Top water frog help?
 

Went to Swartswood for Labor Day weekend and top water was smashing in the weeds and slop... the only problem is the weedless frog I was using cuts through the slop but the hook up ratio sucks... I think for every 20 blow ups I had 1 hook up..... I had a huge blow up at little swartswood with a tiger musky (at least 40") but I couldnt punch the hooks through the mouth as he was running with it....

I need recommendations for a good frog or top water lure ( has to be weedless and floating) that has good hook up potential....

Re: Top water frog help?
 

trailer hook-

http://www.lftlures.com/categories/f.../products/1790

Re: Top water frog help?
 

Spro Bronzeye Frog.65 lb. braided line, and a frog rod or at least a heavy action rod.
The key to more hookups is to pause for a few seconds before you set the hook.It takes patience but your hookups will increase dramatically.

Re: Top water frog help?
 

LOL... the Spro Frog is what I was using..... I may need to just wait a lil longer before trying to set the hook as you suggest....

Re: Top water frog help?
 

try the trailer hooks-

http://www.lftlures.com/categories/f.../products/1790

you should see immediate results, I have. the frogs seem poorly designed for fish inhaling their prey. even with the two Mississippi technique the frog will just slide out of their mouth when a hookset is attempted since the hook points are not protruding. in contrast every pike I've caught on a frog has hooked itself from the ferocity of the strike which collapses the soft frog body exposing the hooks (don't expect your frogs to last long with pike : - ). prior to using the trailer hooks my hookup percentage on bass was a dismal 5% at best, despite using braid, a frog rod, and a zero reverse reel. since getting the trailer hooks I've only missed one out of eight and I'm pretty sure what he did was tail slap it in an attempt to stun it as this happened a foot from the pond bank after I hopped it in from a land cast to emulate a frog jumping in and I think it landed on top of him. I left it there in hopes that he'd return once I twitched it again as they often do but he didn't. hope this helps.

Re: Top water frog help?
 

The wait a few seconds thing works well for me too....if I can calm the hell down and actually do it! It's hard when that water explodes like that. I have had trouble like you describe with certain types of weeds more than others. I think the way certain weeds "mat" at the top make it harder for the bass to actually get the frog in its mouth. (I don't know the name of the weed but I know what they look like...Lake Musconetcong is loaded with them.)

One thing that has worked for me when they do miss the frog (or I miss :rolleyes: ) is to throw a weightless Senko or a Senko with an 1/8th ounce bullet weight texas rigged to the spot the bass hit. Sometimes they make a "temporary hole" in the grass/slop but even if not they will come back and eat that worm off the top. Again you need to wait a second before setting the hook but it does work. And when it does....Man does it make you feel like you actually know what your doing! :D

Good Luck.

Re: Top water frog help?
 

more proof the trailer hooks work. one of the things I like to do with my frog is loop the cast over an overhanging branch and dip it in and out of the water to emulate prey in distress. whenever I'd do it in one specific spot a big bad bull frog would jump out, grab it, and take it back into the weeds with him. I'd do a little tug of war with him until finally pulling the frog out of his mouth. Today I draped it over a branch and on an upstroke he jumped out of the water after it and the trailer hook got him. It was only a flesh wound and he swam away fine.

Re: Top water frog help?
 

If using a buzz frog like a gambler cane toad,hold your rod at the 12:00 position, this forces you to reel any slack in before you set the hook.
For a spro frog I like to hold the rod 90 degrees to my right while twitching the frog.Again this forces you to reel in any slack before you set the hook.

Re: Top water frog help?
 

braid and a heavy rod are key for penetrating the roof of the mouth as the hooks on the frog are turned upward. do you use a spinning reel or a bait caster? I've found with a bait caster there's less slack to take up after the frog hits the water and unlike a spinning/braid setup the line doesn't drape on everything around you after the cast.

Re: Top water frog help?
 

Believe it or not but for my top water set up I am using a med-heavy (fast) rod with a Zebco Omega 3z pro spin cast reel (oscillating) with 30lb braid.... I love this reel... No line probs or backlashes and quick accurate casting and retreive........ Not quite good enough to use bait cast yet (still learning) and spinning reels suck at top water for me....