by Matt Fed barbcatchfishing.com
As the spring season rolls through, it brings in tons of opportunities for anglers. Bass fishing gets much easier, and much more enjoyable as you don’t have to weather the freezing temperatures just to get a few bites. Every year, the technique that I am most excited to start using again in the spring is a frog. Everyone loves a topwater blow up, and there’s just something about a frog bite that is more fun than anything else.
Two Phases of the Spring
There are two main phases of the spring fishing season. First, is the pre-spawn phase. During the pre-spawn, bass are moving up shallow in search of spawning areas as well as feeding up as much as they can to prepare for the tiresome spawn. And during the pre-spawn, water temperatures are still fairly low, usually ranging between 45-60 degrees. The second phase of the spring is the actual spawning phase. This is when bass are locked on to their beds and either guarding the eggs or guarding the hatched fry. By this time, the water is warmer and the vegetation really starts to take over the shallow waters.
Pre-Spawn Frog Fishing
During the pre-spawn, bass are going to be located just off the banks, near any structure they can find. Things like dock posts, standing timber, and rock piles are some of the best places to target with your frog. And like I mentioned above, the water is still on the colder side of things. Think about your frog as if it was a jerkbait. The colder the water, the slower the retrieve and longer the pauses. Work your frog much slower than you are probably used to working it. 1-3 quick pops of the rod to walk the frog back and forth, and then pause it. Don’t be afraid to pause the frog for 3-6 seconds at a time. Some bass will be very aggressive and just crush it, and others will still be a bit sluggish and prefer the slow and steady retrieve. Personally, I love fishing a popping frog during the pre-spawn because the grass and vegetation hasn’t reached the surface yet. So there’s no risk of the cupped mouth of the frog catching on the vegetation and fouling up the action. Also, there is usually lots of rain and overcast this time of year, so the popping frog gives the bass a little extra sound to help them find the bait in the low visibility conditions.
Spawn Frog Fishing
Once the actual spawning phase sets in, the bass will mostly get glued up in the super shallow water on their beds. Usually this will be in 1-3 feet of water. There are two reasons I love fishing a frog for spawning bass. First, you can cover a lot of water with it. Most guys fish bass beds one at a time with a very slow moving bait like a Senko or jig. And while those are good baits for bed fishing, they are not very efficient. They force you to fish one bed for 5-10 minutes at a time. Some bass just will not bite anything no matter how many times you throw a bait at them. Once you have located the bass spawning grounds, the frog allows you to fish 5-6 beds just in a single cast. You can make a long cast across all of the beds and work the frog back over top of them. This way, you can very quickly find out which bass are aggressive and willing to attack a bait and which ones aren’t. Even if you don’t hook one of the bass, by seeing how they react to the frog over their bed, you find out their mood. Then you can take that Senko or jig and pick apart the beds where you already know the bass are willing to attack. The second reason I love frog fishing the spawn is that the grass will start to take over the shallow water at this point in the spring. The water is warm, the vegetation is thriving, and it is very hard to fish most baits through it without snagging on the weeds. But the frog allows you to fish right through the thickest and messiest of vegetation so that you can fish every square inch of the shallow waters, ensuring you don’t skip over some big bass.
When to Start Frog Fishing in the Spring
In my opinion, once the water temperature reaches over 50 degrees, it’s time to start froggin’. I didn’t always fish frogs this early in the year, but I learned from pros like Bobby Barrack and Fred Roumbanis that bass will commit to topwater baits earlier than most anglers thought. Especially when the topwater bait is a silent, more subtle bait like the hollow body frogs. But, certainly once the water temperatures reach the 60s, you absolutely need to have a frog tied on for the rest of the spring and summer.
Spring Frog Colors
During the springtime, I really only fish two colors of frogs. The two being white and black. For the most part, that is actually consistent all year, but when the season is just getting started and I need confidence in what I’m throwing, I stick to white and black. If you think about it, the bass really only sees the bottom of the frogs, and with a bright sky above, they don’t get a great look at the exact color or design of the bait. So, you don’t need super detailed or fancy colors, cause the bass won’t be able to tell either way. Between the two, I use black frogs if I’m fishing overcast or rainy days, and I fish a white frog on sunny, clear sky days.
Gear Setup
Frog fishing is a heavy duty technique. The frog has two heavy gauge hooks and you are fishing the bait around thick cover. You need your gear to have the strength to drive the hooks into the bass as well as drag them out of grass and wood. The standard setup is a 7’-7’6” heavy power baitcasting setup with 50-65 lb braided line. During the pre-spawn phase, I’ll use the 50 lb line because there is less vegetation to drag the bass through. And once the nasty stuff grows in and takes over the shallow water, I switch the the heavier 60-65 lb braid.
Set the Hook Hard
Like I just mentioned, the frog has two heavy gauge hooks. For those hooks to be exposed, the body of the frog needs to collapse. Don’t shy away from laying the wood to these bass. Set the hook hard to make sure you collapse the frog and drive the hooks all the way in. Also, try to wait about a second to set the hook after the bass eats the frog to make sure it fully has the bait in its mouth. The frog is a soft body bait that feels very realistic, so bass will hold on to it a long time. Don’t worry about them spitting it out immediately. See the bass strike, wait a second, and then set the hook hard.
Tying this Off
When most guys think of spring fishing, their mind goes to chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, or jigs. But my mind goes straight to frog fishing. After a long winter when I couldn’t fish topwaters, I’m itching to see and feel those blow ups again. And the hollow body frog is the most versatile and fun topwater lure you can throw. Make sure to test it out for yourself this year and make the most of the opportunities the bass give you.
