Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - July/August 2014 - 23

These are classic examples of a soft-plastic frog (top)
and soft-plastic toad (bottom).

fun to experience as anything
in the fishing world. When a
Largemouth Bass erupts from
a flotilla of weeds, flushing the
water like the bell of a tuba,
then submerges with the bait
and comes up quickly with a
tail-walking dance across the
With the body of a frog and
weeds, you've seen a great show.
legs like a toad, the Money Frog
In use, toads make great
works well over lily pads.
search baits. Combined with a
5/0 hook and a screw-in keeper
with a 3/16 weight on the shank, I can zing most toads quite a
distance and be confident that the toad will work belly down.
In practice, I like toads over emergent grass and scattered lily
pads. I don't like them over thick surface vegetation, as the legs
won't generate the buzzbait kick.
I use most frogs around lily pads and thick gunky vegetation.
Frogs are best worked with stop-and-crawl retrieves. Plop them
down, let them sit a bit and crawl them over the greenery at
different speeds.
Around lily pads, you want them to sit atop a big leaf, then
crawl them over the edge and swim to the next pad. Over gunk,
you may want to work them smoothly across it or with various
stop-and-crawl motions.
Then again, I've demonstrated to anglers the effectiveness
of working a frog very quickly over the mats-as I've seen real
frogs escape. This is probably the least-used retrieve. When bass
have become too accustom to plastic frogs, it's the one I try-
Speed Froggin'.
Hooks may need to be adjusted with a frog. The dual hooks
are sometimes too low to the body. A very slight upbend with
a pair of needle nose pliers-bending the point arm up-helps
improve the hookset. If you have a dual-hook frog that isn't
catching bass, try a slight tilt with the pliers just above the
bend-a very slight tilt as you don't want to weaken the hook.
Like all artificial baits, there are good designs and lousy ones.
A few years back, a company came out with a frog whose
plastic was too stiff. Most bass didn't get the hook. As a result,
I had to immerse the lure in very hot, not boiling, water for
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several minutes to
soften the plastic. It
worked.
This frog is off the
market now. However,
I've met a few bass
anglers who routinely
dunk their new frogs
in hot water for a time
to soften the plastic, so
when a bass crunches
down on the bait, it gets
A white toad buzzing across a flat received
to the hook.
a lot of interest from this Largemouth Bass.
With toads, I often
like to split the rear
pads into two or three slices and even remove the center slice.
It improves their buzzing.
When using frogs and toads, you need to decide what kind
of line to use. The choices are monofilament, fluorocarbon or
braided line. All have advantages on a bait-casting reel. The
main advantage of monofilament or fluorocarbon line is ease
of use. If you don't own a casting reel designated with braided
line, it is probably the way you'll want to go. However they are
not, in my estimation, the best choice.
Understanding that a quality braided line has
tremendous strength as compared to its diameter-a
10-pound diameter braid with 35- to 50-pound-test line
strength is common-and that braided line cuts through a
lily pad stem like a high-powered weed whacker, you have
two very good reasons to choose braided line.
However, the best reason is the braid's lack of stretch. On
a bass blow-up at a distance, you have to set the hook with a
strong upwards sweep. Therefore, you don't want any stretch
in the line. Monofilament line stretches like a rubber band.
I know anglers who fish frogs and toads with all
fluorocarbon line and anglers who fish with all braided line.
I compromise using braided line with a 4-foot leader of
strong 20-pound-test fluorocarbon line. This combination
is something that I learned from a good bass angler, and I
haven't had reason to change it.

Pennsylvania Angler & Boater * July/August 2014

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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - July/August 2014

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