FrogTastic

Here he is.

Sorry for the long post. Also, do you think I should start a thread on catching big bluegills? That pond has produced plenty of other big bluegills, which I regularly fish for, probably every other weekend, at least. None as big as 3.5 pounds though!

The story goes: I was in my neighborhood, right after I had moved south, checking it out and looking at the ponds. I had found plenty, most of which I wasn't allowed to fish in. There were four that really stood out though. One was a small, 1/4 acre ditch that was filled to the max with frogs and minnows - mosquito fish literally COVERED the top of this pond in the summertime. It held 20 bass, all averaging almost 1 pound. The next was a 2-3 acre pond, with deep, blue water. It had a sandbar in the middle, and drain pipes, which were home to dozens of spawning bass. Oh yeah, it had deep holes too - each held at least one good-sized bass. The next wasn't much - it was clear as the water in your bathtub, and held hundreds of bluegill, and a 4 pound bass. It was about an acre, and had a fountain. Not very good fishing. The last one was the one with the bluegill. It was the only one that said "no fishing", but the pond was too good to be true, so I had to fish it. I got permission from the landowner, and he said I could fish it, but I'd be wasting my time - "there's nothin' in there", he said. The pond had stained water, and went down to 10 feet or so. It had some turtles, and every few seconds, something would dart away from shore. So, I went down there with a basic tackle box, consisting of a few cranks, a half a dozen frogs, a buzzbait, some live bait gear, and a pack of night crawlers. First, I casted out a few crawlers on a live bait rig - puller out a 1-pound bass. It was alright, but then it slowed. I tried the buzzbait, only for it to be demolished by a turtle. After noticing the high population of turtles, I decided not to risk my frogs. The only thing I had left were my squarebills. So, after tying on a squarebill, I remember catching a 2.5-pound bass, and a 3 pound bass - all in 10 casts. Not bad! After a few more casts, I decided it was getting hot, buggy, and late. "The next cast will be my last", I said to myself. So I make a nearly perfect cast - right under a willow tree, right behind a deep hole, about 60 feet away. So, I start the retrieve, and then the crank got tapped. Not like something small hit it, like something big swam against it, but the hooks didn't penetrate the scales. I figured it was a turtle, but kept reeling. All of the sudden, the beast NAILS the bait, bringing it down to that 12-15 foot deep hole (aka it's evil lair). Meanwhile on shore, the drag on my reel is going crazy. I never measured how heavy the drag was. After a few good minutes of playing this monster, (I was using an ultra-light), he finally surfaces, exhausted. I pull him up to the shore, and nearly pass out. The landowner decided to come down to see if I was still there, and he came down right as I brought in the beast. After he was on shore, I had my cousin (who was fishing with me) go and get the biggest container she could find, plus all 3 of my aerators, and some fish food. While I waited for her to return, I held the fish in the water (I've never held anything tighter than that!), keeping it alive, but exhausted. Once she returned, the landowner had his pickup ready, and we filled the tub with water, placed the fish in, and placed the tub into his truck to bring it back to my house. We had him weighed at my house - 3 pounds, 7 ounces. We kept him for about a day, and right before my cousin went back home, we released him. And that's the story of the 3.5 pound bluegill.

I'll show a pic of the "bullgill" if someone can tell me how to upload a pic

Grrr... how do I upload pics?

Another incidental I've had would be countless turtles. Man, they're a pain. Ruin soft plastics, kill live bait, scratch up hard baits - biggest reason I lose lures.

I've actually yet to catch a pickerel. I have even targeted them before, to no avail. Used pork frogs, crankbaits, frogs (of course), spinnerbaits, topwaters - everything. No northerns either.

I once was fishing a spinnerbait in a farm pond (actually caught my PB there), and right as I casted, someone scared up some ducks. Next thing I know, I have my line wrapped a few times around the wing of a duck! That wasn't very fun. Have had bass stolen by gators too.

Hey all, I wanted to hear about some of your incidental catches. Like, the stuff you catch while fishing for bass, but not bass. My most notable was a 3.5 pound bluegill, who slammed a LIVETARGET pumpkinseed squarebill. I've also caught a bullfrog on a Spro frog before. Drew ~Catch 'em

Hey all, I recently got some extra ca$h from my job (tackle shop on the weekends!), and wanted to get some new terminal tackle, or rather, a box of it. I just wanted to hear some feedback on what stuff to include in it. I want an assortment of hooks, weights, etc that I can use to rig basically every plastic out there. Thanks a bunch, Drew ~Catch 'em

Thanks! Will try soon!

Hey all, Does anybody know of ANYONE who makes their own hollow body frogs? I have an idea of something that may work, but I won't be able to build that for a while (just bought some 20/0 circles - HUGE!). I've been searching for a while, but I can't find anyone who makes their own. My idea is: Make a wooden shape of a hollow-body frog, about the size needed Coat it plenty of times in liquid rubber, and let it dry Once it is dry, I will have to cut it down the belly, and then seal it back together (this will be a good time for placing hooks, weights, rattles, etc) I will build the original one with white rubber, and then use dyes to color it when it is finished Hopefully it works! Any ideas? Hook 'em up ~Drew

Hey all, I was wondering if anybody knew what topwater hard baits and buzzbaits Ish Monroe uses? Thanks! Also, does anybody know any other professionals who fish frogs a lot? I've only ever seen Ish.

Hi all, I was wondering if anybody had any recommendations for SUPER-realistic soft (and hard) baits. I have mostly fished frogs and lizards, because they look like something a bass would eat, rather than a creature or spinnerbait. So any recommendations would be great! Thanks, Drew

URGENT!!! Hi all, I need to know something ASAP for a school project. I'm sure everybody knows who Nick Creme was, the man who invented the original plastic worm and revolutionized bass fishing forever. What I need to know is either one of two things: How old was he when his worm was invented in 1949? How old was he when he died in 1984? Any legitimate answers are greatly appreciated! Thanks a lot!

Hey all, I was wondering what things people have seen bass eat. Not normal things, like shad or crawfish, but things that are more unusual, like sunfish/perch, catfish, snakes, frogs, etc. Coolest thing I ever saw was a bass literally jump onto land in the swamp while chasing a frog. I put him back in the water, amazed.

Anybody seen any cool molds on here? http://www.lurecraft.com/PLASITC-MOLDS/departments/33/

Yeah, TW just got some of those in. The hairy hawgs are $15 for five. Expensive as hell

Hey all, I was wondering if anybody knows of any cool soft baits. I have recently found the Mann's hardnose snake, which looks AWESOME. It would work great in a little swamp near my house. Any other suggestions? Preferably realistic lures, like lizards, frogs, snakes, baitfish, etc.

Wow, over 1 week and no replies?

Wow, over 1 week and no replies?

I didn't call anybody on here an idiot. All I did was simply state that rude/mean people don't bother me, just people with no common sense. The reason I didn't close this thread was because I don't mind people being mean, just people being stupid. Which there were none of.

Yeah, that would cost thou$and$ if I still owned every rod on there.

Thanks. Rude and mean people don't really bother me. Mostly idiots.

Thank you! Everyone else on this thread has either called me spoiled or made fun of me for having a lot of gear. This is not all the gear that I currently have, but all of the gear that I have EVER had for frog fishing. I probably own 5-8 of those setups now, and they are not used JUST for frog fishing. I fish Carolina rigs, drop shots, jigs, cranks, spinnerbaits - lots of other stuff. Frogs are just my preferred lure of choice. Most of the rods on here are sold already. And, does it seem likely that I would've bought every one on there? Most of those have either been with gift cards, or for my birthday/Christmas. Thank you, BassinLou, for actually taking interest in this thread, rather than using it to make fun of me. Yes, I do understand that the thread was long and somewhat pointless, but I wanted to give my 2 cents on good gear for frog fishing.