Hollowbody frog.. what am I doing wrong?

[Chughes37]

I'm still a fishing rookie, I've learned how to walk a spook, but frog fishing has been BY FAR my biggest challenge. My current frog set up is a 7ft Heavy rod, 50 lbs braid, 8.1:1 reel. I can't walk it to save my life. And I'm still failing to set the hook. I've been using booyah pad crashers

 

Is my baitcaster too fast? I can walk a spook just fine but I'm using a 7.1:1 so I figured the technique is similar. Any tips to walk and setting the hook? 

[CTBassin860]

Your reel is fine.I use an 8.1:1 as well. Some lures are harder to walk then others. With the Pad Crasher i use a semi slack line and very light tugs to walk it. When setting the hook it's your reaction to set when it gets hit. When your frog goes under and you feel the weight of the fish,set the hook hard straight back.

[MichaelCopeland]

I use a Booyah pad crasher too and I can't walk it either. I watched several videos on YouTube about it but still can't do it. They say with the frogs to do it like tapping a drum with shorter strokes than you do with bigger baits on slack line. I'm a drummer and still can't do it...lol. I was finally able to walk my Stutter Step but haven't had any bites on it yet.

[Chughes37]

I also tried the sebile pivot frog and couldn't do much with it. Practice practice practice I guess

[d-camarena]

Get a poppin pad crasher. If you cant walk it at least you can pop it lol

[Chughes37]

1 minute ago, d-camarena said:

Get a poppin pad crasher. If you cant walk it at least you can pop it lol

I have! Lmao I haven't had any strikes with the poppin pad crasher yet

[MichaelCopeland]

Just now, d-camarena said:

Get a poppin pad crasher. If you cant walk it at least you can pop it lol

I'm thinking of going that route...lol. Harder to walk those smaller baits and poppin them ain't that hard...lol.

[hunterPRO1]

i use pad crashers,

 

imo theyre one of the easier frogs to set a hook with, and they walk decently. 

 

you dont have to walk it for fish to bite, a soft twitch and stop type movement will do fine.

 

have you trimmed the "legs" ? if not trim them to be the same length as the frog.

 

[MichaelCopeland]

9 minutes ago, MassBassin508 said:

Your reel is fine.I use an 8.1:1 as well. Some lures are harder to walk then others. With the Pad Crasher i use a semi slack line and very light tugs to walk it. When setting the hook it's your reaction to set when it gets hit. When your frog goes under and you feel the weight of the fish,set the hook hard straight back.

My rod is a 6'6" medium fast spinning with 6.2:1 reel and 50lb spectra braid. Can walking a frog be accomplished with this setup?

[d-camarena]

Dont get to caught up on walking them. Most of my strikes come on the pause after i pop them.  If you cant walk them just drag it about half a foot or so then let it sit and repeat. Doesnt have to walk perfect as long as its moving. Ive caught fish just reeling it in. Id recommend to you the stanley ribbit, just cast and retrieve. The legs do the action

2 minutes ago, MichaelCopeland said:

My rod is a 6'6" medium fast spinning with 6.2:1 reel and 50lb spectra braid. Can walking a frog be accomplished with this setup?

Yes you can, the problem would be that when you get a strike that rod may not have the backbone needed to set the hook and get him out of cover fast. In open water you are fine but i wouldnt fish a medium rod near cover

[CTBassin860]

9 minutes ago, d-camarena said:

Get a poppin pad crasher. If you cant walk it at least you can pop it lol

Im loving the popping crasher myself.

[d-camarena]

Just now, MassBassin508 said:

Im loving the popping crasher myself.

That is all i use. I can walk and pop it. 

[MichaelCopeland]

3 minutes ago, d-camarena said:

Dont get to caught up on walking them. Most of my strikes come on the pause after i pop them.  If you cant walk them just drag it about half a foot or so then let it sit and repeat. Doesnt have to walk perfect as long as its moving. Ive caught fish just reeling it in. Id recommend to you the stanley ribbit, just cast and retrieve. The legs do the action

Yes you can, the problem would be that when you get a strike that rod may not have the backbone needed to set the hook and get him out of cover fast. In open water you are fine but i wouldnt fish a medium rod near cover

Would the fact that it's a Lew's Carbon Speed Stick make a difference in backbone?

[CTBassin860]

6 minutes ago, MichaelCopeland said:

My rod is a 6'6" medium fast spinning with 6.2:1 reel and 50lb spectra braid. Can walking a frog be accomplished with this setup?

I would not use that setup for frog fishing personally. Rod is short,not enough power,and it's a spinning outfit.50 pound braid is spot on but overkill on a spinner.To me that setup seems doomed to break if fished in heavy cover and a pig gets a hold of that frog.

[d-camarena]

That rod has very little backbone, i have one But will get the job done. Id recommend you use straight braid to counter act the slow taper of the rod. I used to fish frogs on medium rods with no problems. But braid is a must. If you own a medium heavy than id use that instead. 

[MichaelCopeland]

6 minutes ago, MassBassin508 said:

I would not use that setup for frog fishing personally. Rod is short,not enough power,and it's a spinning outfit.50 pound braid is spot on but overkill on a spinner.To me that setup seems doomed to break if fished in heavy cover and a pig gets a hold of that frog.

I only fish from the bank for now, no boat, and fortunately there's not a lot of thick cover to go through in the lakes around here. Just haven't had any luck with most of my lures so far. Thanks for the advice.

9 minutes ago, d-camarena said:

That rod has very little backbone, i have one But will get the job done. Id recommend you use straight braid to counter act the slow taper of the rod. I used to fish frogs on medium rods with no problems. But braid is a must. If you own a medium heavy than id use that instead. 

Mine is a medium fast taper action rod. I do use only braid on that rod no matter what I'm casting on it. The color of the braid is moss green and the waters I get to fish around here are murky/muddy/milky or stained. Haven't come across any really clear water yet. I do want a medium heavy rod though when I can afford one again. Thanks for the advice also. I gotta get some sleep now. Going fishing in the morning.

[papajoe222]

I know guys that catch fish walking a frog over open water.I don't even try. If I'm fishing open water, I'd much rather fish a Spook. I feel it's better at drawing strikes and the hook up percentage is much better. I use hollow body frogs for fishing the weeds. If I'm faced with a situation where there's open water between the weeds and me, I opt for soft body frog like a Ribbit that I can work slowly across the weeds and then run it across the surface back to me.

[Chughes37]

Does the knot play a factor?

[Bluebasser86]

47 minutes ago, Chughes37 said:

Does the knot play a factor?

No, I tie a Palomar and have no issues walking them. Sharp, quick, downward twitches and make sure you immediately put slack back in the line after each twitch to allow the bait to work. If you cut almost all of the legs off, it makes them much easier to walk also. 

[CTBassin860]

8 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

No, I tie a Palomar and have no issues walking them.

x2

[Dtrombly]

Your rod *could* be the issue if it's too stiff 

[BuzzHudson19c]

9 hours ago, Chughes37 said:

Does the knot play a factor?

 

If I'm looking to walk a frog, I sometimes run a loop knot. Makes it a little easier.

[SFL BassHunter]

I have used so many different frogs and have found the Pad Crasher to be the easiest to walk. A semi slack line and longer twitches than a walking bait like a spook. 

Your best bet is to start slow. Give it one twitch and see if you can get the frog to go to the side. Longer casts are easier to make the frog walk too. As the frog gets closer it gets harder to walk. 

Once you get the one twitch, go to two twitches. Remember that your twitch should end with the rod back to where it started so that your next twitch does the same exact thing. After several twitches (walk) a slight reel down will help pick up some slack, just don't pick it all up. You need that the semi slack. 

 

[Jaderose]

I don't understand the idea of wanting to "walk" a hollow body frog.  To me, these baits are for use in heavy slop.  They require a heavy rod, heavy braid, and no finesse.  Drag them across the top of the slop with starts and stops, making as much ruckus as you can.  Anything that would require a walking bait is not a froggin situation.  Just my .02

[MassYak85]

I rarely walk mine unless I'm fishing a pocket in the pads and want it to cause commotion but not move a ton. They can be chalenging to walk sometimes depending on certain factors. You could always try trimming one of the legs slightly shorter than the other to provide a little imbalance. The key to walking a frog is to get it to make that first side turn, once you do that it's usually not too bad. But I've had it before where the frog just would not turn sideways and it took like 15 twitches of just nosing forward before it turned. You want some slack in the line when you are doing it.