog ( yellow belly, green back, green, brown, and black leg strands): Dirty water on sunny days spring summer or fall, and my go to color from late summer till the frog bite dies in the late fall.

Dart Frog (black belly, black back with yellow spots, black and yellow leg strands) Dirty water on cloudy days spring summer or fall, and fishing over  heavy mats no matter what the water/sky clarity/season is...........I will also add a rattle and a small chunk off a used up yum dinger stick bait to help the frog "sit" lower and move more water over top a heavy mat.

[jignfule]

For me, 98% of the time, black works best.

[Molay1292]

If you listen to Rojas, he believes a H.B. frog actually acts more like a dying bluegill than an frog.   Food for thought.

[ErikmonBillsfon]

Its really hard to find a dark brown belly frog or anything other than white. All of the cool colors I picked out all have white bellies so IMO It matters where you cast, hook set discipline and your presentation more than the color.

[TyF]

I like black bellies on my frog no matter wat. if the belly isn't black out of the box I will color it black with a sharpie. In my opinion the fish sees the shadow rather than the actual colors so the black belly adds to the shadow. BTW, I frog fish 75% of the time in the summer and always use the black belly. Works great and catches some hogs.