Frog Fishing struggle!!!

[Adleyfishes]

Hello y'all, I have been fishing frogs since I started fishing although I am not a veteran fisherman. Lately I have been struggling catching bass on my frogs. I have many blow ups but.... the fish almost always miss the frog. Like in mid-air the frog will fall out of its mouth or the fish will completely miss it and the bass don't strike on the pause. PLEASE HELP!

[Kidflex]

That's part of the game. They gonna miss sometimes. Try a smaller frog or a different color. Maybe even a different bait. 

[BassB8Caster]

Yep. Been there done that. I've had my fair share of setting the hook too early and pulling it out of their mouth (no matter how much I tell myself to be patient I still yank too early....working on that). I've also had mornings where bass were blowing up on it but not taking it. Just hit it, and it would be sitting on the surface. For a while I would keep thinking its me messing it up (usually it is). But now I take it as they are telling me they don't want it. They are reacting to it (being active and aggressive) but don't want to eat the frog. So change up to a swimbait, worm etc and you should start hooking up. 

[BassinLou]

6 hours ago, Adleyfishes said:

Hello y'all, I have been fishing frogs since I started fishing although I am not a veteran fisherman. Lately I have been struggling catching bass on my frogs. I have many blow ups but.... the fish almost always miss the frog. Like in mid-air the frog will fall out of its mouth or the fish will completely miss it and the bass don't strike on the pause. PLEASE HELP!

Frog fishing can be frustrating like that sometimes. From what was written, you are getting the bass attention, but are having trouble connecting. Maybe this might help. First, delay your hookset just a little bit longer, and second, when you set the hook make sure the slack is picked up and set the hook straight up and avoid setting from the sides. Lastly, what line are you using? Braid is king in this application imho. 40lb -65lb braid would be my suggestion. Cover will dictate how high or low you go in the range I provided. Good luck!! 

[Frogfather]

Some general tips:

-rod tip: make sure it's down while walking frog. High rod will set hook too early.

-when you see the boil of the water/fish hitting bait: reel slack, pause, set hook. You will read a lot about waiting 1-3 seconds but I'm both too impatient and excited to do that plus feel the tug on line. I try to simply say my full name and the set hook.

-pull hooks away from frog. 

-high gear reel. If below 7:1 you might have too much slack in line. 

-Lake Fork Trailor Hooks. A little more difficult to walk but will increase hookups. 

-FOLLOW-UP BAIT: after a miss throw a GYCB 5" senko in the spot of strike. Frog is a great search bait. You found fish now get their butt to the boat.

It's called fishing not catching. Some bass are simply trying get the bait away and slap it from different angles with no intentions of eating it. 

Hope this helped. 

[the reel ess]

Sometimes they just slap it. It happens to me more during the mid day than in the low light periods.

[Adleyfishes]

 

32 minutes ago, BassinLou said:

Frog fishing can be frustrating like that sometimes. From what was written, you are getting the bass attention, but are having trouble connecting. Maybe this might help. First, delay your hookset just a little bit longer, and second, when you set the hook make sure the slack is picked up and set the hook straight up and avoid setting from the sides. Lastly, what line are you using? Braid is king in this application imho. 40lb -65lb braid would be my suggestion. Cover will dictate how high or low you go in the range I provided. Good luck!! 

I use nanofil 16 pound test. Very thin line. No memory. Is not braided like braid but is made up of hundreds of tiny lines. Does not float sadly. It has no stretch as well. I get this line for free because I am close to the creator of it and I get many discounts in Berkley products. That's why I use this line 

[soflabasser]

Be patient since frog fishing is a great way to catch bigger than average bass.Have caught many quality bass this way,including several that where + 8 pounds. I prefer using braid when fishing frogs since I feel it increases my hookup rate.30 pound test should be more than enough(this is what I use) but you can use higher pound test if you want.Wait until the frog disappears before setting the hook.Give a solid hookset, but there's no need for a exaggerated hookset.

[WIGuide]

17 minutes ago, Adleyfishes said:

 

I use nanofil 16 pound test. Very thin line. No memory. Is not braided like braid but is made up of hundreds of tiny lines. Does not float sadly. It has no stretch as well. I get this line for free because I am close to the creator of it and I get many discounts in Berkley products. That's why I use this line 

See if you can get some 50 lb test Berkley profesional grade braid. Any line that sinks isn't good for topwater applications especially for froggin'. Also, you're experiencing the nature of the topwater beast. There's days they will choke it, and there's days you get their attention, but they won't commit. When they do that, you can try changing something: a color change, change profile either by changing size or trimming legs, change retrieve (faster, slower, adding pauses). Sometimes that'll help other times they are still going to be fickle. Stick with it though as frogs are great big bass producers. 

[Red Bear]

sounds more like a case of the fish not cooperating on one hand. on the other, the only suggestion i can give is to slow down your retrieve a bit and give the bass a better chance of grabbing your bait instead of missing it...

[Surfcaster]

Definitely switch to braid.  40-65lb.

[Fishin' Fool]

Agree with the have a back up bait ready comment. The fish have given away where they're hiding. Even if you don't catch them on the frog you've narrowed down their location. Now drop a worm or creature bait on their heads and boom! 

[Jaderose]

BRAID!!!!  I suppose it's possible but I would NEVER throw a frog on anything less than 30lb braid.  With that said, all the advice above is valid.  Down size a bit.  I had a bass knock my frog about 4 ft in the air the other day.  All part of the fun

[Adleyfishes]

Just went fishing and well I discovered a new problem the frog begins to float differently. By this I mean the nose points almost straight up in the air is there anyone who can help?

[Master Bait'r]

Hey even Rojas misses a few.  Could be dinks, could be bad timing could be a lot of things.  

 

One thing you can do that likely won't be mentioned is have a follow up punching rig handy.  I go as small as I can, but if I miss em I the frog I put a punch rig right on top of it or very near and see if I can save it.

 

Sometimes the fish you're seeing simply can't be caught on a frog.  It happens.  Be ready for that! 

[corn-on-the-rob]

Make sure to squeeze the water out ever once in a while. If the frog gets too torn up it will hold water frequently, might need a fresh one.

In my experience, when more than a couple fish are consistently missing your frog, a significant color change almost always remedies the situation. Using black? Try white, etc.

[the reel ess]

1 hour ago, Adleyfishes said:

Just went fishing and well I discovered a new problem the frog begins to float differently. By this I mean the nose points almost straight up in the air is there anyone who can help?

If you can't squeeze the water out and get it to walk better, it's time for a new frog. I have one that's doing that too and it has been my best froggie. Some people on here try to mend them. But I can't even see the hole or tear in my frog. They aren't that expensive, considering all the bites they get in summer.