®
THREE POINTS FOR YOUR HOOKS
Having gotten to just sit down and talk to Dean about
general frog fishing I asked him what his number one
adjustment to a frog is when he takes it out of the package?
1
Space “Open up the hooks a little,” replied Dean. Having a frog in hand, he grabbed a pair of pliers and then
adjusted the hook point to be up a little higher above the
frog’s body.
Dean explained by opening the hook point a little you
get a better hook up ratio than just leaving the hook points
tucked in close to the body, resulting in more bass over the
side of the boat.
2
Sharpness Throughout the day take a few seconds to see how sharp your hooks are. If you cannot get your
hook point to grab your fingernail, it is time to give it a few
swipes with your hook file.
3
Unbent Examine your hooks to make sure you do not have bent hook points. Remember you are trying to
hook a bass in the boniest part of their mouth, and it is easy
to bend a hook point slightly resulting in lost fish”.
THREE FROG SETUPS ON THE READY
1
Stock Frog With a Snap At the start of my day if frog fishing is my
choice, I will have three
rods on my boat deck.
On one frog rod I will
have a bait that is
rigged with a frog that I
have not changed. This
frog is straight out of
the package. I also use
a snap to connect this
frog to my line.
With this rigging
I will get less side-to-
side head movement
and limited gliding
action from my frog
because of the longer
legs. This will cut down
on the distance that
my frog will move away
from the target area
when fished.
This setup matches
times when the bass
are not really in an
active feeding mood,
and you have to entice
them to bite. This
rigging will allow me to
fish my frog in the bite zone longer but will still give my bait
enough movement and action to trigger strikes.
2
Adjusted Frog-Tied Direct On my second frog rod, I will have a frog that has trimmed legs, (about half the length
of the original out of the package). I will also tie directly to
the hook eye of the frog. This frog will have more side-to-
side head movement because of the direct tie and will also
have a longer glide action with the shorter leg length. There
is not much to hold this bait in place, I can work this frog
faster covering more water in conditions when the bass bite
is active.
3
Extra Frog Rod I always have an extra rod on the deck that has a snap so I can make easy frog changes and
give the bass multiple looks without having to take the time
to tie on a new bait. This makes it easier to get dialed in and
figure out what they want that day faster. Once I get an
idea, I will put this rigging on one of my other frog rods and
slow down to work the key areas better.
FOUR TYPES OF FROGS - EXPAND YOUR FROG OPTIONS
We all do it with crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and jigs, just to mention a few do not stock and fish only one style frog, stock different shapes and styles to better match cover conditions and mood of the bass you are faced with fishing – Straight, Popping, Spitting and Flapping.
Summer 2023
page 45