Staying hooked up with frogs

[KLoell]

I've had multiple good sized bass here recently get off after setting the hook and fighting with them.  I wait until I see they have it then set the hook I will feel the weight of them and see them fighting but they end up getting off. After 20-30 seconds or so.  I just switched my frogging rod to a MH 7'3" Rod which feels more heavy than anything.  Am I setting the hook to hard and pulling it out of their mouth with the heavier Rod ? or not setting the hook hard enough? 

[d-camarena]

20- 30 seconds? Shoot i get in the boat in less than 10 seconds. I reel em in  so fast the skip all the way to the boat.

i think you should play them a little less. Also after you make the first hookset, if you feel the fish is on give him one more hookset just to be sure.

[MarkH024]

What kind of line are you using?

[WIGuide]

Fighting a fish on a frog is a lot different than most types of fishing. If it's all open water it isn't, but if you're fishing in the slop or thick pads/grass you shouldn't be playing them too much. The idea is to get their head turned and get them coming up so they can't bury you in the crap. If they do, more likely than not they'll be gone. A few things facilitate you in doing what needs to be done to keep them buttoned up: a heavy powered rod, braided line, and a high speed reel. With that combination, you can get them up on top of the junk and lose less fish. 

That being said, loosing fish on a frog is inevitable. It's far from a 100% catch rate once you have them hooked up. Heck, I lost a big one this last weekend that I wrestled out of a section of pads but it managed to get itself into a section of grass in between the pads and the boat. Replaying it over and over again in my head, I don't see where I could have done anything different to prevent it. The trade off is it's an absolute blast catching them that way, and I'm convinced that you catch a higher percentage of above average fish on a frog.

[KLoell]

I use 50lb braid right now and a 7.2:1 reel 

Any fish I get a good hook set on in thick stuff like weeds or Lily's I've been able to get a good percentage of them in the boat.. It's the ones in open water that I feel I am loosing more often.  Should I be setting the hook with my whole body or is that just the name of the game having them on and losing them on the way to the boat? 

[MarkH024]

Your gear is exactly as you need to be.

Hollow body frog hooks are big and thick. A lot of the time they're not punctured all the way to the outside of the bass's mouth because of where they get hooked inside the mouth.  So anytime that fish can swim and do a lot of directional change (up, down,left right, backward), there's the chance of the fish loosening that hole up and the hooks popping out.  Usually a frog gets enhaled and a lot of my hooks are planted into the roof or upper sides of the mouth.  Rarely do I have them hooked out toward the front of the mouth like an EWG worm hook or alike.  You could try bending out the hooks on the frogs slightly, however I do not do that myself.  Some guys like to have that extra bit of angle for better hook ups.

As mentioned, try to keep them in a straight line to the boat and with minimal jumping and direction changes.  

Doesn't sound like you're doing anything wrong, it's just part of the game.  Good luck!

[KLoell]

Appreciate the info guys!! 

 

[Glenn]

Key point in hooksets: drop the rod tip and throw some slack in the line, then snap the rod sharply back.  If you just yank really hard on a tight line, you run the risk of just turning his head without much hook penetration.  No amount of body English is needed on a good, swift hookset.

[the reel ess]

You can rip the big, strong hook thru the lips too. I did that recently. The bass came off at the water's edge and I could see I'd pulled a hole in the soft tissue, dragging the fish with 5 lbs of lilies.

[Bluebasser86]

That's weird to lose fish on frogs. They're almost no weight for the fish to gain leverage against to throw the bait. As long as I can keep them moving, it's very rare to lose a frog fish. 

[frogflogger]

I like soft tip heavy action rod -  6.5 gears and when I set I am reeling and don't stop