Frogs - what am I doing wrong??

[JackstrawIII]

I think the real question is… where are you fishing that you got so much action on your frog in July?!?

 

This month has been tough fishing here in Upstate NY. Maybe it’s better wherever you’re at? 

[F14A-B]

Yea, it’s been well covered..

[Fisholder7]

4 hours ago, JackstrawIII said:

I think the real question is… where are you fishing that you got so much action on your frog in July?!?

 

This month has been tough fishing here in Upstate NY. Maybe it’s better wherever you’re at? 

I was just as surprised as you.  These are a few local ponds and lakes in "upstate" NY I've been fishing.  I went to three different places without even a single touch for hours but I stayed positive waiting for that big one.  Then suddenly between 6:30pm -7pm at the third pond they started biting their heads off.  Every cast the second I twitched it after it hit the water there was a hit.  Then as if someone flipped a switch they turned off again (still plenty of daylight left).  I can't explain it.

[Functional]

ahhh... upstate in quotes...that means you are in the dutchess/orange/ulster county area 😂.

 

I was going to add suggestions but @Pat Brown covered everything I was going to add.

 

One thing I dont see answered for you is why no leader. Some baits you would want to use a leader and others you dont. Frogs need all the power you can get with those twin thick hooks and the fact that a lot of times you are pulling through weeds or pads of some type. Any stretch and it will be hard to really drive those hooks in through all of that. Youll find a lot of us differ in dedicated line (mono, floro, braid) vs braid to leader vs straight braid with a lot of lures, but one of the few lures we all agree on is Frogs are dedicated braid. 

[Zcoker]

No set rule on when to set the hook. When frog guru Dean Rojas was asked this same question, he said, "as soon as I see the splash." I tend to agree and nail them as soon as I see the splash--I nail them all as soon as I see the splash regardless of lure. And my hook-up ratio remains on the high side. As stated, you're tackle is way light, imho. I'd up the rod to a dedicated frog rod or a least a heavy. Just never know when that big girl will hit....better safe, than sorry. Strait braid as well. Leaders are for laughs. Here in south Florida there's absolutely no playing around when it comes to frog fishing. "Go big or go home" is our motto down this way. Minimum 65lb strait braid on either a heavy or extra heavy rod. You can also bend out the hooks for better grab but it's not a requirement. With the right tackle exerting the right force, the stock hook position on most frogs will suffice. 

[Fisholder7]

6 hours ago, Functional said:

ahhh... upstate in quotes...that means you are in the dutchess/orange/ulster county area 😂.

 

I was going to add suggestions but @Pat Brown covered everything I was going to add.

 

One thing I dont see answered for you is why no leader. Some baits you would want to use a leader and others you dont. Frogs need all the power you can get with those twin thick hooks and the fact that a lot of times you are pulling through weeds or pads of some type. Any stretch and it will be hard to really drive those hooks in through all of that. Youll find a lot of us differ in dedicated line (mono, floro, braid) vs braid to leader vs straight braid with a lot of lures, but one of the few lures we all agree on is Frogs are dedicated braid. 

I'm glad you were able to decipher my code 😁

That's what I thought regarding leader.  I'm already searching for a heavier setup and will get rid of the leader.  Thank you so much for all the advice and will keep everyone updated on any improvements next time I go.

[Bazoo]

I fish a frog on lighter gear than normal, and I don't have a problem hooking up. That said, I don't fish in very heavy cover most of the time. Mostly open water around cover.

 

Heavy braid is more to power the fish out of the cover whilst having your drag set high enough that you can just winch the critter out.

 

When I fish with 10-12 pound mono, I let the fish grab the frog, and I wait about 2-3 seconds, then I set the hook, then I reel the slack and set it again. I don't catch 8-10 pound fish granted, and there probably aren't many where I fish. But I've caught some 3-4 pound fish using my gear. I have better results with a sweeping hookset rather than a high jerking hookset.

 

I've also caught dinks and large rockbass. I've had many times a fish grab my frog and swim with it, then either just let it go or not get hooked when I set the hook. Mostly at a place where there is a lot of sunfish. I catch those sunfish on poppers though. So they are just teasing me with the frog. They like to rip the feet of my pocketfrogs.

 

This one was caught on spinning gear, pocket frog, 10 pound trilene xl. Weighed 2lb9oz.

 

This one is spinning gear using 8lb big game... got to give them a minute to get the frog in their mouth sometimes. Obviously I wouldn't run this in the thick of the pads, but for the moss-covered pond I was fishing at, I tied on the frog and let her fly.

[F14A-B]

1 hour ago, Bazoo said:

I fish a frog on lighter gear than normal, and I don't have a problem hooking up. That said, I don't fish in very heavy cover most of the time. Mostly open water around cover.

 

Heavy braid is more to power the fish out of the cover whilst having your drag set high enough that you can just winch the critter out.

 

When I fish with 10-12 pound mono, I let the fish grab the frog, and I wait about 2-3 seconds, then I set the hook, then I reel the slack and set it again. I don't catch 8-10 pound fish granted, and there probably aren't many where I fish. But I've caught some 3-4 pound fish using my gear. I have better results with a sweeping hookset rather than a high jerking hookset.

 

I've also caught dinks and large rockbass. I've had many times a fish grab my frog and swim with it, then either just let it go or not get hooked when I set the hook. Mostly at a place where there is a lot of sunfish. I catch those sunfish on poppers though. So they are just teasing me with the frog. They like to rip the feet of my pocketfrogs.

 

This one was caught on spinning gear, pocket frog, 10 pound trilene xl. Weighed 2lb9oz.

 

This one is spinning gear using 8lb big game... got to give them a minute to get the frog in their mouth sometimes. Obviously I wouldn't run this in the thick of the pads, but for the moss-covered pond I was fishing at, I tied on the frog and let her fly.

Hard to argue against success 💯

[Subaqua Adinterim]

Lots of good advice from some serious anglers above.  I'm not a hammer; just catch a lot of fish and don't post much, so consider something else if you are miss hitting the nails.

 

Before you get new/heaver equipment - try this: pair a Lake Fork Frog Tail hook with a Booyah Pad Crasher Jr.  No affiliation with these or any other product. I do know from experience that your hook up rate will increase dramatically if you try this combination.

 

best of luck - signing off again for a while to go back to fishing and other things

[Fisholder7]

On 7/22/2024 at 8:23 AM, Functional said:

ahhh... upstate in quotes...that means you are in the dutchess/orange/ulster county area 😂.

 

I was going to add suggestions but @Pat Brown covered everything I was going to add.

 

One thing I dont see answered for you is why no leader. Some baits you would want to use a leader and others you dont. Frogs need all the power you can get with those twin thick hooks and the fact that a lot of times you are pulling through weeds or pads of some type. Any stretch and it will be hard to really drive those hooks in through all of that. Youll find a lot of us differ in dedicated line (mono, floro, braid) vs braid to leader vs straight braid with a lot of lures, but one of the few lures we all agree on is Frogs are dedicated braid. 

 

Just to update everyone - I improved to a 50% hookup rate yesterday (hooked 5 out of 10 blowups) just by tying the braid directly to the frog.  I think some of the misses were due to a little slack in the line when setting the hook... it's hard to not panic and immediately set the hook.  I'm going to work on giving the fish a little more time (2-3 seconds) and calmly getting all the slack out of the line before hookset next trip.  Once again they only bit for about an hour, approximately 2 hours before sunset.  Then they turned off despite me still seeing large swirls and splashes on top - I think they were feeding on insects on top at that point.  Thanks again everyone for all the advice.  I'm hooked.

[Pat Brown]

1 minute ago, Fisholder7 said:

 

Just to update everyone - I improved to a 50% hookup rate yesterday (hooked 5 out of 10 blowups) just by tying the braid directly to the frog.  I think some of the misses were due to a little slack in the line when setting the hook... it's hard to not panic and immediately set the hook.  I'm going to work on giving the fish a little more time (2-3 seconds) and calmly getting all the slack out of the line before hookset next trip.  Once again they only bit for about an hour, approximately 2 hours before sunset.  Then they turned off despite me still seeing large swirls and splashes on top - I think they were feeding on insects on top at that point.  Thanks again everyone for all the advice.  I'm hooked.

 

A tip for when they're feeding on insects and you're fishing a frog - watch how the rings coming off the little bugs look in the water and ignore 'walking the frog back to you' - cast it out to where you see bass eating the bugs and just let the frog sit and then twitch it as lightly as you can to mimic the exact sort of 'cadence' and general intensity of the rings the bugs around are creating - hold on tight and pay close attention they will slurp a bug so silently.

[Functional]

5 minutes ago, Fisholder7 said:

 

 I'm going to work on giving the fish a little more time (2-3 seconds) and calmly getting all the slack out of the line before hookset next trip. 

From my experience it shouldnt take more than 2 seconds pause from splash to get a good hookset even on a lazy fish bite. If you think you need longer than 1-2 seconds I am going to take a WAG and say maybe you have too much slack line in the braid before your next "snap" to walk or bob the frog.

 

There are gear and technique things you can do to fix this. Make sure to reel as you walk to take up the slack youve now created. I use a high speed gear ratio for my frog rod for this reason (i think a 9.X or 10.x?). When the fish takes it down it has less slack to take up which gives you more driving duration during your hook set sweep. The trick in general is leave the least amount of slack without moving the frog unintentionally. A longer rod will pull more line than a shorter rod on the hook set. In a way accomplishing the above while allowing more slack while fishing the lure. Thinking about it more now...for someone whos quick on the trigger it might be a better setup for more slack with a longer rod, kind of a built in delay when setting the hook. 

 

Idk...Friday morning thoughts on frogs...