Kiss a Frog to catch a Bass Part 1

Since that fateful day I switched the TV channel over to ESPN, and watched Mr Kermit himself, Dean Rojas, work a Spro frog through some cover and get hammered by a nice fat pig of a fish, have I been obsessed with frog fishing. I also decided right there and then to gain some level mastery of this technique. Mastery is a word I say very tongue in cheek, as there is really not much mastery required. All levels of bass angler from beginner to pro can have immediate success with very little fuss, although I must add that through my trials and tribulations, I have learnt some very valuable lessons. One of these lessons unfortunately cost me the biggest, meanest bass I have yet to hook into, but as they say in this game, it's no use crying over missed fish, just go and catch another. I hope to share some of these lessons and tips with you, but would like you to remember that I am a regular Joe. I love my bass fishing and will never profess to be an expert at anything, except, giving my wife the perfect excuse to go fishing. For the sake of clarity, I sometimes fondly refer to the frog as "padda" in this article. Padda being the word for frog in the Afrikaans language.

Fishing the top water frog almost incessantly over recent months, I believe to have been able to dispel most myths which shroud top water fishing. In this article I hope to give you the necessary insight and confidence to get the most out of what must be, one of the most visual, unbelievably exciting Bassing techniques around. One thing is for sure though and that is generally the quality bass caught on frog are better in quality than average. I think one of the reasons for this is that bass need to feel secure and safe and will only leave its cover sanctum when it is confident enough to do so. During the top water strike, larger bass have less concern of being preyed upon than would a smaller bass. Sometimes I recon you can actually aggravate the bass and coerce him into striking by making repeated casts to the same spots over and over again. Make no mistake, this is hard work, but golly goodness it can be so rewarding.

The Frog

There are many, many brands on the market today, actually so many that I too get confused. There are basically two types, one that allows for a slow subtle presentation and one for a more quicker, noisier presentation. Each frog type have their own special place in my tackle box, but lets take a look at what in my opinion are the attributes of a good top water frog.

The Floater

With the floating slower presentation frogs, Spro lead the way with their diverse colour range and they come in two size variants. These frogs can be jerked or walked, or just left tantalizingly motionless for periods during the retrieve. Alternative floating frogs like the Mann's Super Frog, Scum Donkey or the latest innovatively designed Mad Maxx frogs are also worth a look at.

The Buzzer

These are the more active and noisier frogs which basically emulate a refined buzz bait and can be fished nice and fast across the surface or be delectably allowed to sink into holes within thick vegetation or lily pad beds. Here the market is flooded with different types, however Zoom Horny Toad, Mann's Hardnose, Stanley's Ribbit Frog and my favourite Strike King Rage Tail Toads.

Which one for you?

I prefer the smaller more compact sized frogs as my experience goes to show that you get more bites on smaller profiled frogs than the larger ones. Added to this is the potential increase in missed strikes due to the long length of the legs or other appendages. You want a bass to engulf the bait and have the hook in it's mouth. Also remember that during the strike, the bass displaces a large volume of water and often bigger or lighter frogs could be pushed away from the bass’s mouth by the flow of water.

Dispelling the Myths

We as bass anglers have been conditioned to take what we hear as gospel. I have heard time and time again that top water fishing is possible only in low light or overcast conditions, or early or late in the day. I have also heard that some bass in some dams just don't eat topwater baits. Granted, just like with any other technique, there are better or more productive times during the day, month or season to catch bass on a top water lure, however do not let any of these constraints hinder you in your search for frog hungry bass.

Whilst I was conceptualising this article, I decided to prove this statement and proceeded to Inanda Dam on a winters day in July. It was a chilly day, but the sun was out in full force, and by the way not ideal topwater conditions by any means. As can be seen by the adjacent date and time stamped photographs, I pulled out a 1.4kg bass on frog. Now this is mid morning, deep winter and in full sun shine.

Hearsay

I have for years believed that a particular dam in KZN was a poor top water venue. My perception was based on what another top local angler told me. Imagine my shock, horror and disgust when one day after nothing else was working for me, I caught a number of quality fish on my padda?? All those wasted hours not catching fish on padda just because I mistakenly believed what someone told me. Myth dispelled.

So in summary, you can fish padda any time, any day, anywhere. In part II we will tackle (excuse the pun), rods, reels, lines, knots and spots.

Mark Allen aka Vaalboy
Bassing.co.za Pro Staff Member

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