Keith Lusher 08.06.24
There’s nothing prefer it. Fog on the water. Lifeless calm winds. The solar barely peeking over the horizon. You make your first forged to the shoreline with a hollow-body frog and twitch it till it falls into the water. You then discover slight motion on the water’s floor as if one thing is beneath. After giving the frog three pops it occurs! The water explodes and also you wait an additional second to set the hook. The road rips throughout the lily pads and the combat is on!
For many anglers, nothing beats an early morning top-water chunk. For Jason Pittman of Covington, LA, frog fishing is an obsession. I made a visit with Pittman to the Abita River the place I witnessed a complete new world of frog fishing.
Pittman dedicates two trays of his sort out field to frogs and has realized tips on how to fish them over time. Not solely has he mastered the artwork of frog-fishing, however he’s mastered the artwork of customizing the plastic amphibians. “I’ve tried the whole lot with this stuff over time,” he mentioned.
The match angler confirmed me just a few ideas to strive when customizing a frog and mentioned there are all the time methods to vary the presentation, sound, and weight.
Presentation
Whereas all frogs retrieve in a different way, a variety of anglers make an effort to “stroll” the frog. This occurs by growing a rhythm in your retreive which makes the lure flip facet to facet as if it had been strolling. Pittman recommends chopping half of a leg off or eradicating a leg utterly in order that it turns into unbalanced. “Straight out of the bundle, the legs on a frog are going to be the identical size. Normally, it’s spherical rubber which is about 2 inches lengthy. The legs create drag and trimming one of many legs it makes throws the frog off steadiness which makes it flip back and forth extra,” he mentioned. This exaggerates the strolling movement of the frog and provides motion to the retrieve.
Sound
Hollw-body frogs aren’t precisely recognized for the noise they make. Pittman has developed a method so as to add a singular “click on” to the lure by including just a few BBs. He merely pushes them contained in the frog’s physique through the holes that the hook protrudes from. As soon as contained in the BBs add a brand new dimension of sound each time the frog strikes. Whereas Pittman makes use of BBs he mentioned there’s no finish to what you’ll be able to add to make it give off sound. “I’ve seen guys slip small jingle bells into the frog which, when muffled by the plastic physique, sound awfully attractive,” he mentioned.
Weight
Utilizing a frog in vegetation is a no brainer. Lily pads, submerged grass, and duckweed are magnets for anglers trying to get that top-water frog blow-up. However when the vegetation is simply too thick, the frog barely makes a dent in the grass mat. When this occurs Pittman provides a weight to the within of the frog. The burden permits the frog to sink into the water previous the vegetation. “Typically you want that frog to maneuver the lilies and I discover that including just a little weight provides it extra muscle to deal with the thick grass,” he mentioned.
Pittmans makes use of a white Hole Physique Smasher Frog made by Prototype Lures.When fishing the Smasher Frog, Pittman makes use of a Kast King 7’3″ Medium-heavy with a quick tip. “The quick tip helps with the twitching and attempting to stroll it,” he mentioned. “It additionally helps it load up after I have to skip it beneath a dock or a tree.” Pittman’s most popular reel when fishing a frog is a Kast King MegaJaws with a 7.3:1 ratio. “This enables me to take up a variety of slack quicker. In the course of a pause, there could also be some slack within the line and this enables me to reel in line quick,” he mentioned. For line, Pittman makes use of 50-pound Moss Inexperienced coloured Hammer Braid.
With August on the best way, the frog chunk ought to proceed to supply anglers with loads of early morning and late afternoon pleasure. Utilizing these customizations could be the factor you might want to put just a few additional huge one’s within the boat!
