Froggin' Failin'

[Swamp Girl]

Froggin' has been Heaven and Heck. Here's what's heavenly: I love the challenge and being freed to fish the slop. I love the explosive strikes. I even love the improbability of it, i.e. pulling slabs of meat out of the salad.

 

Here's what's heckish: I miss so many strikes.

 

So, I've been reading bassresource.com articles and watching YouTube videos and bassresource.com videos. Last night, I bought a heavy action 7'4" rod and I'm upgrading my braid to 50 lb.These upgrades should help, but reading this also helped: 

 

"And speaking of lost fish, the biggest downside to frogging is it has a very low hookup ratio. Bass are somewhat blind in their attack on a frog, ambushing from below and through the weeds to get the lure. You’ll have some big blow ups that don’t even touch the bait, which can be disheartening. But remember you wouldn’t even be able to get to these fish without a frog so the fact that you even have a chance at them is something to smile about." 

[Mobasser]

Missed strikes on frogs seems to be the biggest complaint that most guys have. It happens to everyone.

[J Francho]

Consider that some of those misses might be turtles, not bass.

[Mobasser]

23 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Consider that some of those misses might be turtles, not bass.

This is true. Turtles or other frogs will take a swipe at them also. Sometimes it's hard to tell exactly what's hitting them.

[Jar11591]

26 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Consider that some of those misses might be turtles, not bass.

Or pickerel. 

[gim]

50% hookup ratio is pretty good for froggin'.  Consider that a solid success rate IMO.

[J Francho]

36 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

Or pickerel. 

Picks don't miss usually. 

[Swamp Girl]

8 minutes ago, gimruis said:

50% hookup ratio is pretty good for froggin'.  Consider that a solid success rate IMO.

Oh, I'm not 50%, but maybe. Someday. Someday way yonder. 

 

I hadn't considered turtles, but I fish in PickerelLandUSA and I know their strikes. They're T-Boners. Side-swipers. They don't rise from the depths like bass, Trident missiles, and the Kraken. 

[Jar11591]

9 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Picks don't miss usually. 

Their contact percentage is ok, but it’s rare they ever actually take the bait in the mouth in my experience. They just smack it from the side at 100mph. Sometimes jump completely over it. 

[J Francho]

Finger Lakes picks must be more in tune. I've had so many frogs ruined. 

[Jar11591]

1 minute ago, J Francho said:

Finger Lakes picks must be more in tune. I've had so many frogs ruined. 

And probably larger and more capable of eating a frog. A lot of the pickerel here are little snakes.  

[the reel ess]

I haven't been able to buy a frog bite most of this year. I have one frog fish on my favorite watering hole in 2022. I've really had a better time with the toad and pitching Senkos in the slop. But I still kept a frog tied on. You're right about the misses. Sometimes, I doubt the bass even has its mouth open. I've hooked them in the side of the head before. I've had a big bass blow up on a frog up 3 times and still not get the hooks. But man, is it the most exciting thing when they're really choking it!

[gim]

12 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

Their contact percentage is ok, but it’s rare they ever actually take the bait in the mouth in my experience. They just smack it from the side at 100mph. Sometimes jump completely over it.

This is exactly what I experience when I'm froggin' here in pike country too.  95% of the pike here are of the small annoying variety (similar to pickerel) and they just smash it like a torpedo but rarely get hooked.  After a few of these skud missile attacks, the frog gets ripped and then starts taking on water.   Ruined.  Again.  d**n those things lol

[J Francho]

Pickerel are pretty large here due to the smaller ones being eaten by northerns, tigers, and musky. Average size is 18-24".

[gim]

6 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Average size is 18-24

That's exactly the size of 95% of the pike here.

[J Francho]

 

The other phenomenon I've seen is blowups around the frog.  Once I could see what was going on, I realized they weren't misses at all.  Bass were picking off blue gills nipping at the skirts.  A Mattlures Hard Gill floater absolutely cleaned house in this situation.

Just now, gimruis said:

That's exactly the size of 95% of the pike here.

Northerns?  Jeez, that's from overharvest of the big ones.  Most of the northerns I catch here are over 30".  Take one big pike out of the system, and a bunch of hammer handles fill that slot in the biomass.

[gim]

3 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Northerns?  Jeez, that's from overharvest of the big ones.  Most of the northerns I catch here are over 30".  Take one big pike out of the system, and a bunch of hammer handles fill that slot in the biomass.

Absolutely true.

 

The daily bag limit in most of the state here on pike is 10 and there is a mandatory release slot of 22-26 inches.  Only one fish over 26 inches can be kept.  Its a problem that has exponentially gotten worse over a long period of time and its going to take a long time to fix it.  I don't specifically target northern pike here but I catch a lot of them when I'm bass and muskie fishing.  I probably catch over 100 in a season and maybe 3 are over 30 inches.  Catching a large pike here is rarer than catching a muskie now.

[Deleted account]

In the slop, 50% is where you are going to be around most days, some days higher some days lower, however anywhere that there is openish water like pads or scattered grass laying on its side, I want to be around 80%, again, sometimes higher, sometimes lower, but If it's a lot lower, there is something else going on. 

[Mike L]

Ma Bass will sometimes strike a frog vastly different than most other baits. 
When swimming a plastic, trap, jerk, spinner etc you know it immediately. 
 

When she zeros in on a hollow frog they will most times just try to stun it then come back to kill it. 

How many times have you gotten a hit and nothing? First thing we think is that we waited to long to set or set too hard too fast and come up empty. 
 

We’ve talked many times on here about the “correct” way to set the hook. 
Some wait the 1/2 sec others hit her hard at the first sign. 

Point is just try to keep your emotions and your first instinct out of it and understand you did everything right..

If Ma Bass strikes Ma Bass wants it, just not the way or at the time you may think. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Glenn]

Take a look how I set the hook on these frog strikes.  Hope it helps!

 

 

[casts_by_fly]

2 hours ago, Deleted account said:

In the slop, 50% is where you are going to be around most days, some days higher some days lower, however anywhere that there is openish water like pads or scattered grass laying on its side, I want to be around 80%, again, sometimes higher, sometimes lower, but If it's a lot lower, there is something else going on. 

 

this is where I'm at too.  We probably don't have as heavy of a slop as a lot of you guys are fishing, but if I'm not 80% or so on frog bites there is something wrong.  I don't stop working the frog on a bite until I feel the weight of the fish after it has turned.  Then i lay into them hard with 50 lb braid and a very heavy rod.  I rarely have a hook that isn't set in either the roof or corner of the mouth.  I don't find too many fish that come up to slap at it that don't eat it and the ones that do will usually hit it again if they just missed the first time so long as you don't rear back and pull it away.  I used to be a "set the hook as fast as possible" but you have a lot of misses in that case.

 

Toads are another story.  I posted about my trials and tribulations on toads.  I think I have it figured out now though (didn't have enough horse in the rods I was throwing them on).

 

Now if I could just get a good frog bite day this year that would be nice...

[gim]

3 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

Now if I could just get a good frog bite day this year that would be nice...

X2 haven't been on one in years

[LrgmouthShad]

I'm okay with frog hookups. Some days they just ain't eatin it good through the slop. Other days they just need a second chance. A good number of fish I catch on a frog are first-time missers. They strike, and I never feel pressure so I never set hook. I let it sit a while longer... no bite, twitch it forward a couple times and they will usually take another stab at it and for some reason they have a greater chance of getting it the second time. 

[scaleface]

Its not my fault the bass misses my frog , its the basses fault .  

[Bankbeater]

I get a lot of sunfish that grab the frog legs and try to run with the bait.