Frog Stuff

[LrgmouthShad]

Hey ya'll,

 

Hate to ask this becaude I'm sure it has been asked somewhere on the forums already. If you'll forgive me, I'm wondering how ya'll retrieve frogs over pads. I am interested in getting into frog fishing at some point in the near future. Basically, I understand that "walking the dog" is productive over open water. Can you do this over pads as well? Do some frogs do this better than others? And if this is not possible at all, how do you retrieve them over pads or other emergent vegetation and do some styles of frogs excel at this more than others? Okay, I think that covered everything. Hope ya'll are well. 

[Guitarfish]

I don't think you can walk the dog over vegetation.  It depends on the plant material.  My favorite method is to wiggle the rod on top to move the pad like a frog is literally walking across,  then pull my bait into the hole and then give a slight bit of slack to let it drop.  Watch your line.

[12poundbass]

Booyah Pad Crasher and cut one side shorter than the other side. 
 

My retrieve, first we’ll start with the cast. I launch that puppy high in the air so when it hits the water the bass know it’s there!

 

Pads I’ll try and hop it here and hop it there, and let it sit in any openings for a bit and give the slightest twitch here and there. 
 

Grass mats or over submerged grass, I’ll walk the dog. The other retrieve over grass I’ll have my rod tip at 1 or 2 o’clock and life to 12 or 1 o’clock as I’m slowly reeling making the frog bounce (if you will) creating a nice ripple and drawing attention. I’ll also move my rod to 3 or 4 and drop it to 5 quickly as I reel, basically the opposite as above. 

[gim]

I like the pad crasher, spro, and the new terminator frog.  Zman has a new one out this year that I haven't tried yet.

 

A 7 foot stout rod paired with a BC and heavy braided line is a must in the pads.  I look for gaps and holes but I've had bass go after the frog when there was seemingly no place to do it.

 

All kinds of different retrieves work, don't be afraid to mix it up and see which one the fish prefer.

 

Lastly, when a bass does take your frog, make sure you don't set the hook immediately.  You will miss fish.  Give it a second or two and make sure you feel that the fish has it.  Also, sometimes bass simply miss the frog too so don't get frustrated if you aren't catching every single one that strikes.

[Buzzbaiter]

It’s hard to walk a frog over thick mats, and it’s nearly impossible to do so over heavy lilly pads. I usually just bump it along the vegetation by shaking my rod while slowly reeling. This way, you can create a lot of commotion while keeping the frog moving

[LrgmouthShad]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

I like the pad crasher, spro, and the new terminator frog.  Zman has a new one out this year that I haven't tried yet.

 

A 7 foot stout rod paired with a BC and heavy braided line is a must in the pads.  I look for gaps and holes but I've had bass go after the frog when there was seemingly no place to do it.

 

All kinds of different retrieves work, don't be afraid to mix it up and see which one the fish prefer.

 

Lastly, when a bass does take your frog, make sure you don't set the hook immediately.  You will miss fish.  Give it a second or two and make sure you feel that the fish has it.  Also, sometimes bass simply miss the frog too so don't get frustrated if you aren't catching every single one that strikes.

The two frogs I’m looking at are the spro and scum frogs. Scum launch frog is interesting. There was a thread about it recently

[Boomstick]

I basically try to make it look like a frog is walking across the pads. The best you can do is walk the frog through any openings, but good luck trying to walk it across pads themselves. Usually when throwing in the lily pads, I will try to cast it into an open section or onto the pads on the farther side of an open section if there are any and let it sit for a bit. Then I will slowly work the frog back and pause over any open sections.

 

As for frogs, I like the LiveTargets the best. They're expensive, but they downright work. I carry 2 5/8" frogs but my goto size is usually the smaller 2 1/4" size which gets a lot of bites and they're smaller in size but still heavy enough to throw far on a heavy, broomstick like frog rod. To save a little money, keep a couple of Pad Crashers around as backups.

[the reel ess]

I toss the frog out, usually with an overhand cast so it makes a plop when it lands. I'll sometimes let it sit a few seconds. Occasionally you'll get a bite before it moves. Then I twitch it back across the pads with the rod high so the line doesn't get tangled in the pads.

[QED]

Livetarget, Booyah, Spro (standard and popper versions), and Castaic all make excellent, small versions of topwater frog baits.  I've been using them on 4 and 6 lb test (!!!) and tossing them adjacent to the vegetation at my local pond and they all work great. 

[Deleted account]

31 minutes ago, QED said:

I've been using them on 4 and 6 lb test (!!!) 

Why?

[QED]

My nearest fishing hole is nominally a lake (Grant Lake), but it is actually more like a pond and I haven't caught anything over 2 lbs.  So I prefer to use ultralight/finesse gear.

[LrgmouthShad]

 

On 5/28/2021 at 2:31 PM, QED said:

Though my nearest fishing hole is nominally a lake, it is actually a pond and I haven't caught anything over 2 lbs.  So I prefer to use ultralight/finesse gear.

Use what you have confidence in but I would not do that brother. Frog hooks are typically heavy. Your drag must be set pretty tight on that light line in order to get good hook penetration. If you catch a bigger one you run risk of breaking off. One nick in that line and that chance increases greatly. But, I acknowledge I don’t know everything. Far from it

[the reel ess]

I'll add one thing. A lot of times there's an opening in the pads close to the bank. I like to cast to the bank and try to walk it across that opening and onto the pads.  A good many bites come in that clear spot or right after you walk it onto the pads.

[Kenny Yi]

Dense: I'll wiggle and walk the frog on top of the scum/pads, then pause in the openings. 

 

Open: I'll walk the frog, most times a popping frog or popping perch, stopping rarely. 

[the reel ess]

16 hours ago, QED said:

Livetarget, Booyah, Spro (standard and popper versions), and Castaic all make excellent, small versions of topwater frog baits.  I've been using them on 4 and 6 lb test (!!!) and tossing them adjacent to the vegetation at my local pond and they all work great. 

I've had a Booyah jr for years and never used it. I tied it on my MH spinning combo and I'm going to give it a go next time. The last two outings I missed more than I caught on the full sized popping model. I attribute some of that to the frog being new. I did bend the hooks out a bit. But some of the bass simply weren't getting the bait.

[Mike L]

If it lands between pads I always let it sit a few seconds and walk it in place if the pads are really close together. 
pull it to another and work it back. 
 

If they are spread out a little farther I’ll do the same without trying to walk it in place. 

Also, once in a while I’ll rip it across an open area hard to make as much commotion as it can. 
Stop, let it sit, twitch a few times before walking. 
 

That rip, stop, twitch, and walk back has been my go to retrieve for years. 
If they’re anywhere near and hit it then, they seem to blast it with more intensity which helps with hook ups. 
 

I only use Scum frogs. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

[roadwarrior]

Give the Rage Toad a try.

 

 

[Bubba 460]

I like fishing thick pads with frogs or weightless Texas rigged creature baits. I seem to get more hits (and misses) in the thinker pads. About all you can do is drag a frog or bait across the pads. I like to drag it about 2 feet incorporating a few "twitches" along the way then stop it for a couple of seconds. If you can find the smallest patch of exposed water, stop it there for a better strike presentation. Using a bigger frog will induce a little more commotion than a small frog but whatever you use bass are very tuned to what's going on the their world... It's about equal to you sitting in your living room and a marching band comes through ~ you can't miss it!  Sometimes you will see a bass coming because of the movement of the pads but usually you'll just see the hit when it happens. It can be a little smack or a big white water explosion. The one I like is when the pads and water lift up all around the frog and you know a BIG bass just rolled up under your frog to check it out and you hold your breath....