hollow bodied frogs

[skillet]

 I have been using the original (I say original only because it was the first one I ever remember seeing) hollow bodied frog, the one with the realistic looking legs, for quite a while now. They are great for getting the old heart beating faster by pulling them across a bunch of slop. The hook-ups to hits ratio is not that great (for me anyway). I really like the way they look and act in the water.

 I was wondering if any of ya'll thought any of the other hollow body critters had a better hook-up rate...

                                                  As Ever,

                                                   Skillet

[cabela10]

Spro Bronzeeye Frog is the ticket.  Spro uses Gamakatsu hooks on all their baits.  The hookup ratio is outstanding.  Try the Spro Frog and you will love it.

[Siebert Outdoors]

Spro Bronzeeye Frog is the ticket. Spro uses Gamakatsu hooks on all their baits. The hookup ratio is outstanding. Try the Spro Frog and you will love it.

Agreed,  I really like the spro frog

[Lucky Craft Man]

I have had a lot of problems hooking up with fish on the SPRO frog.  I have been fishing hollow bodied frogs for a long time (as well as rats) and my hook up rate with the SPRO frog is the worst of them all.  The plastic body seems very rigid, which I heard varies from SPRO frog to SPRO frog.  Maybe I just got a bad frog, but I don't want to spend another $8 to find out.

[BassFishingMachine]

In my opinion the Scumfrog series of hollow bodied frogs have the best hook-up ratio. When you feel how soft the body of the scumfrog is you will know what I mean. There hollow frogs are the softest I have ever felt in a hollow frog. Now I don't know about their hit ratio's although I personally have caught fish with them. Do other hollow frogs have higher hit ratio's? I couldn't say, but I can tell you that these frogs have amazingly soft bodies.

[Crabcakes]

It seems to me if you set the hook a minor difference in frog softness won't matter too much. I think hook design is more important and this leads me to use the spro frog. Poor hookup percentage is inherent with any bait of this type. Delay your hookset for a second or wait until you feel weight and always have a follow up jig or plastic to throw if the fish misses.

[Cajun Caster]

The most important requirement for hooking up hollow body frogs is braid (I use 65#) and a heavy action rod. If you're using mono you might as well use a bungee cord. You can't set the hook(s) on a hollow body if there's any stretch in your line. While some use flippin' rods for frogs, you want to have some action so you can cast the frog a decent distance. This is where the Spro became popular because you can cast them further than any other brand. And, they remain upright more consistently than the other, which is what you want so that the hooks are in optimum position when the fish takes the bait.

I use Spro, Snag Proof and Scum Fogs for my floating frogs.

For my swimming frogs I use Horny Toads and Ribbits.

[Bryant.]

A tip that always helped me is to wait until you can't see you frog before you swing.

[CrazedL.IFisherman]

I agree with BassFishingMachine, i like the scum frog lures, for me its easier with the hook ups because they are so thin, ive used the spro frog and probably set the hook too soon and have caught only 1 bass off of them while with the scum frog ive had quite a few more, im bad with patience when it comes to frogs, i guess i shouldnt be a doctor then  ;D

[cabela10]

I have had a lot of problems hooking up with fish on the SPRO frog. I have been fishing hollow bodied frogs for a long time (as well as rats) and my hook up rate with the SPRO frog is the worst of them all. The plastic body seems very rigid, which I heard varies from SPRO frog to SPRO frog. Maybe I just got a bad frog, but I don't want to spend another $8 to find out.

Are you waiting long enough until you set the hook?  Maybe your reacting to the strike and setting the hook immediately which makes you think it's the frogs fault and not your own.  Just a guess, could be wrong.

Let the bass take it down for a second or two, then set the hook.

[Guest avid]

Spro bronzeye has outstanding hooks,  Sometimes the fish will pull on the legs.

trim them back about an inch and a half.  Your hook up percentage will increase

[cabela10]

http://spro.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27&Itemid=47

[Lucky Craft Man]

I have had a lot of problems hooking up with fish on the SPRO frog. I have been fishing hollow bodied frogs for a long time (as well as rats) and my hook up rate with the SPRO frog is the worst of them all. The plastic body seems very rigid, which I heard varies from SPRO frog to SPRO frog. Maybe I just got a bad frog, but I don't want to spend another $8 to find out.

Are you waiting long enough until you set the hook? Maybe your reacting to the strike and setting the hook immediately which makes you think it's the frogs fault and not your own. Just a guess, could be wrong.

Let the bass take it down for a second or two, then set the hook.

I use a 7' Heavy Rod with 30 lb. braid for my frogs.  I was fishing a thick mat of slop when I figured I would try my SPRO frog out.  The first fish blew up on the frog and I didn't get a hook in him.  I just figured I didn't wait long enough.  The next blow-up I waited until I felt the fish.  I set the hook only to have it come out again.  10 blow-ups later without a fish, I had enough of that frog.  I put on my old faithful, the Mann's rat, the next four blow-ups resulted in four caught fish.  So to me, that SPRO's frog wasn't worth the money.  Maybe the SPRO frog is better in situations outside of thick slop (like sparse lillypads), but for the slop, it do well for me.

[bocabasser]

i use the spro's, but my go to hollow frog is the swamp donkey.

[Wayne P.]

I've had the best hook up ratio with the Snag-Proof Bobby's Perfect Frog. The hooks are a little larger and a little more upright than any other hollow bait I've tried.

[TrickyVT1887]

I have had a lot of problems hooking up with fish on the SPRO frog.  I have been fishing hollow bodied frogs for a long time (as well as rats) and my hook up rate with the SPRO frog is the worst of them all.  The plastic body seems very rigid, which I heard varies from SPRO frog to SPRO frog.  Maybe I just got a bad frog, but I don't want to spend another $8 to find out.

Are you waiting long enough until you set the hook?  Maybe your reacting to the strike and setting the hook immediately which makes you think it's the frogs fault and not your own.  Just a guess, could be wrong.

Let the bass take it down for a second or two, then set the hook.

I use a 7' Heavy Rod with 30 lb. braid for my frogs.  I was fishing a thick mat of slop when I figured I would try my SPRO frog out.  The first fish blew up on the frog and I didn't get a hook in him.  I just figured I didn't wait long enough.  The next blow-up I waited until I felt the fish.  I set the hook only to have it come out again.  10 blow-ups later without a fish, I had enough of that frog.  I put on my old faithful, the Mann's rat, the next four blow-ups resulted in four caught fish.  So to me, that SPRO's frog wasn't worth the money.  Maybe the SPRO frog is better in situations outside of thick slop (like sparse lillypads), but for the slop, it do well for me.

One thing that you can do to increase your hook ups on the frog is to bend your hooks according to how your fishing in open water or sparse cover the fish is more likely to hit the bait from the side so bend the hooks outward a little more when fishing heavier cover bend the hooks closer together because the fish will more likely come from under the bait, it is true that some of the bodies are harder and some are softer the first one i bought was the black frog, next i bought the natural green frog and its body was much softer.

[cabela10]

I have had a lot of problems hooking up with fish on the SPRO frog. I have been fishing hollow bodied frogs for a long time (as well as rats) and my hook up rate with the SPRO frog is the worst of them all. The plastic body seems very rigid, which I heard varies from SPRO frog to SPRO frog. Maybe I just got a bad frog, but I don't want to spend another $8 to find out.

Are you waiting long enough until you set the hook? Maybe your reacting to the strike and setting the hook immediately which makes you think it's the frogs fault and not your own. Just a guess, could be wrong.

Let the bass take it down for a second or two, then set the hook.

I use a 7' Heavy Rod with 30 lb. braid for my frogs. I was fishing a thick mat of slop when I figured I would try my SPRO frog out. The first fish blew up on the frog and I didn't get a hook in him. I just figured I didn't wait long enough. The next blow-up I waited until I felt the fish. I set the hook only to have it come out again. 10 blow-ups later without a fish, I had enough of that frog. I put on my old faithful, the Mann's rat, the next four blow-ups resulted in four caught fish. So to me, that SPRO's frog wasn't worth the money. Maybe the SPRO frog is better in situations outside of thick slop (like sparse lillypads), but for the slop, it do well for me.

could be alot of other reasons why the Spro frog didn't work.  Maybe it wasn't the same color as the Mann's frog you caught them on.  Maybe they were just pulling the frog down by the rubber skirt.  Could be a lot of various reasons, I wouldn't ditch the Bronzeeye frog though.  Spro is a great open water bait.

[Lucky Craft Man]

The black frog is the one I have.  Maybe they made the black one's a little more dense the the other ones.  Next time at the tackle shop, I will look at the green ones to see if they are softer.  I did get a lot of hits on it, so if I can find a softer one I might be in business.

[TrickyVT1887]

The black frog is the one I have. Maybe they made the black one's a little more dense the the other ones. Next time at the tackle shop, I will look at the green ones to see if they are softer. I did get a lot of hits on it, so if I can find a softer one I might be in business.

Another thing i can think of is that my black one I got when the first came out and the green was a newer color and maybe they changed the bait a little, another thing to try would be the bronzeye frog JR or the new jungle frog. If you like throwing swimbaits spro just came out with a new bait designed by Bill Siemantel the BBZ-1 here's the link to the New trailer for the bait http://spro.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=63&Itemid=29

[Lucky Craft Man]

The black frog is the one I have. Maybe they made the black one's a little more dense the the other ones. Next time at the tackle shop, I will look at the green ones to see if they are softer. I did get a lot of hits on it, so if I can find a softer one I might be in business.

Another thing i can think of is that my black one I got when the first came out and the green was a newer color and maybe they changed the bait a little, another thing to try would be the bronzeye frog JR or the new jungle frog. If you like throwing swimbaits spro just came out with a new bait designed by Bill Siemantel the BBZ-1 here's the link to the New trailer for the bait http://spro.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=63&Itemid=29

I purchased the black one when they first came out as well.  Maybe they changed the density of the newer frogs.  That swimbait looks awesome.  Where I am there are a lot of musky's around, so the swimbait might serve as a nice musky bait when the bass arn't biting.

[RoLo]

I love hollow frogs, particularly the Boze ZZ Walker, which walks just as good as the super spook.

Unfortunately most hollow frogs have a 'fatal flaw'...they eventually take on water and begin to sink!!  

Roger

[skillet]

 Thanks everyone for your help!

 Rolo, I've never heard of that frog and I really like walking the dog type retrieves for top water baits. Where do you get yours at?

                                                       Thanking You,

                                                           Skillet

[river-rat]

I've been fishing floating frogs for as many years as they have been made and have probably tried them all at one time or another. What I have had to teach myself to do when I get a strike on any of them is to continue reeling and when I feel the weight of the fish to use a power sweep hookset to the side rather than a power set with the rod going straight up. Easy to say, but at times I forget and the result is usually a missed the fish.

Last year I literally got "hooked" on the Spro frog. I fished it over vegetation and open water and had some really good days. I also used the Swamp Donkey to some extent which I found easier to walk, but I did notice I seemed to miss more strikes versus the Spro model.

I use a Falcon Lowrider Model LRC 1610 with 50# test Power Pro braid. This is a 6'10" rod listed as heavy action on the Falcon website. It has just enough tip to make underhand roll casts relatively easy and remain accurate. As long as I can remember to wait until I feel the fish and then sweep the rod to the side, I don't have many problems with missed fish.

[Gorgebassman]

Only hollow body frog I own is a swamp donkey and the few times I used it it did well for me dont recall missing a fish yet with it although truth be told havent fished it much.

[Brad_Coovert]

RoLo, frogs are gonna leak.  Every frog I have used will leak a little because they have a place on them that allows air to escape on the hookset to that the frog body will collapse easier.  Just squeeze out the water and resume fishing.

There are a lot of great frogs.  The only frog I have fished that I did not like was a Boze Sumo.  They were pretty stiff plastic.  That was two years ago, so they may be better now.

Brad