6am Froggin

[dallasdb]

Long story short fishing has been last minute and usually in the heat of the day. Not the best time for catching.

After feeling stressed and exhausted I decided instead of driving by my local fishing hole every day on the way to work, I'm going to wake up early and cast a few before my 1.5 hour commute.

I am so glad I did!

The first 10 minutes I hooked into a decent fish. I had 5 other blowups but the fish missed. They must've still been waking up 

One fish blew up on my line when the frog was 10 feet away! I guess my twitching line looked like something tasty.

As I was walking towards the car to head to work I did "One last cast" and of course got a blowup but he missed. The little bugger missed another two times after I pitched around him for the next 5 minutes. 

All blow ups were in really thick submerged foliage and within 10 feet of shore. I fan casted but had the most success paralleling the shoreline. 

This was the first time I've ever fished a frog and first time catching anything on topwater. I don't know if I'll be able to go back to fishing anything else. It was so fun.

What a great way to start the morning!

 

[fishinfiend]

oh ya!

[dallasdb]

Those frog hooks are no joke! I put my thumb in his mouth, he freaked out and the frog hook got me!

Totally worth it

[Bankbeater]

Nice bass! I love it when the topwater bite is on.

[Bluebasser86]

Good job catching your first frog fish!

Lose that snap swivel and tie directly to the frog and it will work even better  The extra weight drags the nose of the frog down and won't let it work properly. 

 

[Master Bait'r]

Yup that's how it happens!  

 

I loved the the visual of you packing up and leaving and halfway to the car being like "just ONE MORE" and then fishing for 5 mins.  That tells the whole story 

[BassB8Caster]

So it is normal to have 5 "last casts". Thought it was just me

[dallasdb]

4 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Good job catching your first frog fish!

Lose that snap swivel and tie directly to the frog and it will work even better  The extra weight drags the nose of the frog down and won't let it work properly. 

 

Something to consider. I put the snap swivel on to quickly switch between my dark body frog and the natural. 

It's a small swivel and I twitch almost continuously as I'm reeling, almost like a popper frog. However, I honestly don't know how to work it properly or what that even looks like!

3 hours ago, BassB8Caster said:

So it is normal to have 5 "last casts". Thought it was just me

It's always at least 5!

3 hours ago, Master Bait'r said:

Yup that's how it happens!  

 

I loved the the visual of you packing up and leaving and halfway to the car being like "just ONE MORE" and then fishing for 5 mins.  That tells the whole story 

It was right where I released the fish I caught. I'm thinking he was just messing with me to get me back!

Hit it again this morning. Started with a black body hollow frog to see if that would help with the fish missing so much yesterday.

The same spot that the fish missed 3x yesterday, he missed once today. Couldn't get him interested again.

Tried tossing a t-rigged 10' worm right after the miss but the weeds were so thick my 1/8 oz weight couldn't drop through. 

Had one other confirmed miss and one I thought was a miss but I was looking away at another fish that jumped. 

Switched back to the natural colored frog and got this guy.

[JeepFisher]

Nice I have been doing the same thing for 2+years regarding going at the crack of down before work (at least 2-3times a week).  Also, almost exclusively topwater from spring until winter.  Torpedos, Frogs, mice, buzzbaits, ploppers...  Bend those hooks up a little on the frogs, that will help with hook ups.  I am sure someone on here did a tutorial if not check youtube.  Looks like a perfect frogging pond/lake.  Tight Lines!

[tander]

Great catch but how was you able to go to work after that. I have wanted to stay !!!!!

[BassB8Caster]

Possibly they are all small fish? I have had many Hook up issues with frogs. Mostly its me being too excited and setting the hook too early. but I love fishing them. From responses I have gotten and info I have read on here, could be small fish. I also learned that bass like to hit prey and stun it, then come back to eat it. This could be happening as well. I'm seeing this sort of behavior more and more now that I'm concentrating on resisting too quick of a hook set and watching the frog more. Waiting to feel weight of fish through the rod before setting the hook. They hit it and the frog comes back to the surface. I use a pad crasher popper frog and tend to work it faster as well. Maybe try mixing in more pauses and shakes vs straight working it. Just a thought. Good luck!

[dallasdb]

Of all the missed blowups I only tried to set the hook on one and that was because I was looking away at another fish jumping and just reacted. So it's definitely the fish missing which is why I tried the black body frog thinking it would give them a more defined outline. 

BassB8Caster you are probably correct in that the fish are probably smaller. 

 

[Dxdger30]

Yesterday I caught 1 bass on a frog, I guess my hookset was just a tad late and when I set the hook he spit the frog out of his mouth and the hook set was so hard I hooked the fish in the belly and still got him to land... Weirdest catch ever.

[dallasdb]

PhenoM,

In the belly? Did you get a pic?

[YoTone]

ive been frog fishing way too much. ive probably drastically reduced the numbers of bass i could of caught if i used a worm  but i just cant stand not to fish a top water these days.  its so fun to see and hear the strikes. a few times ive screamed like a little girl when i get that unexpected top water blow up.

 

[dallasdb]

Met up with my buddy on Saturday morning and fished the slop.

Only had 2.5 hours to fish but I found a willing participant