Jaderose

I moved to 8lb 832 this year and so far have loved it.

I would add just a little addendum to this. Blow ups do not always equate to a fish taking the bait in it's mouth. Especially in heavy slop. They can hear it, they can feel it, but they don't always know where it is so they will blow up next to it, behind it, etc. OR they are trying to stun it. I've had bass knock my frog 5 ft in the air and all you can do is laugh. It's hard to do but the best thing to do on an initial blow up is...NOTHING. Nothing except pay attention to what's going on. After the blow up that misses, if you do nothing, your bait is STILL THERE. A couple of quick twitches and BOOM! Second blow up. This time, the bass is usually pretty dialed in on where the frog is and will usually get it. Frogging, if done right, is not as simple as it seems. It requires dedication, concentration and a willingness to reduce your fish count. The pay off is a very exciting way to fish AND some very very high quality catches. I rarely pull bass out of the slop that weigh less that 3 or 4 lbs on up. It's not because I am a great fisherman....I am not. It's because i know my waters very well and I have dedicated hour after hour after hour to this technique. Even then, I think I am a "good" frogger. I am not great.

This is why you stick with braid. Wait until you're dragging in a 9lber. I will also concur with what others above have said. For those conditions, use a poppin frog. I cut the logs completely off of them but that is just me and is due to a happy accident I had a month of so ago where I tied on a poppin frog so old the legs disintegrated. Froggin is the crack cocaine of fishing. When you finally dial it in, it's the best there is. I'm crazy about froggin.

Me neither...unless it's a warpig. *shrugs* Obviously, I don't blame the bait. I like them.....I just seem to lose them. And that's out of a boat and with a plug knocker. Once they're snagged, they're gone. For me anyway.

Never had a warpig I didn't lose. No idea why but I've snagged and lost every single one. Gotta be the bait. Couldn't be the fisherman!

The whole rod is gone. I think they still have the power hump on a rod or two but they don't make the Exteme anymore

That's the thing....I WASN'T experimenting. I do mess around with baits occasionally like most but I wasn't today. It just fell apart. I wouldn't have done that in a million years, mostly because that is not generally my style of frogging. I NEVER throw the popper frog. That's why it was so dried up. It was a Spook or Hula Popper situation for me, I just didn't have them. I don't even remember buying it. Not sure I did....probably found it. I don't even use Pad Crashers that much. I typically use Scumfrog Trophy series for the *plop* when they land. I am typically throwing into HEAVY duckweed and slime. Happy Accident.

BPS Extreme with the Power Hump grip. 6'6" MH. My first "nice" rod bought many years ago. Always meant to get more but never did and now they are gone. Not particularly refined but I have yet to find anything I can't do with it. It's been my frog rod, my "finesse" rod, my cranking rod, and for awhile anyway, my ONLY rod. Today it does d**n fine duty as my spinner bait rod and shows no sign of slowing down. Love it and wish I had 10 of them. It served emergency duty today as my topwater rod, too. The day it breaks will be a sad day indeed for me. I should add that it also has my first PQ on it, too. A reel that works better now, 10 years later, than it did new and that's after doing all the duties I mention above and being broke a couple of times. Clean it, repair it, lube it, abuse it. It takes it and smiles

Very distinct possibility. I just realized you are the fella using the snaps with the weighted hooks because you are not comfortable with your knot tying. We gotta cure you of that..lol. There are many good videos on how to tie a good knot. The palomar is probably the easiest and happens to be one of the best and strongest. I use it 99% of the time. https://www.***.com/fishing_knots/palomar-knot Tie a NON-WEIGHTED 3/0 EWG hook on with this knot. T-rig (no screwlock..again, plenty of videos of this). If using baitcaster, do a sidearm lob cast. No Whipping, no overhead casts. Going weightless means you will have to slow down. The bait needs time to flutter. That's where 95% of your bites will come.

Ok...so today I go out. Perfect morning. Decide to throw a spook or a Hula Popper along a duck weed line for some early morning topwater action. Realize I do NOT have my topwater box. Crap. I DO have my frog box. In that frog box is an OLD Poppin Pad Crasher. Good enough and I can work it into the duckweed a bit. Make first cast and it starts raining confetti. What the hell? Frog was so old the leg tassles were brittle and just came off. COMPLETELY. So now I have just the body. Looks weird...couldn't possibly still be any good. Chuck it out again right along the line and start twitching it in. And then all hell broke loose. BAM! 6 lber. BAM! 4lber. BAM! BAM! 2lber! KABLAM!!! 7.4 lber!! UN-FRIGGIN-BELIEVABLE! I threw this all FRIGGIN day and had one of the best days of fishing I've ever had. I THINK it was a Poppin Pad Crasher Jr....which I'm not sure they even make anymore. All I can say is give this a try. Cut the legs completely off a poppin pad crasher and chuck it around. Throw it in the muck. Throw it along the edge. It walks like a dream and I even had it doing 180's in place in open pockets. The worst that can happen is you are out 6 bucks and think I'm an idiot. I can live with both of those. WOW! *Update* Regular old Poppin Pad Crasher. Went to Wally World and bought a couple more. Legs already cut off and they are ready to throw.

My guess is yes. Are you using a weighted hook to cast a T-rigged Senko on a bait caster? If the answer to that is yes, than you are probably casting too hard or using whipping motion and the screwlock is tearing up your bait. A t-rigged Senko is, to me, a finesse presentation that REQUIRES a spinning reel with lite line for best flutter action. It took me a couple of years to figure that out and a lot of money on wasted Senkos. Now I use a 3/0 Gammy EWG, weightless with 10lb braid on a Pflueger President. I RARELY get less than 3-6 fish per. When the end gets gnarly, I bite it off and re-rig. Sometimes a 6" Senko will wind up a 3" Inch Senko before it falls apart.

I always DO stock up on frogs at the start of the start of the season. I'll usually burn through 10 or so in the course of a season. Being without is NOT an option. Going out tomorrow and I doubt I will throw anything but a frog and some senkos. No reason to throw anything else

3/0 Gammy EWG weightless here. I toss these on a spinning set up. A full size Senko can be thrown on a baitcaster with relative ease, though. It's kind of a heavy bait. Do more of a lob cast rather than whipping it. Try it without the weight. Dam near guarantee you'll catch more fish.

It WILL be better then! I've always likened frogging to golf. A sport I gave up because I was TERRIBLE at it. I would shank after shank after shank and then...occasionally...I would hit a good ball and you could tell immediately. The solid *click" of the driver hitting the ball. I just couldn't do it often enough to keep me interested. When you get the timing of frogging down and drag an 8lber out of the muck, it's the best. Then, of course, you will realize you need a froggin rod. Lol. I have my regular arsenal of gear and then I have my froggin rod. I carry it like Minnesota Fats with his best cue! It is far and away my best rod.

Yep....for me, there are 2 techniques in bass fishing. Frogging and "everything else". My home lake gets a ton of duckweed and slime every year. A lot of the regulars give up and go elsewhere at that point. Not me, Baby! That's when it gets fun for me. I'll sit out there until my shoulder can't throw a frog anymore and then I'll walk a spook along the edges. At 50 years old, it's ALMOST better than sex for me. ?

Frogging is one of the only things about this sport I can honestly say I'm pretty good at. Frogging can be VEERRY frustrating when you are starting on it. It's all about timing and feel. I do what I call combat frogging. I throw into heavy slop and wood, and duck weed and twitch it out. There is nothing finesse about. No walking or anything like that. When a blow up happens or you hear what sounds like a toilet flushing, your first instinct is to set the hook. You will miss that fish 99% of the time if you do. You must wait until you can feel the fish. Could be up to 2 seconds which is an eternity in that situation. Also, a lot of times the fish is trying to stun the frog and won't actually take it. I've had fish knock my frog 5 or 6 feet in the air. They will also miss it a lot of the time. If you set the hook in that case you are liable to get a frog stuck back in your forehead or groin. Bad deal. It's a technique that requires a LOT or practice, IMHO, to get good at but hot d**n is it worth it. It is to me, anyways

Totally understand, Brother. My take wasn't criticism. It's one of the few times in my life I DID take advice. I wanted one real bad and would have had the same problems. I was NOT GOOD with it when I started and would have wound up throwing it in the lake.

Pfleuger President. You'll never buy another one

Real old school here. Lazy Ikes and Hellbenders. Don't throw either a lot but they both catch fish Same goes with Jitterbugs and Hulapoppers. The H&H are my favorite spinnerbaits

Too late now but this, my friends, is why I took the advice of NOT buying a baitcaster during fishing season. Who wants to learn this while they are actively trying to fish? I couldn't imagine too many thing more frustrating. Buy baitcasters at the END of the season and you have all winter to get good at it. By the time spring rolled around, I was an old pro. Just my .02.

and you just made the best argument of them all for using a fast reel when frogging. All my biggest bass have been caught frogging with my PB being 9.3 lbs. 3 years ago TODAY, I hooked one that was bigger. She took off against full drag like it wasn't even there but then turned and came at me. I couldn't reel fast enough. She jumped, gave me a little wink with a twinkle in her eye and spit the frog. Then I was using a 6:3. Now I use an 8:1. She still haunts my dreams. Call me Ishmael.

Turn off all brakes and open tension knob wide open. Tie a 1 oz weight on your line. **** it, lock it, and cast it as hard as you can. You're welcome. *notice....do not do any of the above*

The Speed will keep your fish from going down but if it does then it doesn't really matter what reel you have. At that point your rod is the most important part of your arsenal. That reel ain't gonna drag any fish out of 40 lbs of muck.

Stik o's are pretty much the ONLY thing I buy at BPS these days. I get a couple of 50 counts in Green Pumpkin and Blue/Black before the season begins and I'm good to go