Review: Teckel Sprinker Frog vs. Homemade Teckel Sprinker Frog

[tcbass]

I used a homemade Teckel Sprinker Frog for the majority of the summer and did very well. Far better than I've ever done with a regular hollow body frog. It's basically a weedless Whopper Plopper and how can that not be a winner? After experimenting with several frogs and o-rings and 3 way swivels I found the best to be a Spro Bronzege Frog, size 4 VMC 3 way swivel, and actual Teckel Sprinker Frog replacement tail. I caught a lot of fish, only had a few hit it and not catch them, and can't recall losing any fish on the retrieve. I tried Booyah Pad Crasher Jrs, Spro, and Snagproof Phat frogs. I gave my lucky Spro away so I'll be trying a Booyah Pad Crasher next. The Snagproof sunk as did the Booyah Pad Crasher Jr. This lure also seems to work well at any retrieve speed. 

 

Finally my real Teckel Sprinker Frogs arrived and I tried them out on 3 trips. I've found that fish go airborne for this lure, something that they didn't do for the homemade model or many of my topwater baits. Very exciting and thrilling, however the hookup ratio is deplorable. I've probably had 15 hits and only managed to catch 1 fish and it was a northern. I did bend the hooks out but still had a dismal hookup ratio. I also had a nice bass hit and got it about 2 feet before it threw the lure. Maybe the hooks aren't sharp enough. The Teckel Frog also seems to be very speed specific. One speed is best for it, not too slow or too fast because it won't run well. It does also slowly take on water and has to be squeezed to drain the water, something you don't have to do with the Spro. Maybe the fish are going airborne because they are trying to get the lure out of their area rather than actually attempting to eat the bait. 

 

 

Scores - 

 

 

Teckel Sprinker Frog: 1 out of 5. 

 

If it hookup all of the bites it has it would be a great producer. But it hasn't. Maybe I need to switch color or something. I don't know but it just can't seem to get fish onto the hook. I will continue using it, maybe I can see what's up. If I change color and if starts producing maybe the color was just off enough. Or I need to sharpen the hooks. 

 

Homsmade Teckel Sprinker Frog:  5 out of 5 

 

The homemade lure is flat out a fish killer. Goes everywhere a regular hollow body frog goes but covers far more water faster and gets fish to bite and gets them in the boat. 

 

I think before the homemade Teckel Sprinker Frog I could count the number of hollow body frog fish I've caught one one hand, with the homemade Teckel Sprinker Frog I usually catch 4-5 fish per trip. 

 

Winner is definitely the Homemade Teckel Sprinker Frog. 

 

 

Only fish I've caught with the Teckel. 

 

 

Homemade Teckel Sprinker Frog

 

 

[Kyhokie]

That's a fantastic writeup. Could you post a pic of your homemade sprinker?

[tcbass]

1 hour ago, Kyhokie said:

That's a fantastic writeup. Could you post a pic of your homemade sprinker?

 

Thx. Up now. 

[evilcatfish]

Bend the hooks out on the sprinker a little bit and you'll see a dramatic increase in hookup ratio. This will slightly decrease the weedlessness but I found to get the full effect of the tail you don't want to throw it in super heavy slop anyway. It's more of a sparse pads/weeds and wood type frog. That said, I really like the conversion you did, I might try it on a koppers or spro frog. 

[tcbass]

42 minutes ago, evilcatfish said:

Bend the hooks out on the sprinker a little bit and you'll see a dramatic increase in hookup ratio. This will slightly decrease the weedlessness but I found to get the full effect of the tail you don't want to throw it in super heavy slop anyway. It's more of a sparse pads/weeds and wood type frog. That said, I really like the conversion you did, I might try it on a koppers or spro frog. 

 

 

I did bend them out. After that I caught the northern, which I don't think it would have mattered and had a bass on for a second. 

 

 

I can know I throw both into heavy slop but so far only the homemade one can catch fish in it. I still have faith in getting the Teckel to work. 

 

 

I would try the Spro for sure. Worked great for me. The other brand frogs did not.