Froggin Newbie

[ike8120]

Thank you for the wealth of information Mr Farmer.

 

I just purchased the Diawa Fuego CT 8.1:1 for less than 70 bucks. Now I have to work on the rod.

 Thanks for all your help

[TBAG]

13 hours ago, ww2farmer said:

I buy "frog" rods with the purpose of frog fishing first, but being versatile enough to do other stuff with if the frog bite is not "on", or for really early/late in the year cold water stuff. But from late April-late October there is always AT LEAST one frog tied on and on deck ready to go.

 

Before I give my thoughts on rods, I'll go with reels and line first, as its much simpler.

 

Line: 50lb braid....done. Pick your favorite brand. I am not a fan of using anything less than 50, or more than 50. 50 is the sweet spot. Strong enough to winch big fish out of the heaviest of cover, nimble enough for skipping and walking.

 

Reels: METAL FRAME ONLY....don't go cheap ( I didn't say inexpensive). The frog it self is not a high resistance bait that will strain a cheaply made reel, it's the abuse you will put it through over the course of it's life if your regularly catching quality fish on frogs....which often come with 3x times the weight of the fish in attached salad. You need a reel that will hold up to that. Drag power is of no concern...lock it down and be done with it. Gear ratio....faster is better. You can get by with a 6.something :1, a 7.something: 1 is better, anything 8+ is ideal. IMHO Daiwa Fuego CT's in the 8.1:1 that can be had new for less than $70 are a tremendous bang for the buck right now. I am starting to lose track of how many I have LOL. 

 

Rods: There is a lot of personal preference in selecting the right frog rod. Some want broom stick power, other's want light weight for all day comfort, some want a more delayed/moderate action to solve what IMHO is operator error in pulling baits away from fish (I'm good at NOT doing this,but I'm not perfect), and others yet want a blended combo of all three. I'll throw in extreme durability as well, big hooks sets with strong line in nasty cover will expose a rods weakness really quick

 

Here are rods that I have owned that were bought with purpose of being my frog rods that I HATED:

 

St Croix Mojo Bass (SCII, Gen 1) 7' H/F "slop and frog". This fit the broom stick power, and durability requirements...but was a heavy, unbalanced pig. It was not fun to fish with all day and was a very poor choice for target casting frogs into tight spots.

 

Kistler Magnisum Jig and Toad 7' H/F....light, nimble, powerful enough. Terrible durability

 

Falcon Bucoo Micro 6'10" H/F.....really really light, nimble, good durability, excellent accuracy, not good in the power dept. Plus micro guides clog up with every little bit of gunk and make for some interesting issues that you don't have with "normal" rod guides....especially during cotton wood season.

 

St Croix Rage 7' MH/F....boy this is a good "what might have been rod". Light, powerful, durable....I actually really liked the handle, and reel seat....but those dang micro guides. If this rod had regular guides, it might still be my frog rod.

 

Any thing from Abu Garcia...and there's been too many to remember. 

 

Here are rods that surprised me at how good at frogging they were:

 

Berkley Lightning Rod Shock 7' MH....despite it's low price tag, it was my "go-to" frog rod for many years, and that's AFTER using some of the more higher priced rods mentioned above. Light?...not so much. Durable?....extremely. Accurate?....it was decent, the low number of guides kind of hurt it a little in this dept. Powerfull?....just good enough, it always handled big fish in heavy cover for me, but it also always felt like I was on the edge of disaster, yet it never let me down.

 

St Croix Mojo Bass (SCII, Gen1) 7' MH/F. This did everything well, and was a much better choice than the actual "frog" rod in the early Mojo line.

 

St Croix Avid 7' MH/F.....same as the above Mojo, slightly lighter.

 

Daiwa Aird X 7' H.....pretty much the same as the Lightning Rod Shock, a tad lighter, and better guides.

 

Now for my current frog rod:

 

Dobyns Fury 735C 7'3" Mag H. It's light, the best balanced rod I have ever owned, and fits all my power/accuracy/comfort requirements. Durability will be hashed out over the course of the next season...I have only had these rods for a few months now, but so far so good. I always liked 7' rods for frogging because MOST longer rods seemed awkward, cumbersome, and inaccurate in tight spots in my hands. Not so with this rod. I don't know what Dobyns did to make this rod fish so well, but it does. And it does more than frog well, I use for a TON of stuff, and it is truly a general purpose workhorse that isn't just "good enough" for stuff. It actually surprised me how many things it seems to be a perfect fit for. I generally DON'T buy multiples of many rods, but I did with this. That's how much I liked it. 

 

This right here is why this forum is so great. Thanks for this very informative post, especially including rods you tried an didn't like.

[CroakHunter]

I will second what @ww2farmer had to say about the fury and fuego combo. The 735 is my frogging combo as well. 

[smithy97]

x3 on the Fury 735 and Fuego CT 8.1

[ww2farmer]

13 hours ago, Joshua van Wyk said:

May I ask why you didn't like any Abu Garcia rods? Personally I have a Vendetta 7'3 mh as my frog rod paired with a Daiwa Fuego, and it fishes perfectly to me. 

Nothing against Abu rods, I just never had one I liked for frogging. They are all way faster action than I personally care for, and durability was never good for me. 

[YoTone]

where you fish off of is also a thing to consider. most people who recommend 7"+ sticks are usually fishing from a boat where the rod tip is well below  feet level. from the bank where you are level with the water walking a frog   with a downward twitch can be hard cos the tip will come too close to the water.  a persons height also plays a factor as well with what ive mentioned.

 

Im 5'8'' and fish off a kayak and i use a 6'10 MH  tatula rod for frogs and poppers where twitching motion is  very important to me. its a very light rod so i dont get fatigued using it.

 

[LegendaryBassin]

3 hours ago, CroakHunter said:

I will second what @ww2farmer had to say about the fury and fuego combo. The 735 is my frogging combo as well. 

I was going to recommend the same rod lol

[ike8120]

2 hours ago, LegendaryBassin said:

I was going to recommend the same rod lol

Is the Fury made in the USA doesn't matter if it isn't  Just read somewhere they are made in Korea.

Edited November 7, 2018 by ike8120
Found answer to my post

[CroakHunter]

11 minutes ago, ike8120 said:

Is the Fury made in the USA doesn't matter if it isn't  Just read somewhere they are made in Korea.

I believe they are outsourced not in the u.s.

[LonnieP]

54 minutes ago, ike8120 said:

Is the Fury made in the USA doesn't matter if it isn't  Just read somewhere they are made in Korea.

All Dobyns blanks are made in China 

[FryDog62]

Two things to add:

 

1) Reel... I think the Daiwa Tatula CT your targeting would be a great reel.  Consider upgrading to the SV TW if you regularly skip the frogs under docks, overhangs, etc... works great.  Also consider the highest gear ratio - I use an 8:1 and it’s great for picking up the line when you pop it or walk the dog.

 

2) The rods I compared directly that I DIDN’T buy: A) I’m a former St Croix fan but think almost all of their models MH or H are heavy broomsticks.  I compared the Legend Tournament Bass and returned it once I screwed the reel on.  Heavy and poorly balanced. I cannot imagine walking the dog with a rod like that very long at all.  B ) Daiwa Tatula L/T Frog rod.  The “L” in LT is to be Light and it’s not... very similar to the St. Croix.  C) Carbonlite, ok overall but not quite as light/sensitive as the Tatula XT (which is also very strong in the slop) that I finally bought.  

 

I spent $80 on the XT and chose it over the $270 Legend Tournament Bass!  The other alternative worth considering IMO is the Fury.  Typically well-balanced rods that won’t wear you out on a long day in/around the weeds.

 

Good luck in your decision... some decent options in that $80-100 range.  

[TBAG]

 Out of curiousity what other techniques do you all use the 735C for? @ww2farmer

[ike8120]

23 hours ago, FryDog62 said:

Two things to add:

 

1) Reel... I think the Daiwa Tatula CT your targeting would be a great reel.  Consider upgrading to the SV TW if you regularly skip the frogs under docks, overhangs, etc... works great.  Also consider the highest gear ratio - I use an 8:1 and it’s great for picking up the line when you pop it or walk the dog.

 

2) The rods I compared directly that I DIDN’T buy: A) I’m a former St Croix fan but think almost all of their models MH or H are heavy broomsticks.  I compared the Legend Tournament Bass and returned it once I screwed the reel on.  Heavy and poorly balanced. I cannot imagine walking the dog with a rod like that very long at all.  B ) Daiwa Tatula L/T Frog rod.  The “L” in LT is to be Light and it’s not... very similar to the St. Croix.  C) Carbonlite, ok overall but not quite as light/sensitive as the Tatula XT (which is also very strong in the slop) that I finally bought.  

 

I spent $80 on the XT and chose it over the $270 Legend Tournament Bass!  The other alternative worth considering IMO is the Fury.  Typically well-balanced rods that won’t wear you out on a long day in/around the weeds.

 

Good luck in your decision... some decent options in that $80-100 range.  

Thank you for your input. I went with a Diawa Fuego CT 8.1:1 and swaying towards the Dobyns735C. I have taken the suggestions posted on this forum . This seems to be a good combo and won't break the bank.

 

UPDATE 

Just found the 735C for $91.99 and free shipping and I went for it. Should have both rod and reel in a few days.

 

Total cost for Rod and Reel is $161.19 no tax and free shipping. Thought this to be a good deal.

[ww2farmer]

10 hours ago, TBAG said:

 Out of curiousity what other techniques do you all use the 735C for? @ww2farmer

Both my 735C's have 8.1:1 Fuego CT's on them. They are both spooled with 50lb original Power Pro braid.

 

Other than frogging I use them for the following:

 

Pitching, casting, punching, and flipping 1/4- 1 oz t-rigged craws, beavers, worms, and creature baits in grass, along deep grass lines, under docks/laydowns/other shallow cover.

 

Pitching, casting, dragging, and flipping 5/16-3/4 oz jigs in the same places.

 

Casting + dragging 1/2 and 3/4 oz wobble heads, football jigs, and similarly weighted c-rigs.

 

Bubba/power shot

 

Bubba/power wacky jigging 

 

Bubba/power neko rigging

 

Big 3/4 and 1 oz. Chatterbaits

 

Soft swimbaits on 1/2-1oz swimbait heads

 

As for frogs, I don't throw the small frogs on them. I usually use Spro Bronze eye 65's, Spro 60 popping frogs, Teckel Sprinkers, Spro Bronze eye 65 shads and  60 sized spitting shads

 

 

[ike8120]

Got the rod,reel,and line in the mail. Too bad winter is coming and not summer. Well I am now ready.

Thank you to all have posted to my thread for help in the selection.

[tw3aker]

For me it is a two rod choice. Bass under mats i use a flipping stick and a 7.1 reel.

For target skipping , im short and i fish out of a johnboat so 7ft is too long, i hit the water too often when skipping. I use a 6.6 mh with a fast tip. 80 pound sunline braid. I fish florida phosphate pits and its like fishing a jungle the trees hang forty feet out over the water. Im hitting tiny holes to skip far under the trees.

 Fishing the mats on our natural lakes is totally different. Accuracy is not important power is. In a johnboat so is space. Flipping rod pulls double duty.