Setting the hook with frogs...

[Flippin & Pitchin]

I am a newbie to frog fishing. I bought some Yum buzzfrogs and took out to a farm pond with some very big bass in it.

The first 3 nights I fished it I was able to get plenty of blowups on it, but only caught 1 fish each night with it. I had more bites on these frogs than any other lure I had ever used here.

I went to looking around at Bass Pro the other night and saw the Spro frogs and thought I would be able to get a better hookup with them. However last night was the first night I used it and only had one blowup on it and no fish. I threw on one of the buzzfrogs and started getting hits but no fish.

Any advice as to what I could do to help in actually getting these fish hooked. Also, I tried the Bronzeye out by walking and popping it across and letting it sit and no such luck??????

[Jeffthefisherman]

Ok, so i pass threw the same thing... what u will need to do is to relax and calm when ur fishing with those lures. dont be excited for nothing, after ur calm, cast and bring back... and theres a hit and u see that ur rod has some weight give a good and hard hookset over your head.And bring the fish the rod down. So, if udont want to lose some fish, try to retrieve slower and and u get a hit and if u miss it, cast same place because the fish will still be there and more aggressive. Hope this helps !

Jeff

[Flippin & Pitchin]

Last night I had a blow up on one of the buzzfrogs and the fish wasn't there so I counted to 5 before reeling and as soon as the bait moved the fish was back, but still just another quick snap at it.

[Use ONLY Stren]

When you get the hit on the frog reel until you feel the fish and then set the hook. If you jerk the rod and set the hook as soon as the fish hits most of the time you'll miss him. You have to wait for the fish to take it under and close his mouth. And also if the bait is really far away when he hits it helps to use a sweep set, you can get alot more line back that way.

[saint romain]

I sometimes let the hook show unlike I do when fishing worms, because a frog has a lot more plastic for the hook to have to go through to be exposed and be set. Also, when I see the swirl or hit, I don't wait quite as long as 5 seconds because half the time the fish spits it out by then (not always the case, but it is a lot of the time for me) but I usually do what jeff said and retrieve a bit slower and reel in until I feel tension and then give it a good hard hookset. Either way, I miss a lot of fish with frogs, but they are fun as hell to fish with.

[bigfish88]

I sometimes let the hook show unlike I do when fishing worms, because a frog has a lot more plastic for the hook to have to go through to be exposed and be set. Also, when I see the swirl or hit, I don't wait quite as long as 5 seconds because half the time the fish spits it out by then (not always the case, but it is a lot of the time for me) but I usually do what jeff said and retrieve a bit slower and reel in until I feel tension and then give it a good hard hookset. Either way, I miss a lot of fish with frogs, but they are fun as hell to fish with.

that bout sums it up, just be calm when fishing frogs or any topwater for that matter..

[aarogb]

    This is going to be hard to do but it is imperative that you wait about 3 seconds before you set the hook on a frog.  You are still going to lose some fish but your hookup ratio should be better.

[crw]

I have found that if I let the Bass run until the line is tight, I get many more hookups.   It is very hard to change from worm fishing to frog fishing, totaly different type of fishing.  I find  that frog and topwater are about the same.

[Big Bait Fishing]

use big , wide gap hooks that almost set them selves when a bass tries to crush the frog , yes , bass try to crush it so as to not let the frog get away , almost i guess you would call it ''stunning him'' so as to be able to then swallow it with out it getting away.i use 5/0 or 6/0 ewg hooks and OWNER twistlock un-weighted hooks with huge success .

[OK Bass Hunter]

Do what I had to force myself to do, enjoy the blowup,by that I mean look at the bass explode watch on the frog but don't anything until you feel the weight of the fish. If you're like me it takes a little getting used to until you realize how many more fish you're starting to catch. Hope that helped.

[ChiCityBasser]

Glad u asked this question cause I had a day of missing 8-9 fish cause I wasn't able to hook up not one fish. Just starting to fish frogs myself and I appreciate the answers as well cause I was so used to a crankbait hookset and now will wait til I feel the wait of the fish instead of snatching it out of there mouth.

[Aluma-Bass]

slow your retrieve down and that should give you more hookups and give bass more time to get in front of it.

[Catt]

Wait until you feel the weight of the bass, point your rod at the fish, reel any slack & then set hook

Always follow up missed strikes with a Texas Rigged Worm, immediately drop your frog rod and cast the worm to the exact spot of the boil.

[dmac14]

Wait until you feel the weight of the bass, point your rod at the fish, reel any slack & then set hook

Always follow up missed strikes with a Texas Rigged Worm, immediately drop your frog rod and cast the worm to the exact spot of the boil.

Bingo. 90% of the time it works every time.

[Sharpie]

What I have found to work good for me is to, wait for the strike. Then slowly pull the rod back or slowly reel till I fell tension then set the hook like a mad man. It works for me. if i miss a strike I just cast right into the same spot and fish it slow.

[Topwater2]

So far the best advice I've seen here is : Wait a second and then set when you feel the weight of the fish.  Also to use a big 5/0 or 6/0 EWG sharp hook when fishing the ribbit style frogs.  Also if fishing a hollow bodied frog(Spro,Sumo,Scumfrog) make sure hooks aren't stuck in the body of the bait when you cast.  For other frog baits like the stanley ribbit type use a 5/0 or even a 6/0 EWG or the Owner srew lock, I like to penetrate the plastic and skin it back in like a texas rig, this way the hook is out but still weedless and you won't have to set it through all the plastic.  You can also try the floating ribbit type frogs they allow for the gurgling and you can pause them to fish them slower.  If I'm too anxious and early setting I will look away from the bait and fish by sound and feel this works real well for me as I fish braided line on all my frogs and I can feel them instantly.  Sometimes I go right back with the frog and sometimes I pick up the tube, it depends on how the fish are acting and distance from the boat.