Life expectancy of hollow body frog

[rtwvumtneer6]

I'm curious how long you generally fish a hollow body frog before it's time to replace it?

 

I'm fishing a pretty common hollow body frog that can be found at most outdoors retailers.  I think it runs about $7.  Good hook, walks well and my hook up ratio is solid.

 

I've caught prob 20-25 fish on it (some more violent than others) and I'm noticing it's getting tore up, and taking on water more often.  The hooks are still sticky sharp but I had it out earlier today and there were a few occasions where it actually went sub-surface 6-8 inches.  

 

So I'm curious...

1.  How long do your frogs usually last?

2.  Any repair tips or hacks?

3.  What's your hollow body frog of choice for fishing on and around matted vegetation?

 

Thanks!  ?

[ww2farmer]

To answer your questions:

 

#1: Spros last the longest, I will lose them to a Pike before I wear one out. Booyah's are OK, the will start to get pretty whipped after a while...sometimes they last for 30-40 fish, sometimes 10. Teckel frogs ( I fish the sprinker, the whacker, and the honker) They are not that durable....10-12 fish before they are in need of repair, and then maybe another 6-8 more before they are shot.

 

#2 Super glue, and lots of it.

 

#3 Spro's hands down. They have the "mass" to create enough disturbance over heavy matted stuff to draw bass in. The Booyah's and Teckel's are just too light for this.

[WRB]

I have original Snag Proof hollow body frogs that are over 20 years old and still work good.

Tom

[rtwvumtneer6]

41 minutes ago, WRB said:

I have original Snag Proof hollow body frogs that are over 20 years old and still work good.

Tom

Well that's impressive.  Are they still in the original package?! Haha, just kidding.  90 minutes of work left for the week and I needed a little chuckle.  

 

I've not played with Snag Proof.  How does the newer stuff compare?  I see a half dozen models... Do you have a favorite?

[WRB]

They are tough but tend to leak water. 

The Bobby's 1/2 oz pro series are popular at the Delta.

Locally I use R2Sea white and cut the legs about 1" long, soft but  durable frog.

The Snag Proof shines on weed mats.

Tom

 

[tcbass]

Have Boohah Padcrashers that are turned into Whopper Frogs and have caught over 50 fish with no apparent damage and still going strong. 

 

Booyahs are also one of the cheapest frogs. 

[Brew City Bass]

With the amount of pike in my lakes, about 10 casts. 

[Smalls]

6 hours ago, ww2farmer said:

To answer your questions:

 

#1: Spros last the longest, I will lose them to a Pike before I wear one out. Booyah's are OK, the will start to get pretty whipped after a while...sometimes they last for 30-40 fish, sometimes 10. Teckel frogs ( I fish the sprinker, the whacker, and the honker) They are not that durable....10-12 fish before they are in need of repair, and then maybe another 6-8 more before they are shot.

 

#2 Super glue, and lots of it.

 

#3 Spro's hands down. They have the "mass" to create enough disturbance over heavy matted stuff to draw bass in. The Booyah's and Teckel's are just too light for this.

I’ll second this. Spro’s seem to last me the longest. Booyah’s are great, cause they’re cheap and they work, but seem to go down quicker than the Spro’s. 

 

I recently broke down down and spent the money in a couple Terminators, cause I hear they’re the shizz, but haven’t had a chance to use em yet. 

[Dens228]

I have some pad crashers that are going on 2 years old and I fish frogs a lot!

I also had two pad crashers destroyed in 2 out of 3 casts catching stupid pike with them. 

[OnthePotomac]

Unfortunately, the snakeheads in the Potomac love them, and with those teeth do a job on one in short order.  

[FishingGeekTX]

I bought a wide variety of frogs, having just gotten back into bass fishing, and I had some great opportunities to fish these heavily in the past few months.  I was not fishing directly on mats as much as in holes, edges, and over long stretches of weedy flats.

Lunkerhunt (large size, closed mouth)

Superb frog, with no durability.

My best performing frogs in terms of getting hit and landing fish.  Did better than other frogs on clear days (likely due to realism and smaller profile, subtle action).Lots of hook exposed, soft body, and nice fat compact body. 

 

Legs tear off almost immediately in some cases.  One lasted 3 days, one 4 hours, and one half an hour.  All legs gone, most due to fish, one due to cover.

 

Lunkerhunt Popping:  Identical to above put popping style.  No durability, legs come off easily.

 

Terminator (popping)  Very Durable.  Looks new after a hard day of fishing cover/weeds. Didn't seem to get as many strikes sitting, I got more twitching it fast to the boat.  Did OK on hookup.  Soft and exposes decent hook.

 

Spro Standard size and shape:

A quality lure, very durable.  Paint doesn't last as long though, looks a bit worn.

I got the worst hookup ratio on these, and they are pretty beefy, did better on muddy days.  I feel they may be a bit too stiff.  Good action, walking, stay upright, etc.

 

Spro JR.  Durable but poor design.  Paint not as durable..

I feel these have an obvious design flaw.  The body doesn't sit close enough to the hooks.  The JR picked up moss on the hook tips almost every single cast, it was terrible.  None of the other 4-5 frogs did this, same conditions/cover.  Also seems stiff and exposes the least hook.

 

Spro Popping:

Durable but low hookup and low strikes.  I feel this body doesn't compress enough, leaving very little hook exposed...it's different than the Spro standard.  For me this performed the worst...fewest strikes and worst hookup.  Seemed to just spook fish in clear water.

Scum Frogs:
Questionable durability, soft body doesn't seem to hold shape well.  These had great hookup..softest body and exposed good hooks.  After some time however, they seemed not float as high, the body felt almost too soft.  I also didn't like the skirt legs flaring so much, I like them thinner.  To me I rate them low durability, and not really repairable.

 

I still have not tried the Phat Frog (Ish), or the Pad Crashers.  Pad crasher looks like it will fish well (nice keeled underside), isn't oversized, and exposes hooks well.  Phat Frog also looks good, but is a bit beefier in size. Compresses well.

 

Looks like a lot of trade-offs to me.  I won't fish the spro pop/jr any longer personally.  I will not buy new lunkerhunt until  I add legs, and see how that turns out.  Terminator didn't dazzle, but didn't get cut,  and I caught fish on it.  Scum frog is cut.  I'll still throw regular spro, they did the best of the Spro lineup. 

Pad crashers and Phat Frog are now on deck

 

[r83srock]

Some great responses, and like others have stated it varies a lot. We have big northern pike and muskie, and they will eat the most expensive lure in your box. I throw a lot of the trophy scum frogs as I love the soft body, the beefy owner hooks, and the value. While not as beefy of a hook, I throw the Booyah poppin pad crasher a lot too. I usually save my spro for tournament day.  I think spro is the most durable, the kvd is also durable, followed by the Booyah and the scum frog. I have tried some real duds and these are the best performers for me, with the spro and Booyah popping versions being the most versatile. I probably have over 50 bass one one spro.

[J.Vincent]

I’ve been throwing Booyah Pad Crashers and Savage Gear Lily Frogs without any durability issues. Some have caught anywhere from 20 to 50 fish and still work well with minimal degradation in performance aside from cosmetic . But the longevity of any lure will vary depending on how many toothy critters you’ve hooked with it !

[Deleted account]

There are snakeheads and pickerel where I chase bass locally, so they don't last too long. I go through about 6-10 frogs a year, and I mostly throw them July-September. When fishing only bass, They last quite a while, but sometimes they get mangled or the hooks pierce the frog, and they start taking on water.