Bass Fishing Hacks
Simple Hacks and Tips to Help You Catch More Bass
Are frog lures good for bass fishing?
The quick answer to this question is yes. A frog lure is a great bait all year long in the warmer parts of the country and can be used for most of the year everywhere else. Frog lures are also very easy to use in varied fishing circumstances.
It is very hard to beat a frog for heavy cover top water bass fishing scenarios. That scenario is the best time to use a frog because it is just about the only lure that can be used effectively in the top part of the water column in super thick vegetation. It’s really as simple as that.
Let me tell you this. The biggest bass are usually found in the biggest and thickest vegetation cover.
I am a Bass Fishing Charter Captain on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been catching bass in the lakes, canals and ponds all over Florida from more than 40 years. In the article below, I will teach you everything that I know about using frog lures for bass fishing.
Watch the video below to learn more about how to catch a bass from shore.
What are the different types of frog lures for bass fishing?
There are all different types of frog lures for different circumstances. There are hollow body frogs lures. There are popping frog lures. There are solid body frog lures. There are large profile frog lures. There are small profile frog lures. There are all sorts of frog lures because they are such a great lure for catching bass.
Those hollow bodied frog lures are a good choice for fishing in thick vegetation. They are weed less and are filled with air to stay on top of the aquatic plants. There is a little hole in the but of the hollow frog lures that you will have to squeeze the water out of every now and again.
The hollow bodied frog lures are good for walking-the-frog which is a spin off of walking-the-dog top water lures that many people love to fish with for bass. All that really means is that you will make the lure do a zigzag pattern on the water’s surface.
I have found that the best techniques are a zigzag or two and then a pause; then a zigzag or two and then pause. That is a good technique. You can also just do a constant zigzag and very the speeds to figure out what the bass want on that day.
The popping frog is fished just just like a normal bass popping lure. It is great for windy days when it is hard to get the bass’ attention. The face of the popping frog is convex and pushes water out in all direction when you chug it along the top of the water.
The best technique that I have found is to make a couple of chugs and then pause the lures. If that is not working them then give it a steady retrieve. You will want to vary the speed of the retrieve to give the bass what they want.
The solid body frog lures are great for using as a swim bait or a jig. You can just burn them through the top of the water or let them sink in the various parts of the water column. You can bounce them on the bottom if you want to. That is what is so great about a sold body frog lures. You can fish the entire water column with that lure.
Watch the video below and catch more bass in the Summer.
What are the best colors of frog lures for bass fishing?
I think that you only need to use two different varieties of frog lure colors. I like dark ones and light ones. It is really as simple as that for me. A black colored frog and a white colored will catch you just about as many bass as you can handle. Some bass fisherman swear by a frog lure with a chartreuse belly so maybe you can add that color to your selection if you want to.
I think that the dark frog lures work the best in murky water and cloudy days out on the water. I also think that the white frog lures work the best when the water is relatively clear and the skies are sunny. You should test them all and see what works the best for you. If I was only allowed to use one color of frog lure, then I would choose a black frog.
Some bass fishermen like their frog lures to mimic other creatures that bass like to eat like rats and mice so they will use a brown frog. Some bass fishermen like to use a bluegill color when the bass are mainly feeding on bluegills. It all depends upon the individual bass fishermen and what frog colors they have the most confidence in.
What is the best line for fishing frog lures?
You have got to use heavy braided line for fishing frog lures in thick cover. Braided line is great for fishing with frog lures because it floats and it has such a small diameter when compared to fluorocarbon and mono filament fishing lines.
Fluorocarbon and mono filament fishing lines do not float on the water so they tend to get hung up more when you are fishing with frogs. You do not need a leader when you are fishing with frog lures. Tie your braided line directly to the frog lure. You do not have to worry about the bass seeing your line when you are frog fishing in heavy cover.
You will also want to make sure that you have a relatively heavy braided line on your reel too. I would suggest at least a 50 pound test for your braided line. You might even want to go up to a 65 pound braided line if you are fishing local bass tournaments.
That way you can get those big trophy winning bass out of the really thick stuff. Braided line does not stretch so you can get much better hook ups and hook penetration with a braided line versus the fluorocarbon and mono filament lines.
What is the best rod and reel combination for fishing with frog lures?
You will need a stout rod to pull a big old swamp donkey out of the thick vegetation. That is a fact so you will need a heavy rod. You need a lot of back bone if you want to pull those big fish and all of the weeds that are wrapped around your line to the boat.
I would suggest that you get about a 7 foot rod length for frog fishing. Sure you can go with a 6 foot 10 inch rod or a 7 foot 6 inch rod if you want to but a 7 foot heavy action fast tip rod is a great choice for fishing with frog lures in the thick stuff.
You are also going to want to get yourself a high speed reel with a big gear ratio. You might want to get a fast 7 to 1 gear ratio baitcasting reel. A 7 to 1 gear ratio means that for every full 360 degree turn that you do with your handle, the spool will turn 7 times. That will reel in more line more quickly than a 5 to 1 gear ratio for instance.
You need to get those bass out of the cover as quickly as possible so that they cannot dig themselves down real deep in the vegetation. A fast gear ratio will do that for you.
You need to get a reel with a lot of drag too. You might be able to get away with a reel that has 10 pounds of drag but there are plenty of inexpensive reels that will give you 15 pounds or more of drag to get those big monster bass out of the thick weed mats.
My heavy cover rod that I use for frog fishing is 7 feet 2 inches long, heavy/fast rod. That is a stiff backbone and I need it when it comes to getting a bass out of the thick stuff.
My reel has a 7.1:1 gear ratio which means that for ever full handle turn the spool will turn 7.1 times. It also has 18 pounds of drag because you will usually have to pull the bass out with 5 pounds of weeds to go along with it.
What is the best time of the year for fishing with frogs?
When do bass like to eat a frog? In Florida, bass will eat frogs all year long but in other parts of the country the best time of year to use a frog lure is the Summer. The bass are in that post spawn part of their yearly cycle and the water is starting to heat up. The vegetation goes from being sparse to growing like crazy with all of the extra sunlight that it is getting.
The bass will be in super shallow water and ready to eat some frogs. You can catch them all day with frogs too. A lot of bass fishermen think that the Summer months are just good for morning bass fishing.
Summer bass simply move into the shade during the hot parts of the day. They will wait under the weeds for something good to swim by them. So you want to look for ambush points on the edge of the vegetation or holes in the thick floating vegetation to find those hungry bass in the weeds.
What are the best modifications for frog lures?
The first modification for a frog lure is cut one of the legs a little bit shorter than the other one. All that you have to do is trim one of the legs by about a 1/2 inch. This will make it a lot easier to walk-the-frog.
The second modification for a frog is stick some rattles up its butt. Seriously, the hollow body frog lures has a small hole right where the butt would be on a real frog. Those glass rattle will increase your strikes because they will produce those low frequency vibrations that bass love.
Have a frog lure dedicated for open water and bend the hooks away from the body slightly to increase your hook ups. Some bass fishermen hate fishing with frogs because you miss so many of the bass. It is hard to hook them because the frog lures are super weed less.
Cut both of the frogs legs shorter if you keep getting short strikes from bass. Before you cut the legs down try slowing up your retrieve. This is usually the reason for getting a whole bunch of short strikes.
But if you have slowed down your retrieve and you are still getting short strikes, then cut down your legs. I recommend cutting down your legs by a half inch at a time until you start getting hooked up regularly.
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