This Week @ Bass Edge

The Frogmen of Summer

From the time that early man first attempted to copy nature by carving wooden objects into forms that would fool game fish, fishermen have always had a special affection for the frog.
        
Surface-fished frogs have evolved from their earliest and crudest forms — for which collectors now pay top dollar — to today's realistic amphibians. All have shared a special place among bass fishermen. The allure of using this natural prey to fool largemouth bass has not waned through the years.
        
This love affair began as early as 1880 with the Kent Champion Floater and soared in popularity with the creations of early luremaster James Heddon. From there it evolved steadily as materials like plastic were refined. The frog craze has enjoyed several chapters along the way highlighted by the birth of the hollow-bodied Snagproof-type versions, the grass rats on hydrilla-laden lakes of the South, the West Coast frog innovations and the recent swimming frog euphoria.

The allure of topwater frogs is evident in the role reserved for these lures by fishermen throughout the country, including those on the highly competitive professional tournament trails.

At the highest level of the Bassmaster Tournament Trail, frogs have been one of the hottest of all lures the past few seasons. And predictably, that has filtered down to the weekend angler in every corner of the country.

One of the anglers most responsible for the resurgence of topwater frogs is Dean Rojas, Bassmaster Elite Series pro living in the shadow of the big-bass waters of Texas’ Lake Fork. But he cut his teeth on frog fishing in the trophy bass habitat of the San Diego lakes.

The western pros and guides took the traditional hollow-bodied frog like the Snagproof and Mann’s models and launched an era of impressive innovation and expansion that took surface frog fishing to a whole new level. The Left Coasters came up with realistic modifications to make the frogs more lifelike in the water, significantly extended the seasonal applications for these topwater teasers and showed that frog fishing was not limited to times of topped-out hydrilla or milfoil.

Californians are so fanatical about these baits that they have staged 300-boat tournaments where the participants were limited to fishing frogs.

Rojas learned those lessons well while living in California and Arizona, and he never forgot them. So when he was looking for something to give him an edge in the B.A.S.S. wars a few years ago, he broke out his favorite frog. The hollow, soft-sided Sumo- and Snagproof-type frogs he nicknamed “Kermit” quietly enjoyed good seasons in 2003 and 2004 as Rojas climbed his way to the top of the leaderboards.

The secret was out for good when Rojas used a black 3 ½-inch Scum frog sporting orange eyes to come close to winning the 2004 Bassmaster Classic on North Carolina’s Lake Wylie.

Along the way, Rojas taught us some important lessons about frog fishing. Most importantly, topwater frogs can be deadly in cover situations other than the thickest vegetation of the year. Sparse grass, riprap and other rocks, brush, and even lay-downs are not immune to the allure of these tantalizing surface creatures. He showed us that plastic frogs catch fish in open water as well.

“I was getting the bait to fish that weren’t seeing any baits at all,” Rojas said. “Subsequently, I was catching a lot of big fish.”

Rojas has also proven time after time that frogs are excellent tools for catching bass during the hottest times of the year.

“I love fishing Kermit when the water temperature is 80 and above. I get some vicious strikes that time of year.”

His success with modified surface frogs eventually resulted in the Spro Bronzeye Frog 65, which Rojas designed from scratch. The hollow-bodied bait has skirt-material legs that can be shortened with scissors, and its legs exit the body through a short tube. This keeps the leg opening from getting caught in the hook, a classic problem with frogs. He solved other problems, like having the nose of the frog sit tightly on the line-tie to keep water from soaking into the bait. It’s narrow body makes it perfect for walking atop the water right out of the package. Its flat bottom displaces water and helps it land right-side-up time after time. It also enhances the frog’s castability. And best of all, its weighted body keeps the head of the frog high in the water like a real frog.

Rojas considers frog fishing to be big-bass time, especially during the summer. So he gears up appropriately with 65-pound test braid, a 7-foot Dean Rojas Frog Rod and a 7.3 to 1 gear ratio "Burner" reel.

Rojas has won a lot of money and gained considerable fame as the B.A.S.S. circuit’s frogman.

While Rojas’ success ushered in another chapter in the topwater frog craze, it was the advent of a different kind of frog that ignited the hottest of all recent frog trends.

The Horny Toad was the forerunner of the swimming frog that claimed followers far and wide. Unlike the hollow-bodied floaters, the Horny Toad has a solid, compact body that features a front-weighted V-shaped belly with a slot for embedding the hook. The main attraction is a pair of ultra-vibe, hyper-action legs that are activated with the slightest movement. Those highly realistic, lively legs draw long-distance strikes that are nothing short of vicious.

The Horny Toad’s incredible success in both open water and cover situations spawned a whole genre of similar swimming frogs. Bradley Stringer, a talented pro on the Elite Series circuit, is a big fan of the Ribbit, which he most often rigs with a new specially weighted hook that lets him more easily glide over matted grass or swim along the limbs of a lay-down or deadfall along the edge of a grass bed.

The Texas pro has also enjoyed success with some slightly unorthodox techniques like slow-rolling the Ribbit at various depths similar to spinnerbait and waking it along the surface like a buzzbait. Stringer even scores by teaming it with a big pegged bullet weight and flipping hook, and dropping it into holes and thin spots in vegetation.

“One of my favorite times to fish a frog is in the summertime,” he explains. “During the summertime, the bass will usually be tight to the cover and aggressive. So when you bring that Ribbit past them they can’t resist it.

“You don’t have to finesse them in the summer. I stay back and make a long cast, and let the frog do its thing. You can cover a lot of water this way.”

Professional anglers like Stringer and Rojas know that when it comes to frog fishing, anglers have only scratched the surface when it comes to taking full advantage of the centuries-old appeal of these lures.