Last season while fishing the small local lake, Lake Wintergreen I notice a major portion of the shore fishing is blocked by lily pads I also noticed that the water occasionally exploded from within or at the very edge of the lily pads. Well the bass didn’t have to hit me in the head too hard to make me take notice of a vast section of unfished territory on the lake. So late last fall I decided I need to fish those lily pads with the best method known to man. That method is a TOPWATER FROG FISHING. Unfortunately I didn’t know anything about this form of fishing so I set out to research it a bit. I quickly learned that I was not equipped for this sort of fishing despite the little woman surprising me with a FROG LURE. All of my fishing tackle whether spinning or baitcasting is made for finesse types of fishing where as TOPWATER FROG FISHING for BASS is more of a muscle sport. Well the 2010 fishing season was winding down and I decided to wait to fishing season 2011 before investing in new gear and tackle.
Fast forward to the beginning of April 2011 It’s now time for me to start selecting the rod, reel, line and lures I will need for frog fishing. I’m hoping to get the whole setup under $400 and closer to $300 as this setup will see limited use.
Frog Rod Selection
The rod will be a baitcaster about 7′ long. It should be a heavy action rod with a fast tip. The heavy action is needed to fight the fish out of cover and the lily pads. The fast tip is needed to get that light frog lure to go the distance. There are actually rods from folks like G.LOOMIS and DOBYNS designed specifically for frog fishing. Unfortunately they are kind of expensive.
The baitcasting rod I selected is the St. Croix® Mojo Bass Trigger Rod – MBC70HF (SLOP-N-FROG). The rod is 7′ Heavy with a fast tip. The rod cost $109
Frog Reel Selection
There’s a few different schools of thought on this but here’s my opinion. I want a baitcasting reel with a low gear ratio for power and a slow retrieve. If I need to take up line quickly I can use the rod. A fast gear ratio will be harder to reel the fish out of the lily pads and cover as well as enable me to fish too fast. Slower is better with frog fishing. There seems to be a lot of reels in the $79-$129 range that will work well.
The Baitcasting Reel I decided on was the Bass Pro Shops Pro Qualifier® Baitcast Reel – Right-Hand Retrive – Model PQX10SSD. The reel was on sale for $79
Frog Fishing Line Selection
A braided super line is mandatory. A braided line the diameter of 12 pound test should be rated for about 60 pound test. A 10 pound test diameter should be rated at about 40 pounds. Im leaning towards the lighter weight currently.
Frog Lures For Bass
I have actually acquired two already.
- Knoppers Live Target Hollow Body Frog Green Yellow 55T
- Snag Proof Frog Lure
Updates: As I progress I will update these post. Once everything is in order and I am catching fish I will make a dedicated page on FROG FISHING from the content in this post
Simply amazing, I went out to get the mail and there was my ST CROIX MOJO BASS ROD. I dont check my mail very often so I am not sure when the rod arrived but holy cow am I impressed with the USPS efficiency in getting the rod to my door. Fedex isnt scheduled to deliver the reel for a few more days.
Both items shipped ion the same day.
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