Jaderose

People on HERE are causing you grief? Good lord....You're a rock star here. You are old enough and experienced enough to know how good you are. That's not ego, just fact. A better way to look at it may be to realize that anyone that is causing you grief isn't worthy of having an opinion that matters to you. It would be like some 3rd string rookie giving Tom Brady a hard time...lol. "Whatever, kid"

I smash barbs on all my hooks...except frogs. No friggin way

I finally broke down and bought some of the Powerbait Pitboss. I'm sure they're fine but I sure want the Havoc back

This. I'm pretty methodical. I'll pick apart an area for an hour before I move on. I've been on the back deck with a run & gunner and am usually miserable. Life is too short to be unhappy while you are fishing, for goodness sakes.

I was being a little negative when I said that the advice of giving a 2 count is nonsense. When I first got into froggin years ago, it was exactly that advice that made me understand that the key to success is timing. Like anyone new to doing something, I was not very good. See blow up, set hook, right? Someone told me about the "2 count" and it made me wait. Usually too long but it slowed me down. Then I started paying attention to what I was feeling on the end of the line and things just sorta came together. I used to play a little golf. Was and am terrible at it and don't really care as I'm not particularly interested in it, but I do remember how it felt when I made a good swing and heard and felt that little *click* of a well hit shot. Exactly the same feeling when you get your timing dialed in with a frog. I still have days when I'm "off" and always will, but I will throw frogs until the day my shoulder gives out or they chuck me in a hole

Do you modify them? I personally have never seen any reason to bend the hooks out any or trim the "legs" any but I think that has more to do with HOW I'm fishing them. This isn't finesse I'm doing. I call it "combat fishing"...lol. I doubt most of the time whether the fish can actually see ANY of the frogs I'm throwing. They are attacking action. I have bent out the hooks before and they pick up more sludge.

I, too, have the OG Tatula 7'4 Frog Rod. I can't imagine using anything else, frankly. I treasure that rod while simultaneously working the hell out of it. Currently mounted on it is a BPS JM Signature 7.5:1. I have never really liked that reel for frogging and it's also oddly large so when my first frog splats on a mat this year, it will be brought back in by a Revo Rocket. I almost exclusively throw Scumfrog Trophy Series unless I need to upsize and then I throw a Spro King Daddy. If I need to downsize, I throw a Pad Crasher Jr. with the legs GONE. Not shortened, but gone. I target HEAVY slop and scum mats, preferably with lots of stumps and laydowns. Give me the NASTY stuff and I'm a happy boy. On a good day I will come home filthy and that crap will be everywhere! If it's lighter stuff or has openings, I'll throw a toad on a VMC Drop Dead hook and let the toads flutter down in them holes. My fishing day is usually cut in half. Morning consists of regular fishing. From about noon on...Frogging. Those fish don't like that direct sun anymore than we do so they gotta go somewhere, right? Those mats make pretty good shade and if you can target some shade on those mats? Even better! I'll start on a fresh scum field by making some fan casts with a pretty quick retrieve just to see if anyone is home. You can listen for bluegill sucking up bugs and also for any actual frog activity. Sometimes I'll cast close to shore to see if I can lure any frogs to chase MY frog out in the water. I want a LOT of activity going on to turn those big girls on. If I believe there is some action to be had I'll start target casting. If that target is in relatively open water, I'll do a pretty high arc cast and let that Scumfrog come down with the *splat* that only it seems to have. and then I wait. I'll let that frog sit there for up to 30 seconds and then give it the slightest twitch. That's USUALLY when the blowup happens. If not I begin my retrieve. Chug, chug, pause. Twitch, twitch, chug, chug, pause. When the blow-up happens, I set the hook firmly, BUT, I do not try to tear off her head. Here's why....1.) I keep my hooks sharp so there is no need to. 2.) Frogging success is about timing. You'll hear to give a 2 count or whatever but that is nonsense. When you spend countless hours frogging you learn instinctively what the right timing is PER FISH. Each one is different. You will still miss. I miss hooksets all the time but if I'm swinging for the fences with each one, that frog is coming back at me like a missile. I could get hurt and most importantly, I just took my bait away from a fish I KNOW IS THERE. All that scum levels up the playing field, imho. All that fish knows is something she was trying to eat is no longer there but instead of being gone, has just moved a few feet away. After a little pause, I give it a twitch. BOOM! A second chance! I rarely miss twice...lol. I should say that every year starts with a realignment of my muscle memory. I still have it but it's rusty. I've figured out that I'm usually right as rain by Father's Day. That's usually about when the frogging gets really good here in NOWEMO anyway. Does any of this make sense? I wrote this pretty much stream-of-consciousness.

My gear needs to feel like an extension of my central nervous system for me to enjoy using it. Looks have virtually nothing to do with it.

as one of the resident frogging enthusiasts (notice I didn't say "expert." I know better than that), this is normally where I would say go for speed. BUT...if you are not fishing heavy mats and are not looking for super long bombs, you can't really go wrong with virtually anything that feels good in your hand. At that price point just pick one. I would still go for a little higher speed in case you get tempted by the gnarly stuff. Also, because there is nothing sadder (in fishing) than setting a frog hook on a big ol girl and have her take off away from you only to switch direction suddenly and come TOWARDS you and not be able to take up the slack quick enough and have her jump, wink at you with a gleam in her eye, and spit the hook. Not that I would know anything about this very specific scenario. ? ps...your 30lb braid is fine. I fish the gnarliest of the gnarly and I use 40. Never seen any reason to go higher

I've purchased exactly one rod online. I HATED it. There was absolutely nothing wrong it, I just didn't like the feel of it, the action of it, or really anything about it. That mistake will not be made again.

I can't imagine caring what other people think of me bass fishing. Most around here (NOWEMO) catfish. Not my thing but hey....it doesn't need to be!

I got a bunch of lipless in all makes and flavors but the winners for me are Traps in Chrome/Blue, Chrome/Black, Red Chrome, and Cordell in Royal Shad. 9.9 times out of 10, one of those is tied on.

Good Lord...thanks. I'm honored to even get a consideration in this company! I suspect the lesson you would get is how to keep doing futile tasks over and over again for hours!

I wear a lightweight mechanics glove on my left hand to help with my grip due to some minor nerve damage in my left arm. Helps me hold the rod and fish. No bass thumb is an added bonus.

Obviously, I love to fish for the same reasons everyone else does but here's another reason. The little lake I fish has a couple of creek channels that run off of it. You can get back in there quite a ways. Every spring, one of the banks of one of those channels is absolutely riotous with blooming trees and wildflowers. It's beautiful. It is completely inaccessible to anyone without a boat and even a bigger boat would be dicey. In the grand scheme of things, not a lot of people have witnessed it. Not sure this will make sense to anyone but it reminds me every year that nature does not need us to function or even be beautiful. It just is and would continue to be exactly that way if we weren't here. In fact, it would be better off. It's humbling and pretty great.

I know and my post wasn't meant to be taken very seriously. My lake is not big and I can fish the whole thing in a day. It is NOT the norm...just my norm

Lol..do you guys fish new lakes every time you go out? I think I could navigate my home lake with my eyes closed and it's full of stumps. My first couple of outings every year are to learn what's new but for the most part I know every inch of that lake and have probably 20 points triangulated. I have no electronics on my boat

Oh yeah..there ain't no way. Mine is 12 miles and that's pushing it. Both literally and figuratively...lol. But Holey Moley do I enjoy it while I'm eating it. With plenty of malt vinegar.

Every once in awhile, my brain will say..."Hey..you know what we haven't had for awhile? Stomach cramps and explosive diarrhea!" So it sends me to Long John Silvers. Tastes so good. Makes me feel SOOOOOO bad.

As I've gotten older, fast food of any kind makes me feel bad. Sluggish, bloated and just plain bad. I still eat it occasionally because I enjoy it as much as the next guy but it's increasingly not worth it.

Lol....that's Northwest Missouri in February. We don't actually have snow but South of me (Bluebasser's area) is getting pounded

In the 60's here yesterday. 6" snow and close to zero tonight.

I hunted when I was a kid in Southern Illinois. Did a lot of bird hunting with dogs (dove, pheasant, quail) and loved it. Would do it again if I ever had the chance. Tried deer hunting at around age 12. Shot a deer (poorly) and it took off. Followed the blood trail as long as I could and never did find it. That did not have a good effect on me as a kid. Deer hunters here in the Midwest are vital and God bless all of them for being a better shot than I am. Without man as the apex, deer populations would explode like giant rats.

I understand that and have nothing against it. No offense meant. I guess I was mostly talking about apex predator hunts or very large game like elephants or that kind of thing.

I do a lot of my frogging mid-day. Fish will get under those heavy scum mats for shade. If you can find one that is shaded by trees, even better. After awhile you learn how to read the water depth under those mats by sight. You can even see deeper water holes by looking at the mats. There's your targets. Don't bother asking how......just takes a LOOOOOOT of practice.