I had 15 blowups last night and not a single one got hooked
this morning i had 5 blowups and hooked a good bass but he came off shortly after i set the hook.
I trimmed the legs of the frog shorter like people said online and also bent the hooks more out. I’m also making sure to wait 1-2 seconds after they blowup to set the hook. Am i doing something wrong or is this just how frog fishing is and it’s normal to miss this amount of fish?
Posted by Curious-Map9844
10 Comments
I had some trouble with that frog, too. I had to boil mine to make the plastic softer. It helps increase hookup rate
There are guides online on how to boil topwater frogs
The good news is, you’re fishing where they bite already
I use this tiny little add on. Its a small treble hook that you slide over the existing hook. Got about an inch of line its connected to. Similar to a spinnerbait trailer hook.
Sounds like youre doing everything right. How hard are you setting the hook? I used to wail on it pretty hard when i fished bass more.
I had a lot of similar experience last year fishing out on a lot of weeds looking for smallies. I moved to different frogs and had better luck. I think those ones, while attractive to bass, are just difficult to set. I like frogs now with the rubber feet that vibrate more when you reel in.
I know exactly what you mean, sometimes it comes down to waiting as bass sometimes just inhale it, and sometimes they just grab and pull it under for the “second bite”. I’ve been frogging since I was a little kid and it was always a problem until the last few years when the why clicked for me.
That being said I love catching dirty frog eating bass, and I hate the hookup difficulty.
Now, after decades of frogging first thing I do after tying a brand new frog on is expose the shank of the hook, grab it with pliers, and slightly bend it open a littlebit so the hook point is slightly more exposed on top of the frog. Were talking just enough where if you lightly run your hand on the frog the point will catch you.
Especially for 18+ smallies this little trick gives me 90+% hookup ratio. I will never fish any frog without bending the tips away from the back of the frog, just a little
Bend the two hooks up some. Then wait till you feel the fish before you yank
I have that same frog….those hooks are thicc.. how hard are you setting the hook
Are you setting the hook right away? Frog hooks don’t snag on weeds but you have to give them a second to eat before setting or you’ll rip the bait out of the fish’s mouth, every single time. Wait until you feel the weight, then set
I’m no expert on frogs but I do see that most guys who have a lot of success with frogs are using straight braid with no leader. They’re using 40 or 50 lb braid (or more) and swinging for the fences with a heavy, extra fast rod. The bottom line is they’re doing everything they can to maximize hook set. I think your mono is too stretchy for this, so I would start with just straight braid.
What are you using for line? Id recommend tying straight to braid. Mono floats which is good but perhaps too much stretch. Also the rod selection is big. There is a reason they make dedicated frog rods. In my experience, frogs are just notorious for bad hook up ratios. I know someone will chime in and say they land every fish. I personally dont use frogs for this reason. Yea I get a lot of blow ups which is fun but if you cant land em sort of defeats the purpose.