30lb for top water and frogs?

[Sarah Babin]

Going on a big trip this weekend, is 30lb sufficient for weedless frogs and top water. Too small for weedless frogs? Been running this for a while, not sure if I should up to 40lb or 50lb to haul them out of the heavy cover. Also using this rod for top water and don’t want to go too heavy or sacrifice distance. Thought? Tight lines. 

[Woody B]

I'm not a braid user so I can't specifically answer your question, however, everyone needs to do this with whatever line they use.   

 

Tie or hook your new undamaged line to something in your yard and try to break it with your rod an reel, like your trying to land a fish.  Undamaged line, even stuff that's pretty light is hard to break.   Doing this will make you check your line often, and cut off any damage/frayed areas.  

[Deleted account]

30 will work, but 50-65 is the way to go for frogs, specially if you are going to be in gnarly cover. I wouldn't recommend braid for most other top waters, but again, it will work. The same frog rod will work ok for other larger top water lures, not so much for smaller ones, particularly poppers, which are at the other spectrum from frogs. Lumping rods into a "topwater" category doesn't make sense, kinda like doing the same for "underwater" lures. That being said, the rod you have is always better than the one you don't, so one can almost always make it work in a pinch.

[Bruce424]

with 30 lb braid, it will dig into your spool more than 50-60lb when setting the hook.

[Reel]

Using something like 50 or 65 pound Power Pro is the way to go.  I like yellow line so you can more easily see where your frog is.  Also line with a bigger diameter ''floats'' higher and, I think, gives your frog a better action.  It also doesn't get caught up in the pads V as easily.  If you have the proper rod and reel you don't sacrifice distance because bigger line winds more evenly on a spool.  No dig in . 

[Deephaven]

I use 20lb power pro for open water topwater and 40-50lb for slop fishing.  Open water on a MXF and slop on a heavy.

[Zcoker]

The general consensus when frog fishing is for the heavier braided lines. Here in Florida I would not even think of going with anything under 50lb braid, which is equivalent to about 15lb mono line diameter. Casting is decent with the heavier lines. Add in the confidence factor and you have a very potent weapon! 

[PhishLI]

12 hours ago, Sarah Babin said:

Going on a big trip this weekend, is 30lb sufficient for weedless frogs and top water.

Provide details about the rod you're using.

[casts_by_fly]

4 hours ago, Deleted account said:

30 will work, but 50-65 is the way to go for frogs, specially if you are going to be in gnarly cover. I wouldn't recommend braid for most other top waters, but again, it will work. The same frog rod will work ok for other larger top water lures, not so much for smaller ones, particularly poppers, which are at the other spectrum from frogs. Lumping rods into a "topwater" category doesn't make sense, kinda like doing the same for "underwater" lures. That being said, the rod you have is always better than the one you don't, so one can almost always make it work in a pinch.

 

What he said, with a small caveat.  I've been throwing sexy dawgs on 30 lb 832 braid to try it out.  It works decently, but add a 4' length of 15-20 lb stiff mono.  Braid does wrap trebles a bit at times and the mono helps.  This setup wouldn't be my choice for long term, but if it was just one trip I wouldn't be too worries about it.

[Sarah Babin]

8 hours ago, Deleted account said:

30 will work, but 50-65 is the way to go for frogs, specially if you are going to be in gnarly cover. I wouldn't recommend braid for most other top waters, but again, it will work. The same frog rod will work ok for other larger top water lures, not so much for smaller ones, particularly poppers, which are at the other spectrum from frogs. Lumping rods into a "topwater" category doesn't make sense, kinda like doing the same for "underwater" lures. That being said, the rod you have is always better than the one you don't, so one can almost always make it work in a pinch.

I wouldn’t say it’s gnarly, but some cover and weeds yes. This is more of a general purpose rod and ill only be throwing frogs from time to time in my mix. Don’t want to go higher if I don’t need to if i’m only throwing time to time, but don’t want to be low and snap off.

[Sarah Babin]

6 hours ago, Zcoker said:

The general consensus when frog fishing is for the heavier braided lines. Here in Florida I would not even think of going with anything under 50lb braid, which is equivalent to about 15lb mono line diameter. Casting is decent with the heavier lines. Add in the confidence factor and you have a very potent weapon! 

Also in Florida that’s why i’m considering going up, but I also travel and fish other places too. Want it to be sufficient for larger fish in cover but don’t want to over do anything else.

[J Francho]

I'm in NY state and I wouldn't consider anything less than 50# braid for frogging in any kind of cover.  It has nothing to do with the size of the fish.

[MN Fisher]

23 minutes ago, J Francho said:

I'm in NY state and I wouldn't consider anything less than 50# braid for frogging in any kind of cover.  It has nothing to do with the size of the fish.

Ditto for MN - we get some thick milfoil and the lily pad stems are really strong. 50# is what I use on my frogging reel.

 

And that's with the state record LMB being 8#15oz.

[hokiehunter373]

1 hour ago, Sarah Babin said:

I wouldn’t say it’s gnarly, but some cover and weeds yes. This is more of a general purpose rod and ill only be throwing frogs from time to time in my mix. Don’t want to go higher if I don’t need to if i’m only throwing time to time, but don’t want to be low and snap off.

What rod are you throwing it on?  You've gotta decide if you want it to actually be general purpose or if you're actually worried about snapping off.  My frog rod is only used for lures going into riskier areas or that are heavier.  I'm not going less than 50# braid on that.  It's a mag heavy and I want to be able to put some torque on it if I need to and not worry about the line.  To me, MH is what you want for general purpose and I'm not throwing 50#, or likely any pound, braid on that.

[GRiver]

I really don’t like  going too small of braid, on any rig I’m going to be pulling hard with.
The line seems to dig in the other layers of line on the spool. Can make casting, especially with a bait casters, more prone too bird nesting. Even with spinning rigs, it can short stop your line. 
Heavier braid does it too, just have to pull harder.. it all relative  to what your doing I guess.

[soflabasser]

20 hours ago, Sarah Babin said:

Going on a big trip this weekend, is 30lb sufficient for weedless frogs and top water. Too small for weedless frogs? Been running this for a while, not sure if I should up to 40lb or 50lb to haul them out of the heavy cover. Also using this rod for top water and don’t want to go too heavy or sacrifice distance. Thought? Tight lines. 

Welcome to the forum. I mostly use 30 pound test braid for most of the topwater frog fishing I do and have caught lots of big fish this way. I use 40 pound test braid in areas with extremely heavy aquatic vegetation where I know I have a good chance at catching a 8 pound or bigger fish, and even then most of the time 30 pound braid would of been enough. Some people like using 80 pound test braid for topwater frog fishing, these people are fishing for big bass in places with sawgrass, submerged timber, and heavy aquatic vegetation. Make sure to tie good knots and check your line often. Cut out any section of abraded line and make sure your hooks are sharp. I hope you and your boyfriend have a good fishing trip!

[Zcoker]

On 5/20/2022 at 2:52 PM, Sarah Babin said:

Also in Florida that’s why i’m considering going up, but I also travel and fish other places too. Want it to be sufficient for larger fish in cover but don’t want to over do anything else.

 

As far as Florida goes, especially in the Everglades, I would not consider overdoing much of anything lol In fact, I would consider going big or going home, plain and simple. These fish down here have literally stomped me. I've learned the HARD way with them. They are mean, nasty, and unpredictably looney! 

[RDB]

On 5/19/2022 at 8:47 PM, Sarah Babin said:

Going on a big trip this weekend, is 30lb sufficient for weedless frogs and top water. Too small for weedless frogs? Been running this for a while, not sure if I should up to 40lb or 50lb to haul them out of the heavy cover. Also using this rod for top water and don’t want to go too heavy or sacrifice distance. Thought? Tight lines. 

It really depend on how heavy the cover is.  It sounds like you don’t have a dedicated frog rod and since the rod doubles as your topwater rod, I would guess it isn’t very heavy.  I use 65 lb braid on my frog rod but depending on the lake, I don’t always bring it.  You don’t have to have the heaviest slop for frogs to be effective and you don’t have to have the heaviest braid to throw one.

[crypt]

it will work to answer your question. I use 50 for frogs in Fl. won't dig in like 30 lb. 

[Bird]

I tried 50# braid once, it was like casting garden hose so went back to 30# braid for frogs. Lol

My fishing partner said it best last week in heavy lilly pads. 

He drug in a 1/2 acre of pads along with a 2# bass and said " 50# braid would have sunk the boat" lol

 

Braid is tough stuff, even 4 strand.

[new2BC4bass]

Welcome to the forum.  Currently have 60# braid on my dedicated Florida frog rod, but will probably drop down to 50# next time it needs new line.  Have 45# braid on my frog rod used locally.  I received a used reel that came with 30# braid.  Spent the first 15-20 minutes casting, pulling out line that had dug in then repeating.  I took the reel to Florida and had to pull our canoe over to where I was snagged...more than once.  I didn't have any dig ins.  I have to assume you know how to use braid.

 

You never mentioned the rod you are using.  My first braid was 40# Sufix Performance on a Gen1 STXL and a Daiwa Jupiter 7' MHF rod.  A rod made for Walmart.  I've made some very long casts (for me) with it.  Rod kept in Florida.

 

Oops.  I see you made the trip over the weekend.  I was going to say give the 30# a try.  See if it would work okay for you.  What did you decide to do, and did it work for you?

[LionHeart]

Well, 30 lb is certainly strong enough but your line is gonna dig into your spool something fierce.  I'd say 50 lb just because of that, and it's easier for me to see.