# Frog fishing approach



## ducman491 (Oct 31, 2011)

I've just started having some success on a frog this year and I'm wondering about the best way to attack a section of pads. 

Question 1) 
Let's say you have a section of pads 30 yards long and 10 yards deep in 3-4 fow. You can position your boat so the entire field is reachable without repositioning. In my limited experience it seems the first 3-5 casts in a given area are most productive so do you fan cast the area or cast in a more random fashion while still covering the whole field?

Question 2)
After you get a fish from one section do you go right back at that same section or cast to a different part of the field? It would seem that the drama of horsing a fish out of an area would spook the other fish at least for a few minutes. 

Question 3) 
If there are carp actively feeding in a section of pads should I bother working it for bass or is the commotion from the carp making the environment unfishable for a bit? (Water clarity etc.)

Thanks in advance for any advice. 
Jason


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## Bassbme (Mar 11, 2012)

Question 1) I wouldn't purposefully position my boat so I could cast to the whole section of pads or a weed bed unless I absolutely had to. The shorter the cast, the less heavy cover you have to pull a hooked bass through, and the better your chances of landing that fish are. That's not to say I don't make long casts with a frog. I just don't make them if I don't have to.

As far as how I would cast an area of pads or weeds with a frog ... I try to hit what I think are the high percentage areas, first. High percentage areas for me would be anything different in the weeds or pads. Openings, points, cuts, the edges of thick and thinner cover, or anything different than the majority of the rest of the cover. Don't just make single casts to those spots. Cast 2 or 3 times to each place to give the fish a chance to find your bait. Especially if the cover is thick. If I've cast to those kind of places without any action I'll then start to cast to the rest of the area. I let the thickness of the cover determine how far apart I make my casts.

Question 2) Yes, I cast right back to the same section. The commotion of landing a bass from thick cover can spook other bass, but it can also attract them. I've caught bass from the same blow up hole that I just landed a bass from. 

Question 3) I don't think there's a definitive answer to that question. I've caught bass around feeding and even spawning carp. But not as often as I have caught bass that didn't have any visible carp around.


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## Mr. A (Apr 23, 2012)

Ducman491, Bassbeme gave a great response so I won't elaborate on his answers directly. However, I will tell you a few things I learned this year that you may be able to use; food for thought type stuff....

1) a good friend and I were out on his boat swimming with some others. We pulled into a cove and were going to swim. Out of curiosity I turned on his fishfinder. Not a fish to be seen anywhere. Then the kids jumped in....withing a few seconds the fish finder lit up with fish inspecting all the commotion. 

2) I have began what I call sniper fishing at ponds where it will work. In the early hours of the mornings (before Sun up) and if there is no one else fishing I will stand at least 10' to 20' from the waters edge and pitch a frog to my target area. I take care to land as softly as possible. (Essentially I pretend that there are bass sitting just off shore that can see through the vegetation, and will see me, or feel the vibration of me walking if I get too close)

This has increased the number of hits by an easy 50% or more. I will back away from the water even more, walk down the bank, and fish another section that I could not reach from the last spot.

And if anyone wants to know why I call it "sniper fishing", it's because I'm standing so far away from my target and have to be accurate with my pitching. I work smaller areas of the overall mats.....work small miss small.





Mr. A


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## ducman491 (Oct 31, 2011)

Awesome! Thanks for the info guys. I'm going to go back to the same spot in the morning.


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## Rasper (Sep 6, 2012)

Frog fishing is really for big bass. But learn how to walk it. Spro bronze eye and a pad crasher walk nicely for my style. I look at a frog like a weedless Zara spook. Once you get real good a walking a frog you'll be able to almost walk it with out moving toward you.

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## ducman491 (Oct 31, 2011)

My walking is getting better but the frog bite has slowed a bit.


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## Mr. A (Apr 23, 2012)

I take a new frog, twist the legs once and lay them over the back of the frog. Then cut them at the nose. I have found that if the back legs are not equal in length 5th frog will walk really easy. Now I cut all the frog legs 1/4" shorter on one side. No effect in the cabbage but a big difference in open water. You just twitch it and it will walk itself for the most part....


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## shorthair (Jul 21, 2009)

Could someone help me with the trick to the hook up? I had 9 bass take the frog and on everyone I missed the hook up! Please help!!! Thanks


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## Mr. A (Apr 23, 2012)

shorthair said:


> Could someone help me with the trick to the hook up? I had 9 bass take the frog and on everyone I missed the hook up! Please help!!! Thanks


What do you mean by "take the frog?" 

Bass won't always smash & grab. They will smack it, I believe to sun it, then come back at it a second time, or they may just smack it out of reflex and move on without even getting it in their mouth.

If you are missing fish when they have got it in their mouths there could be a couple reasons but we need more information. 

What action and power rod are you using? What type and # line are you using? Under what conditions are the basic hitting, as in pads, mats, grass, etc?


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## shorthair (Jul 21, 2009)

The bass took it under the water, paused for two seconds then set the hook with no luck! Actually had two fish on but they came off really quick! Fishing the dying pads! Noticed a lot of bait fish being busted inside the pads so I thought I would try the frog! First cast, a bass busted the frog and it flew up in the air almost three feet!! Nothing better than the top water bite!! I was using a 7' fast action medium heavy rod with a 6:4 reel! Thanks again!


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## shorthair (Jul 21, 2009)

shorthair said:


> The bass took it under the water, paused for two seconds then set the hook with no luck! Actually had two fish on but they came off really quick! Fishing the dying pads! Noticed a lot of bait fish being busted inside the pads so I thought I would try the frog! First cast, a bass busted the frog and it flew up in the air almost three feet!! Nothing better than the top water bite!! I was using a 7' fast action medium heavy rod with a 6:4 reel! Thanks again!


 flouro 12 lb line


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## Bad Bub (Jan 17, 2006)

shorthair said:


> flouro 12 lb line


Bad. Frogs are meant to be fished with braided line. Med heavy power rod minimum. Not saying you won't catch some fish with your setup, but your going to get your heart broken more often than not.


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## Mr. A (Apr 23, 2012)

Shorthair, you're not doing anything I haven't done before but Bad Bub is right. The difference in stretch between mono and flour is less the the stretch between flour and braid. NOT saying braid stretches but when you consider the fish can move/give, the rod with flex/give, adding any more give to the situation kills your hook up ratio.

I would suggest a switch to braid. One thing I like to do to keep from jumping the gun (after a sudden explosion scaring the bajesus out of me) is to work the frog with the tip high. Hard to set the hook prematurely like that. However, the timing is about perfect to set the hook if you see/feel the hit, then at the same time, watch the line by the lure for movement and reel down as fast as you can and put a solid fast hard hookset on that bass.

I have found that the hooks going thru the lips of the bass is easy enough, but if the bass hits that frog good enough (and/or isn't moving just before hookset) when you set the hook you have to drive those hooks through the cartalidge in the roof of the mouth; not to mention the bass likely won't be facing you so you also have to turn the fish and start raising it as the hooks penetrate. Hopefully that explains why you need the braid and a rod with some backbone to it....

Hope that helps.....


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## shorthair (Jul 21, 2009)

Thanks guys that should help!!!


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## Nightcrawler666 (Apr 17, 2014)

Mr. A said it, use braid, heavier rod, give it a sec and give er all ya got. Especially when fishing heavy mat, if they get into those weeds too far, forget about it. 90% of my hookups are in the roof of the mouth when fishing frogs. They do sell trailer hooks for them with 2 eyelets, but I don't care for the way it makes the frog sit in the open water, making it a little harder to walk. 


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## Mr. A (Apr 23, 2012)

Also, if your frog gets smoked YOU MUST WATCH THE LINE! If after the hit, line is moving down the hole like it has an anchor attached to it, DO NOT WAIT TO SET. 

And from my personal book or idiocy, if you have it hooked, get the fish on top as soon as possible. I lost two nice bass that swam into me and buried their mouth in the bottom to come unbuttoned on me. UGH....


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## shorthair (Jul 21, 2009)

Thanks! You guys are a big help!


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## Bassthumb (Aug 22, 2008)

No reason to top water fish with less than 50-65 lbs braided line. It is crucial. As soon as the fish takes your frog down and wraps a pad or grass with flouro or mono you are going to get snapped off. That braid will slice through the pads like butter, just reel fast get them to the top and away from the veggies.... horse them in the whole way.


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## ducman491 (Oct 31, 2011)

Being a relative Newby with frog success I can attest to the need for heavy braid. You have to impart your will on the fish when you get them hooked and bring them out ASAP. I put a paddle tail frog on my worm rod with 10lb braid at Mosquito yesterday because I didn't want to cut the jig off my back up 50lb braid rod. Sure enough a good sized fish took it into the pads and broke it off. Frogs are outstanding fun and get big fish! My previous PB was 3.75lbs going into this year and I've caught at least 5 bigger than that all on frogs with a new PB of 6lbs even.


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## shorthair (Jul 21, 2009)

ducman491 said:


> Being a relative Newby with frog success I can attest to the need for heavy braid. You have to impart your will on the fish when you get them hooked and bring them out ASAP. I put a paddle tail frog on my worm rod with 10lb braid at Mosquito yesterday because I didn't want to cut the jig off my back up 50lb braid rod. Sure enough a good sized fish took it into the pads and broke it off. Frogs are outstanding fun and get big fish! My previous PB was 3.75lbs going into this year and I've caught at least 5 bigger than that all on frogs with a new PB of 6lbs even.


Congrats on the PB's!!!! Thanks for the info guys!!!!


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## Detainer (Jul 29, 2014)

What do you guys mean walking the frog? I have a booyah pad crasher and it's also a popper. I wanna learn the walking technique and I can't find any videos of it


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## Jose' (Aug 31, 2013)

Exclusive Topwater Fishing Tip: How to Walk the : [ame]http://youtu.be/Sdim6e4HCik[/ame]


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## Detainer (Jul 29, 2014)

Jose' said:


> Exclusive Topwater Fishing Tip: How to Walk the : http://youtu.be/Sdim6e4HCik


Cool thanks


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