Went fishing yesterday at a lake i don’t fish much because of the fishing pressure. it is a forest preserve lake but it’s bigger than most and it is the diamond supposedly for the county so they spend a lot of time and money on it. I got there about 6:30am and still quite dark and cold, 34 degrees. i was comfortable though, thank god the wind was down. this lake is built more for boaters than bank fishermen. I can maybe fish 20% of this lake from the bank or less. no motors on this lake but you can launch and run your trolling motor or rent a boat from Memorial day to labor day. Anyway on with the story.
It was still real weedy, i couldn’t throw a spinnerbait, chatterbait or swimming jig with out getting weeded up so i tied on a horny toad. even it was snagging the hook bend with a long straight grass mixed in with the hydrilla. the hydrilla was still nice and green. I moved up the bank and tied on a Cabelas brand hollow bodied frog. after about 30 or 40 cast i was ready to pick up and move or leave to another lake. as i was contemplating my next move had a huge blow-up on the frog. she took it under but i didn’t set the hook till i felt her. and feel her i did, very strong and the back end of her came out of the water as she dove for the bottom. Huge fish! Finally i set the hook and thought i had her hook and the frog came out. my heart was pounding because i knew this was a big fish, maybe the biggest i ever caught, if i got her in. after she spit my frog out and my heart stopped pounding, i felt i did everything right but still couldn’t hook a fish. i just can’t get hooks into a bass with a hollow bodied frog. tons of blow-ups and zero fish. i was wondering if it was me or was it the frog, i don’t know how many of you guys have ever used a Cabelas brand hollow body but they seem fine to me and cast like a bullet. As soon as i got home i oredered a couple of Spro bronzeyes and a Koppers. Not sure if they will help but i get more blow-ups with the hollow body but catch more with the solid body frogs. Any suggestions would be appreciated. i had the legs trimmed to about a 1.5 ” from the body. Please help me catch them lunkers on the hollow body. oh, by the way, frog bite is still on!!!!. Thanks guys!
The Spro has a good hooking percentage so you should be fine. Are you using braided line with the hollow body frogs?
Yes, always use braided line for all frog fishing. one thing i noticed about the Cabelas hollow bodied frog is the body is not easily compressed. that has got to be a no-no for a hollow bodied frog i would think. they fish good and cast well but i’ve used the scum frog and now the Cableas brand with tons of blow-ups and no fish and i wait till they take the frog under and i feel them before i set the hook.
I have no clue then what the problem would be that you are missing fish on the hollow bodies then??? I have never used the Cabelas brand frogs so I don’t know how hard the body is. Here is a trick you can do to hopefully increse your hookups…. Bend the hooks out away from the frog as this will give you a wider gap on the hooks. I do this to all of my frogs and I have around a 75% hooking percantage with it
I have no clue then what the problem would be that you are missing fish on the hollow bodies then??? I have never used the Cabelas brand frogs so I don’t know how hard the body is. Here is a trick you can do to hopefully increse your hookups…. Bend the hooks out away from the frog as this will give you a wider gap on the hooks. I do this to all of my frogs and I have around a 75% hooking percantage with it
I will try that, thanks. do you get snagged up more?
I have no clue then what the problem would be that you are missing fish on the hollow bodies then??? I have never used the Cabelas brand frogs so I don’t know how hard the body is. Here is a trick you can do to hopefully increse your hookups…. Bend the hooks out away from the frog as this will give you a wider gap on the hooks. I do this to all of my frogs and I have around a 75% hooking percantage with it
I will try that, thanks. do you get snagged up more?
IDK if I get snagged up more or less because I have never fished a frog that I haven’t spread the hooks out.
I have no clue then what the problem would be that you are missing fish on the hollow bodies then??? I have never used the Cabelas brand frogs so I don’t know how hard the body is. Here is a trick you can do to hopefully increse your hookups…. Bend the hooks out away from the frog as this will give you a wider gap on the hooks. I do this to all of my frogs and I have around a 75% hooking percantage with it
I will try that, thanks. do you get snagged up more?
IDK if I get snagged up more or less because I have never fished a frog that I haven’t spread the hooks out.
Do you bend the hooks so they are up off the plastic?
If you’re fishing sparse grass then bending the hooks out shouldnt cause you to get snagged more. But, if you are fishing matted grass then you will notice a difference. Personally I dont bend the hooks. I really havent had the need to with the frogs I fish. About 90% of the frogs I own are SPRO, and they collapse enough for good hook penetration. I did try a couple of the BPS frogs and didnt care for them as much. They seemed to stiff right out of the package.
I also like the Koppers frog. Its the frog I fished a few weeks ago on Guntersville and I was pretty impressed with its hook-up ratio.
Hopefully you’ll have another shot at the bass with your new frogs Cincy. Good luck
If you’re fishing sparse grass then bending the hooks out shouldnt cause you to get snagged more. But, if you are fishing matted grass then you will notice a difference. Personally I dont bend the hooks. I really havent had the need to with the frogs I fish. About 90% of the frogs I own are SPRO, and they collapse enough for good hook penetration. I did try a couple of the BPS frogs and didnt care for them as much. They seemed to stiff right out of the package.
I also like the Koppers frog. Its the frog I fished a few weeks ago on Guntersville and I was pretty impressed with its hook-up ratio.
Hopefully you’ll have another shot at the bass with your new frogs Cincy. Good luck
Well the spro is designed to always land on it’s belly. at least that is how the description reads, so bending the hooks out shouldn’t cause a problem. i bent the hooks out on a couple of the cabelas frogs and we will see how it goes. as long as it doesn’t get snagged up a lot i should be able to get a hook up. I bent the hooks so that they are maybe 1/16” up off the plastic. keeping my fingers crossed. I’m fishing matted grass and hydrilla. you would think that with all the blow-ups and the bass taking the frog under that i would have caught at least one by accident but i got squat. wind blowing 25 mph today so i will have to wait a day or 2 to try and catch that bass. Thanks guys
Had that very same thing happen to me this past summer, bud. Had a HUGE blow up on a spro frog, along a weedline and when I jerked to set the hook, I lost it all! The trilene knot had slipped! This was a valuable lesson for me and is when I decided to tie EVERYTHING with a palomar knot. Haven’t had a knot slip or break yet.
i tie everything with a palomar knot, it hasn’t failed me yet, i lost that bass because i didn’t get the hooks in it She took it under and when i felt her i set the hook, gone bye bye.
i tie everything with a palomar knot, it hasn’t failed me yet, i lost that bass because i didn’t get the hooks in it She took it under and when i felt her i set the hook, gone bye bye.
Oh, I know. I’m just saying..I shared a similar experience in an almost identical situation.
i tie everything with a palomar knot, it hasn’t failed me yet, i lost that bass because i didn’t get the hooks in it She took it under and when i felt her i set the hook, gone bye bye.
Oh, I know. I’m just saying..I shared a similar experience in an almost identical situation.
