Bass are missing the frog?

[Bassin15]

Hi there,

Just wondering if any of you are having this problem, or if this is just a common thing, It's been perfect frog fishing weather here lately so i decided to tie on a frog, i had never caught a bass on a topwater frog before, so casted it out there over by a rocky wall with some vegetation just walking it back to the bank, about 10 casts in or so BAM! something came up and smacked it, the adrenalin hit me, i set the hook, and reeled in a nice little pickerel, i was so happy. But to cut to the chase, after that  i kept fan casting that whole area and the awesome thing was that a kept getting these great blow ups. But the fish just kept missing the frog and iv'e heard that sometimes they will smack at it first to daze it then they come back right after and eat it so when they missed i just let the frog sit there for a few sec they proceeded to walk it back and it would just keep missing the frog, it was very annoying, If any of you have any solutions for this, it would be very much appreciated. 

P.s   The setup i am using for fishing it is a 7' Medium/Heavy rod with a 6:4:1 gear ratio and 50 Pound Power Pro braid. I am using the Lunkerhunt Compact frog.

 

Thanks 

Bassin15  

[jimmer]

Are you setting the hook when you see the hit? Best to wait to set the hook when you feel the fish pull rather than set when the blow up happens. However, sometimes the fish just don't take the bait for whatever reason.

[Bassin15]

Yes i always wait until i see the line swimming off or feel the fish otherwise it comes flying back at you at 100 mph LOL.

But yes i can see when the blowup happens that the frog never even leaves the top of the water it just gets knocked out of the way.

 

Thanks    

[AKRISONER]

some guys absolutely love froggin, To be honest my hookup ratio when i started frogging was probably sub 10% Personally theres just other ways I would rather fish in the slop. Some guys seem to stick em all of the time while frogging, personally I have a heck of a time getting the fish to hook up.

From my experience when you get a solid frog bite, You are going to see the frog get eaten and its not going to come back up even if you wait for 2 seconds. Then you gotta set the hook really really hard to make sure it crushes and gets the hooks into them.

Top water in general is a big time percentages game, thats why I always keep a follow up bait rigged, If i get a blow up that misses, I stop, wait 2 seconds then give the bait one twitch, and wait again. If nothing happens I immediately reel in as fast as possible and throw them something to eat like a senko or a ned rigged craw. 

If you are fishing heavy weeds immediately chuck a whacky rig exactly where the blow up happened and to be honest better than 50% of the time the fish will hit that follow up bait.

Edited July 16, 2019 by AKRISONER

[Bassin15]

Thanks this really helped.

Bassin15

[BillM]

Bass always miss the frog, it's apart of the game.   

[misfish]

13 minutes ago, BillM said:

Bass always miss the frog, it's apart of the game.   

But if you use real ones,they never miss.

[jimmer]

Yes, I bought a couple of frogs and have good days and bad days with them. I would definitely choose another bait over them like Akrisoner said. Something rigged weedless like a fluke or swim bait.

[kickingfrog]

That is the nature of the game. Some days it's nothing but blow-ups with no hook-ups. Turning out the hooks slightly might help but it also decreases the weedlessness. I'll try a smaller frog sometimes or get a little more water in the bait so it sits a little lower in the water. Some days nothing seems to make a difference.

[BillM]

1 hour ago, misfish said:

But if you use real ones,they never miss.

I remember hunting leopard frogs at night for the old man to use the next day.   I never could, I'd usually just release them

[Bassin15]

Thanks all. Very helpful.

 

Bassin15

[singingdog]

Yep, topwater frogs are exhilirating/frustrating to fish: lots of blow-ups, few hook-ups. I usually avoid the whole "follow up" thing and throw the senko first  

[dave524]

Fishing topwater for bass I always found I got far better percentage of hookups using fly fishing gear and deerhair or balsa/foam poppers , frogs and stuff than with baitcasting gear and wait till you see the flyline move.

[OhioFisherman]

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Lake_Fork_Frog_Tail_Hook_2pk/descpage-LFTFRHK.html

They make a couple of different types of trailer hooks for frogs, never used one myself so read the reviews on them? A lot of top water lures I would rather throw than a frog, bad hookup ratio usually, but in some areas they seemed to be the only thing that would get thru the slop.

[Garnet]

The pickerel I assume is a walleye. They will charge up to top water and hesitate then chop it.

Did you see the bass where there mouth closed when they smacked at it. The best anglers only get a

60% hook up. and like others I avoid them in tournaments.

My cover water bait is 1/6 T rig senko or swim jig.

[Reef Runner]

Agree with the follow-up senko. 

That said, the techniques mentioned are mostly for fishing bass with top-water frogs. OP said the first fish was a pickerel (walleye).  Garnet is right, above, they'll hesitate to chomp the bait.  The hooks on frogs are pointed upward to make the bait weedless as possible; and the fish has to engulf the bait to get a decent hook set.  Try a top water bait that has trebles like a zara spook, chug bug, etc.  If it is a pack of pickerel smashing surface bait you'll have better chances of hooking into one.

[Bassin15]

Thanks guys, it was definitely a pickerel, Thanks for all the help.

[mamona]

4 hours ago, Garnet said:

My cover water bait is 1/6 T rig senko 

Can you tell a little bit more about your setup?

[Garnet]

The set up is 50 braid most times 1/6 worm weight likely tungsten but will switch to lead if pike are snapping.

This is my marginal cover swimbait,

I could swim a pitching jig or spinnerbait , possible chatterbait. The fish are telling me.

The senko mostly pink or white.

[Rizzo]

no longer use frogs I find the hooking percentage terrible. Now I use poppers...great hookups! Just can't work em thru the heaviest slop I guess but I never get in there anyways

[Musky Plug]

On 7/16/2019 at 1:12 PM, BillM said:

Bass always miss the frog, it's apart of the game.   

Ditto. 

 

I don't know if it was mentioned before but I always trim the legs shorter on my frogs, always. I cut them to either to the same length as the body or shorter. I feel that this has improved my percentages. If they still miss, in goes the senko. 

[grimsbylander]

I use frogs more as a search bait than a primary, especially in really heavy cover. Get the blow up and follow up with something they can inhale. Simply system. In less heavy cover, ie much more pockets of open water, fish the frog slow. When I say slow I mean stop the frog, eat a sandwich, kind of slow. When you move the frog keep your rod at 12 o'clock. If you get a strike, it forces you to reel down on it before setting the hook. You're basically handcuffing yourself and giving the fish time to turn with the bait with the added slack in the line. If it misses the bait, throw your follow up bait. If it didn't, don't worry it'll hang on to the frog until you pound the hook home. 

[mamona]

1 hour ago, Musky Plug said:

If they still miss, in goes the senko. 

 

55 minutes ago, grimsbylander said:

Get the blow up and follow up with something they can inhale.

Apologies for my ignorance, I do mostly pike and salmon fishing. How exactly you guys are using senko in heavy cover? I am guessing it would be texas rigged, min 5 inch long, with some (not sure how heavy) weight? Or something else?

[Musky Plug]

90% of the time I'll texas rig it. Yes you can use 5". I actually tend to use 4" most of the time, even drop to 3" sometimes. Also I wacky rig it from time to time when the cover is sparse. As far as weight goes I use a weightless hook most of the time unless I drop to 3". Then I will use a 1/8 to 3/16oz. 

[mamona]

@Mud Dog shorter senkos, no weight... How are you getting through the cover? Is the senko's weight just fine then?