Frog Rod??

[B@ssCrzy]

I am looking at getting a new rod (for under $100) that will be used mainly to fish stanley ribbits and hollow bodied frogs. It will be paired with a curado e7. I do not do any flipping and pitching as this is a skill I have not really learned yet, and there are no places around me that have heavy heavy weeds or even lilly pads. This summer I found that my medium rod with fast tip would not give me the power set the hook. Of course I was using mono as well so that added stretch meant I lost several nice fish. I will be switching to braid for this setup so I know that alone will help. I was looking at a Shimano Clarus MH with fast tip b/c I like the lifetime warranty, but am open to other suggestions. My main question is do I need to get the heavy instead of the MH, and if I go with the heavy how much will that cut down on my distance in casting? Any help would be appreciated. Happy New Year!!

[J Francho]

I use different rods for each of those baits. For the Ribbits, I just pick any 7' MH/F jig/worm rod that has braid. I'll even use a M/F rod and 12-15# CXX in open water. I don't like an X-fast tip for Ribbits and other solid toads.

For hollow frogs and rats, use a heavy duty pitching rod. Most designated "frog" rods I've tried throw a frog better than they get a fish out of the trash. I need something heavy when dealing with fish in the water willows, pads, and milfoil/coontail slop up here.

[ww2farmer]

I use a 7' MH/F St Croix Avid. It's stout enough to haul 5lbers out of mats you could walk across, and it's lighter and tosses frogs better than any 7' H St. Croix has to offer even though St Croix calls them "Frog and Slop" rods.

[LgMouthGambler]

I use Berkley Lightning Shock Rods. Thy are inexpensive, and seem to work well for me. I just set up my plastic/swim frog combo ( Shimano Citica, Berkley MH 6'6, 65# Spiderwire). Ive had no problems with perfomance, or losing fish. 5 of my rigs have them. Check them out, they may work for you too.

[Bass Junkie]

If you can find them, get your hands on a Field and Stream Angler series rod in 7'MH. It is around $50, and I used mine for frogs for a couple of years without a hitch. But the best thing you could do would be to wait and get a little more cash. Then pick up a better rod. There are some great ones at around $150 - $170.

[Packard]

I'd buy a Flipping Stick and it can double as a Pitching/Frog combo. I encourage you to try Pitching because it is not just for slop fishing. You can pitch into all kinds of structure. My flipping stick is what I use fro flipping, punching, pitching, and frogging. The rod is a G Loomis GLX FSR 905x with a Curado 200E7. For $50, you can buy the Daiwa VIP on TW for $50 (Regularly $125). Get that rod in 7'3" Heavy/Fast and you will have a nice stick. It has alconites and the same construction as the zillion rods. The carrot stix gold rods are on sale there too.

[Raider Nation Fisher]

The two rods I've been using for hollow body baits are; a ETHOS 7ft MH, and a Diawa Procyon MH 7ft. Both are paired up with Calcutta reels. And pardon the pun, both work swimmingly.

[J Francho]

I wish someone would make a 6-8 H/F for walking hollow bellies. Just sayin'.

[Raider Nation Fisher]

I wish someone would make a 6-8 H/F for walking hollow bellies. Just sayin'.

I'm sure DVT would hook u up, if u asked him real nice.

[Hi Salenity]

I use a 7'6'' Heavy TFO Signature series rod that costs $99

One of the places I "frog" is from the bank and the further I can cast the better =7'6''.

[Northern Strain]

If you can find them, get your hands on a Field and Stream Angler series rod in 7'MH. It is around $50, and I used mine for frogs for a couple of years without a hitch.

That was my first casting rod! It was pretty well balanced, had nice Fuji components, and did the job for me. I still use it from time to time as a back up rod, or it is lent to who ever fishes with me. I didn't think anyone around here had one! cool to see someone else thought they weren't half bad!

[Bass Junkie]

That was my first casting rod! It was pretty well balanced, had nice Fuji components, and did the job for me. I still use it from time to time as a back up rod, or it is lent to who ever fishes with me. I didn't think anyone around here had one! cool to see someone else thought they weren't half bad!

I actually heard they are closing them out to replace them with the Tech Spec style, which are horrible. I ended up picking up a 7' Medium spinning rod for $30 today, with a reel on it. Don't know about the quality of the reel, but the rod alone is worth more than $30.....

[Northern Strain]

That's to bad, After reading this thread I was playing around with my Angler Series, it is the cheapest rod I own, but it balances better than anything else I have. I dont know anything about the tec specs but it is a shame they discontinued the Angler Series.

[BASSclary]

I wish someone would make a 6-8 H/F for walking hollow bellies. Just sayin'.

Powell Makes a 6'9" H/F Endurance rod.

[s13john]

i would get a 7.3 mh veritas it is a very stout rod

[B@ssCrzy]

Thanks everybody for your input. Looks like MH will be enough for my purposes. That and switching to braid will hopefully help me keep more fish. Have a happy New Year. Tight Lines....

[Hi Salenity]

If you are in pads a MH should be fine. If you are around grass mats were you drag in a 5# fish with 5#+ of moss... I'd go with something heavier.

I just checked mine is a 7'6'' extra heavy.

Edited December 30, 2011 by Hi Salenity

[TourPT]

If you can find them, get your hands on a Field and Stream Angler series rod in 7'MH. It is around $50, and I used mine for frogs for a couple of years without a hitch. But the best thing you could do would be to wait and get a little more cash. Then pick up a better rod. There are some great ones at around $150 - $170.

Dicks Sporting Goods has the Field & Stream Rods on sale for 50 percent off right now. I know nothing about this rod or the brand, just noticed them on sale today while shopping.

For a little more then a 100 bucks the Lamiglas Excel Frog rod is hard to beat. I own two of these and for a 110 bucks they are really nice fog rods.

Also at Dicks the St Croix Mojo's are 99 bucks (Normal Price I think) but you get a free St. Croix sweat shirt of which is actually pretty nice. Here again I have no clue how good or not the mojos are but my buddy bought two Mojo's and two of The Last Tour Edition PT reels they had. 89 Bucks for a Tour PT Reel! Man if they had the LFT hand models I would have bought 6 at that price.