Hollow Belly Frog in the Fall?

[Cody28]

I know down south a hollow belly frog is a very effective lure during the fall, but I never hear this in Ohio. Everyone seems to be throwing topwater, but never a frog. Is there reason for this? Anyone in the midwest/north half of the country find success on a fall frog bite? When do you typically throw them during the fall if so? 

[The Baron]

We’re further north, in SE Ontario.  Our weeds have died off substantially,

with most of the shallow weeds turned brown and their floating tops have submerged.  The lily pads are sinking now too, and our bass seem to have pulled out of the shallow/brown weeds and into deeper water that still has some green weeds/weed edges.  We were in some shallow bays yesterday and the dying weeds have all slumped down into a solid brown mess that was deeper than my canoe paddle on the bottom.
 

My perception is a frog excels in lily pads/floating grass mats and those are dying off quickly.  Lures with more surface commotion (buzzbait, plopper, spook) seem to work better over the deeper water/weeds.  I’m not sure if that’s because they better imitate a wounded baitfish (which they’re targeting more now) or if the noise just appeals to a hungry fall bass.

[Sphynx]

Depends on the situation, if a popper would work and the size of the frog is roughly comparable, I see no reason why a popping frog wouldn't work just as well, same thing for walking baits and a non-popping frog, I have caught fish on topwater with frogs and no slop around frequently, sometimes you need something with rattles which kinda sucks for most frogs out of box, but some of them can accommodate a few bb's or whatever without radically altering how it fishes, I like my teckel sprinker frogs a lot too, they fill a similar role to a buzzbait or whopper plopper but are a little less obnoxious and more snagless, best way to see if it will work in your area is tie one on and toss it around for a couple hours...you might just be shocked.

[Jmurphy87]

I am from Michigan and my last frog fish last year was in November. They still will work but there is probably better options. 

[Cody28]

5 hours ago, Sphynx said:

Depends on the situation, if a popper would work and the size of the frog is roughly comparable, I see no reason why a popping frog wouldn't work just as well, same thing for walking baits and a non-popping frog, I have caught fish on topwater with frogs and no slop around frequently, sometimes you need something with rattles which kinda sucks for most frogs out of box, but some of them can accommodate a few bb's or whatever without radically altering how it fishes, I like my teckel sprinker frogs a lot too, they fill a similar role to a buzzbait or whopper plopper but are a little less obnoxious and more snagless, best way to see if it will work in your area is tie one on and toss it around for a couple hours...you might just be shocked.

I actually just tied on a teckel sprinker frog the other day, which is what got me thinking about this in the first place 

[Bluebasser86]

Some of my biggest frog fish are when it's "too cold" or "not right" for a frog. First frog fish of the year this year was in March with the water temps in the high 40's. A slow moving popping frog looks like a big, easy meal that they'll come up to get. 

[Catt]

There's some old dude on YouTube named Dean Rojas, he's pretty good at frog fishing, ya may wanna give him a look.

[NoShoes]

I just made sure my frog rod had fresh line and played with working over the weekend. Hoping to find some of that fall success myself. 

[PaulVE64]

Walking frogs are great. I use a white popping frog that i can walk as well.

 

Quite deadly but smallies tend to pop them a couple feet out of the water. 

[fishwizzard]

I will throw a popping frog any time of year if I think a popper will work and I want to fish right up next to hard cover and for whatever reason I know my accuracy will be substandard.  

[the reel ess]

I'm in SC and the bass are completely ignoring my frog the last 3 trips. I've seen a few bass chasing bait in the lilies and weeds, but no dice. Eventually, I'll switch my frog rod over to a T rig for pitching until next spring.

[LrgmouthShad]

32 minutes ago, the reel ess said:

trips. I've seen a few bass chasing bait in the lilies and weeds, but no dice

Same in NY today

[ATA]

surprisingly it is the same in SoCal, But ill never give up and ill always try it for an hour early morning and an hour before night.

[Cody28]

Just to update everyone, I went out a few days in a row and no luck on any type of frog what so ever. Plenty on subsurface moving baits tho. No point in using a hammer to remove a screw. 

[LrgmouthShad]

27 minutes ago, Cody28 said:

Just to update everyone, I went out a few days in a row and no luck on any type of frog what so ever. Plenty on subsurface moving baits tho. No point in using a hammer to remove a screw. 

Yeah you're not alone brother.

 

I was on quite a good buzzbait bite all day today. No big ones though. I mention this because I saw fish blowing up in the lily pads and outside. Throw a buzzbait on the outside, get bit. Throw a frog inside, get skunked. No idea why this was the case. At one time I threw a frog to a certain patch and right after I finished my retrieve past there, a fish blew up on the surface where I had worked my frog. I was insulted. Lol. 

 

Edit: Maybe it's a profile thing? They just aren't keying in on the wide body of a frog right now? Lots to ponder

[Cody28]

23 hours ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Yeah you're not alone brother.

 

I was on quite a good buzzbait bite all day today. No big ones though. I mention this because I saw fish blowing up in the lily pads and outside. Throw a buzzbait on the outside, get bit. Throw a frog inside, get skunked. No idea why this was the case. At one time I threw a frog to a certain patch and right after I finished my retrieve past there, a fish blew up on the surface where I had worked my frog. I was insulted. Lol. 

 

Edit: Maybe it's a profile thing? They just aren't keying in on the wide body of a frog right now? Lots to ponder

I think you're right on the money about profile. I had a fish blow up on smaller baitfish maybe 6 inches from my frog. I saw the splash and watched the little baitfish go flying. All I could do was shake my head. 

[TnRiver46]

This one slammed a booyah toad runner earlier this week 

[RichF]

Some of my best frog days in northern NY have happened late september thru much of october.

[Bankc]

I'm usually switching over to a topwater with treble hooks if there's no vegetation to get hung up in.  The hookup ratio is better, in my opinion.  I'm sure a frog would still work, but I feel like frogs are best when you need weedless presentations.  If the weeds aren't an issue, I think there are better options to throw.  

 

So for me, it's the vegetation that dictates when to throw a frog, versus the time of year.  Of course, the time of year does have a lot of control over the vegetation, so they're not unrelated.  But I make my decision based on cover, not the calendar.  

[J Francho]

There's a big time hollow frog bite up here once the nights start getting cool.

[Brett's_daddy]

Frogs work in open water too...don't give up on them yet! Certain frogs work better than others in open water (for instance the new Scum Launch Frog works better in open water then in pads etc.) though.

[Team9nine]

Fall frog bite is just beginning here in Indiana as we are starting to see summer weeds die back. It will only get better as the season leads up to the big fall frog migration which usually happens after the first couple hard freezes of the year in the upper Midwest. Got a bunch of blowups and bites yesterday fishing the slop.

 

 

[YoTone]

Theres a spot on my local tidal pond thats has a grate that leads to the main river. it collects leaves when its an outgoing tide this time of year. the bass love to hide underneath it and a frog dancing on top of it has produced some big fish for me.

[Boomstick]

I usually throw frogs throughout September. Around the time the weeds start dying off (early October) other topwaters like poppers, buzzbaits or even a whopper popper starts to become much more effective as the bass move away from the cover.