It is getting to be that time of year. As things warm up, my family and I start hitting up farm ponds for hungry largemouth bass. In the early season, we stick to plastic worms and have lots of success. Then as it gets hot we have the bullfrog hatch and food sources change for our farm pond bass. As this is happening, the vegetation that bass love is starting to take over the surface of the water. When half of your pond consists of grasses and lily pads, you can be sure normal lures will not work.
Frogs tend to be the lure or bait of choice during the heat of the summer. We sometimes would go out just before dark and use flashlights to snag as many frogs as we could. The big ones were set aside for frog legs, but the little guys were bait for the night. We would then load up into the boat for some night fishing. Casting a big frog on a hook into heavy vegetation in the dark of night is easier from a boat than it is from the shore. If we fish during the day and are without live bait, a frog lure can accomplish almost the same thing.
Fishing with frogs is ideal for dropping a lure into nasty vegetation. It is also an ideal food source for largemouth bass to target during this particular season. Frogs can help you catch more fish and bigger fish, but there is a specific technique to how you work with a frog or frog lure. In this article, we will cover how you can fish with frogs or frog lures and why they might help you catch more fish.
Why Frogs?
There are lots of different types of fish that will strike on frogs, but largemouth bass seem to like them the best. These fish are instinctive and aggressive hunters and love to attack anything that looks like food. They strike when they see their prey move, so creating movement is key to catching largemouths. If you create realistic movement across the surface of the water and work within the vegetation present, they will not be able to resist.
While you may have better results fishing with frogs on water where frogs live, this is not a requirement. Largemouth bass do not exactly identify the species of food they target. If it is small and moves like food, it is going to get swallowed. They will go after small fish, crayfish, small rodents, baby snakes, worms, insects, and anything else small enough to fit in their mouths.
Another excellent example of their thought process is the success we have with plastic worms. Bass do not naturally come in contact with worms very often, but they do come in contact with baby snakes. It must be assumed that largemouth bass strike so frequently on earthworms or plastic worms because they misidentify them as a different food source. This obviously does not slow them down.
The point is that frogs are just another moving shape that looks like food to a bass. If you cast a frog into a lake with lots of vegetation but no frogs, it will likely still do quite well. In addition, to its irresistible movement, frogs and frog lures allow for completely weedless hooks. This makes them the perfect weapon to work in the thick vegetation that bass love to hide near. Largemouth bass are known for loving the edges of vegetation beds for hunting. The shadows from the vegetation keep the fish partially hidden like a deer hunter in a ground blind. If you want to target bass, you want to target the edges of these beds.
Where and When
There are lots of different variables that determine when fish will strike on frogs and frog lures. As mentioned before, there is a bit of a “season” to frog fishing. Once the bullfrogs spawn in May or June, the use of frogs becomes much more effective. It will usually keep going through September or October when the water gets significantly colder. That being said, this is just an ideal window. You can catch bass with frogs during all seasons of the year. Winter is probably your toughest time of the year as largemouth bass and bullfrogs both slow down their movement when the water is cold.
When the summer sun is beating down on the water, largemouth bass are looking for shade. Fish are cold-blooded and can get overheated easily, so they try to stay in more moderate water temperatures. You can find these temperatures under the vegetation where they also like to hunt for food. Cool water can be more readily found when the sun is less intense. This would be early morning, late evening, and at night. Bass also like to hunt in low light so they cannot be seen as easily. With the coloring of their scales, they blend in quite well in low light. Night fishing is not uncommon for my crew so we are able to start in the evening and fish all night through the early morning to catch all of the peak times.
As for where to fish with frogs and frog bait, there are spots that tend to work better. As we have mentioned, frogs work best around vegetation of some kind. You can also fish pollen lines with good success. These are areas where the wind has delivered pollen onto the surface of the water. It actually gets so thick that it provides some partial cover for fish. In some ways, these pollen lines are actually better for frog fishing as there is less debris to work around. Outside of looking for vegetation and pollen lines, you should always work in shallow water. This is not as important with small ponds but can be very important with big lakes.
The last factor you should consider to determine when to fish is the weather. Fishing in general does not go well when there are high winds or heavy rain. Fish also tend to be more finicky when the skies are completely clear. They tend to hunt more on cloudy, cooler days with little wind. Storms can also tell you when to fish. Right before a storm, the barometric pressure will drop. The will allow the stomachs of the fish to expand making them feel hungrier. They will often keep hunting even when they just ate. This is a prime time to do some fishing with frogs. You can also target just after a storm as frogs are often active right after it rains.
Hook Placement and Presentation
Working with frogs as bait is different from just about every other kind of fishing you will do. It is not uncommon for newcomers to the frog fishing world to try a few different times and give up before figuring out how it works. Just be patient and remember that movement is the key to frog presentation. When working with live frogs, you want them to move naturally or to move like they are injured. You do not want them jerked about because they have a fishing line attached to them.
The biggest mistake that anglers make with live frogs is treating them like lures or other live bait. When working with a lure, you are expected to create the movement with the retrieval of the lure itself. When fishing with most live bait, you get a little natural movement but you still often need to create movement yourself. With frogs, you want to let them do all of the work. Hook your frog in the bottom jaw or in one of the back legs so you can be sure it stays alive as long as possible. These hook points will also allow for lots of natural movement.
Gear
You absolutely must use a braided line for live frogs, and I would suggest it for frog lures as well. Remember that you are going to be hopping your frog through all kinds of debris. Also, remember that frogs are pretty heavy. When you put the two together, you have a recipe for a monofilament line to break.
Monofilament lines will also wear down when you cast them into heavy debris. I like to use a thick 65 lb braided line specifically for frogs as a line like this will virtually last forever. You know this line will not snap when you are retrieving your frog. You will want a heavier, longer rod so you can manage the weight of the frog and the force required to bring it back in through the vegetation. Bait caster reels seem to work best for this setup.
Casting and Retrieval
When you are working with frogs, try to keep your casts gentle and close to the water. If you do long, arcing casts that get some serious air you will knock your frog silly. Remember that you want to keep this little guy alive as long as possible. When you have your bait in the water, give the frog a few seconds to shake it off and move around a bit. Often this is when the strike will come with live frogs and largemouth bass. Your rod and line are not there to create movement. They are just there to help place the live frog in the ideal spots. If you get no action in one spot, gently pull your bait into a new area.
When you are ready to bring your bait back in and recast, try to bounce it across the top of any vegetation. Once the frog stops moving you will need to swap out for a live frog or create movement yourself. To do this you will keep your rod tip down and pull it in with consistent four to five inch movements. This is also how you will work with a frog lure. The movement is called “walking the frog on a slack line”. It imitates an injured frog which is more effective than imitating a healthy frog. When you target an area, try to leave the frog in that spot as long as possible. The more you jerk it around, the faster it will stop moving.
As is with all bass fishing, the strike is exciting. However, you must resist the urge to jerk your rod when you get a strike. When a fish chomps down on your frog, it is easy to panic and jerk the bait right out of the fish’s mouth. You are best when you get a strike to give it a few seconds. I like to see the line moving to the side before I set the hook. When ready, I start the rod down low and just give it a firm pull up. When I think I have it set, then I will give it another firm pull just to make sure it is sunk in deep. This patience makes all the difference in the world.
Getting Bait and Keeping it Kicking
If you want live frogs, you probably won’t find them in your typical gas station bait shop. Your best option is to head to the ponds just before dark. Please keep in mind that the more damage you do to the frog, the faster it will stop moving. We normally use a net on small frogs for bait and use a gig or .22 rifle for the big ones we eat.
If you are going to use a net, you want a large net with a long handle. You will not be able to get too close to a bullfrog before it jumps, but you can sometimes get a net over it beforehand. We like to get out in the boat and cruise the edges of the water. When you shine a flashlight along the shore, you should see their eyes reflect the light back to you. If working with a partner, have them keep the light shining directly in the eyes of the frog. This will keep it frozen long enough for you to net it. Be sure your net has small holes so small frogs do not get free.
To keep your frogs alive as long as you can, try not to handle them too much. Just like the bass that you are targeting, frogs have a mucus layer that protects them from illness. You can keep frogs in a live well, in a cage underwater, or in a bucket with room temperature water. Keep them out of the sun, and feed them crickets and earthworms if you want to keep them going for several days.
Frog Lures
If you do not want to go through the effort of catching live frogs, you can still benefit from frog mimicking lures. While it will not move on it’s own, frog lures can be manipulated by the angler to move like an injured frog. One key to success with frog lures is to never assume it is ready to fish right out of the package. Most frog lures have a very basic design. Often you can be more effective by moving the hook to the back leg of the frog.
In addition, the rubber cords that hang behind frog lures are not always ideal. They create movement, but you can have too many of them. There is nothing wrong with trimming them back or adding more. If you are fishing at night or in really low lighting, you can break open a glow stick and rub the luminous liquid on the belly of the frog. This light will draw in the attention of fish and exaggerate movement. You can use the same trick on live frogs if you like. Finally, you can use paint or permanent markers to add spots and coloring on the sides and belly of the lure.
As we warned from the beginning, fishing with frogs takes some practice. You must change the way you think about the fishing process to be successful with frogs. You really do need to sit back and let the frog do all of the work. Aside from just catching lots of fish, frog fishing can be lots of fun. Bring the kids and let them help catch your bait. Then send them off to bed while you and your crew start wetting some lines. Just a bucket of frogs, a lantern, and a few beers and you will remember that night for the rest of your life.
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