Summer Time Froggin’ Pt. 2

Summer is slowly drawing to a close and the heat will hopefully be letting up soon.  The frog bite however will still be in full swing.  The lily pads, hydrilla, duck weed and coontail have all grown to their max and are bass magnets this time of year. It’s time to go froggin’ for bass.

I trust you read my previous blog on Frogging to get your gear right and up to speed.

Now, when people pull up to a ½ mile long stretch of pads most will just start to blindly throw their frog with the pray and spray technique.  In my opinion when fishing large expanses of grass/pads you dissect it just like any other bank you would fish.

How do we do that?  Look for irregularities- points, coves, holes, stumps, compound cover, deeper water and the presence of bait fish.

When you look at the picture you can clearly see the point of the lily pads.  This is for sure a bass magnet.  If you have a point with a few stumps mixed in, that is for sure a high percentage area. When you find an area with 2 or 3 types of grasses that meet, this is one of the most important areas to fish. If lily pads bump next to alligator grass with hydrilla growing behind it, this is a likely a bass hot spot. Fish this area very methodically and with multiple presentations.

Now, let’s say your stretch of grass is virtually void of points or coves, what do you do then?  Look for holes in the grass.  Bass will blow up on frogs, bream, shad and even birds through large grass mats. These explosions will create holes in the grass.  Bass will often stage themselves around these holes waiting for their next victim to come by. I will run and twitch my frog right up to the hole, then kill it as it slowly floats in the opening.  I feel as though the bass will track a bait they can’t really see until it gets to the opening where it can see the bait.

Bass can crush your bait right in the middle of the thick stuff, but your hookup ratio will usually be lower if there is not a hole or lane the bass can access your bait easier.

I mentioned deeper water earlier.  Big bass will typically be positioned closer to deeper water. It doesn’t matter if it is only a foot or two deeper than the rest of the area, that is all it takes.  I will try to fish the grass that is close to or adjacent to the deeper water in that given area.

While you are fishing the slop, be looking and listening for bait fish.  If you hear Bream popping the bottom of pads, shad scurrying across the eel grass or see pad stems moving, these are times to sling a frog in that direction and see if you can fool that bass into biting.  Don’t cast directly on top of the bait fish, rather cast past it and bring your bait to where the bait fish was or you think it was going.

I know I went over tackle in my previous blog, but I want to share a product with you that has help me win a lot more money and put a lot more bass on my deck- Lake Fork Trophy Lures Frog Trailer Hook. This little contraption slides right over your frog hooks and doesn’t impede the action of the bait.

http://lftlures.com/catalog/frog-tail-hook

Yes, from time to time it will get you hung up a bit more than not using it, but it is well worth it to me because it will drastically increase my hook up ratio instantly.

Alright, like Forrest Gump would say “That is all I have to say, about that”.

G Luck & Tight Lines Texas Nation.

Shane Smith