FishingGeekTX

I use something similar to the Zako segmented swimbait, paddletails, and this has been my favorite so far...doesn't add too much bulk or crazy extra vibration. I trim the tails a bit personally. (or legs, looks like a giant cricket). It's more bulky than some spinnerbait tails I bought, but less so than Zako/paddletails.

I just had a good experience with Siebert Outdoors, someone posted they had a July 4th sale. For people who fret over "perfection", it's worth looking at because you can customize exactly what you want, at what seems to be a lower cost than off the shelf lures. I got some jigs rigged up there to my liking (oddball colors), and that football/bladed (fogy) does look nice. I rigged some up, haven't fished them yet. The Grid Iron head looks like a combination football with a flat bottom side for help standing up, but retaining the football resistance to getting stuck. Intriguing as well. Since I won't be fishing as much this summer, I suspect I'll be tinkering with combos from their store just because monkeys and stuff. I'l go into Fall with a mountain of jigs I suspect ?

Odd to the point that it looks like an error in either technique or rating. KK says rating is good...crazy.

Your setup sounds appropriate. Light duty reel and a shorter, M-F will work fine. I threw half the day yesterday on a 6'8 M-XF (Mojo Bass) with a random reel (Lews hypermag), and had no issues with the gear. I couldn't bomb cast it, but it was accurate and well within the distance I needed. You can add a light nail weight if needed. It's basically topwater, and you can double that rod up for a lot of topwater duty too IMO. I recall reading about so tournament winner who put a swivel on the line a few feet down from the fluke to add some weight without interrupting the action...another option. (I don't like extra hardware personally). Just throwing that out there because he seemed to do quite well with it.

What lure rating are you looking for? I suspect it will mostly match its rating, it's gonna be a stout, stiff rod. If you look at the pro tournament speed demon series, their frog rod looks more appropriate at 1+oz. Bass series, at 1-4oz, that cuts out a lot of frogs from min rating and the average frog isn't 2 oz...not sure what they are doing there. It's like a short, medium swimbait rod. It certainly would be nice to hear from someone who has one. I checked Amazon questions and found that direct question to KK: Is the 7'-2" frog rod power rating of extra heavy and lure rating of 1oz-4oz correct? seems more like a swimbait rod. Answer: Hi there,Yes that is the correct rating for that rod. By KastKing Fishing Tackle Seller on June 1, 2018 Speed Demon Bass Series ($80) KRDCSTSD-72FR1 7'2" XH-F 1-4oz line 50-80# weight = 6.1 oz If that's on sale from $80, that's gonna be a steal...but not for froggin IMO. And KK says the rating is correct...so if you want a 1-4oz, it looks like it may be just that.

I'd get a decent MH-F combo if you're on a budget...lightweight rod that way at least it's easy on the body all day fishing. If you frog/jig heavy cover a lot, you could get a H-F or H-MF after that, so you could load it up with heavy braid. Otherwise, me, I'd probably just get another MH-F. Some people like to use a Moderate or moderate-fast taper for treble hook lures, but I don't enjoy soft tips personally.

No. I caught probably 70% of my fish this year on topwater. Frogs, buzzbaits, and my PB on a yozuri pencil (spook). So much fun that topwater. Didn't do much cranking this year, had a little lipless action one day but other than that, hasn't been a good option. Bladed jig has taken a few both swimming and jigged...a nice 6lbs jigged last week. Texas rig produced in some lakes, and in some cases I lost 1 plastic per fish...seems so wasteful. Jigs, I rarely lost this year but many did get hung and had to be worked out.

I should hope so. You can rig a full size one that way too, much of that is just tail and flappers. The bulk body is not all that long. If it will fit, it's not too big in that case. I have a reg brush baby rigged with a 4/0 right now, looks great to me.

You can find a number of 7' heavy rods at various price points, but if you want smaller there is als: Falcon has a dedicated frog rod: heavy christie frog rod at 6'11 ($200) Cashion 6'9 H-F ($180) (the MH goes up to 1oz, might be all you need) Personally I just went *lighter* on my big frog rod (from a Dobyn's Fury Mag Heavy that wears me out), which also resulted in shorter. I also plan on doing that with my swimbait rod. Lightest I can find that's reasonable. I got this for frogging (and if not I can re-purpose): HS-C-701H Okuma Helios traditional guides (CM is micro guides) 7' H-F You can find them around $120 at walmart..sometimes only the CM version. 4.4 oz (!) Tackle warehouse has them for $175-$185 I got the HS-CM-701H Monday, haven't fished it yet, but price/weight sold me.

Obviously this is just another guess: Have you set the brakes/tension appropriately for this new combo? SVS I believe requires you to both set the pins inside for the rough brake setting, and then adjust the dial for fine adjustment. I think they come all on? Not sure. On Metanium I think they say leaving all on is normal (it's only 4). If yours has 6, I'm not sure if that's the case. I set up reels casting roughly the same distance-- a far cast, but not hard/over-casted, and I try to go about the same distance, with no backlash. I screwed one up and it was harder to cast, and accuracy was terrible as a result. I would overcompensate for the harsh braking, and was casting harder than I should have, which ruined accuracy. A week later I re-did the brakes and low and behold, it casts like a dream, and without accuracy issues. Line differences (wiry/stiff line casts poorly) and lure/rod loading are the other two big accuracy issues I run into.

You have topwater, so fish mid and bottom with the next things you learn. Texas Rigged Soft Plastic (worm, craw, fluke, doesn't really matter). (bottom-mid water) White bladed jig with a matching small trailer, lightest you can cast (1/4-1/2oz). (mid to bottom) Fish bottom in a few styles with the texas rig (drag bottom, and hop bottom) Fish middle and bottom with bladed jig (cast and swim it back...alternatively cast and let it sink, hop it back with rod).

Yes, how do you get your jig unstuck from shore? In boats you go to the other side and it often comes free. Jigs get hung so often it seems. Based on that, I'd say either don't use braid or use a leader if you use braid so you can break that line and retie and keep fishing. You might lose many yards of braid otherwise if you have to cut when it's out far.

There's a lure like this that I was thinking of replicating in a larger version. I'll check flounder jig heads thanks. Ideally it would be fished with the hook standing up, it's the jig head that would be on the side...that was just describing the 90 rotation. I could just use a normal hook and add weights, just curious if it was easy or if there was something existing that I couldn't find. Thanks.

Another good argument for catch and release bass fishing (or any sport fish).

Question for people who are familiar with making swimbait jig heads. Is it possible to rotate the hook 90 degrees when molding a swimbait jig head? That is, when the hook is facing up as usual, the jig head orientation is on its side. To further clarify, orient the swimbait jig head normally as it would be fished (hook up, jig head upright like a fish swimming), then rotate the hook 90 degrees to the side, keeping the jig head the same position. Follow-up, how would you go about doing that if not? A quick google search showed no such jigs heads, but the search criteria and hits may be too low/obscure.

lol. nice Makes me want to throw a 10" swim bait!

Fishing mid-depth? Heavy spinner bait, 15' running crank, suspending jerkbait , swim jig. We fished some of those this year above brush files about 15 feet (20 foot depth) to good effect. No idea on temp though. An article that surfaces from time to time from Tom specifically on swimming a jig.

Tell that to my monkey, he doesn't hear it, he just keeps mashing "add to cart"

I took BigBass'nHarrison's advice and checked out Okuma at walmart. You can actually get an Okuma Helios Heavy (or X heavy), and it's supposedly 3.9 ounces. I ordered one last night. It's 7', and was around $120. At that price I figured what the heck.

Good question, I'm in the same boat. Hard to find rod weight data! My Dobyn's Fury Mag Heavy is 6.2oz and is very difficult to walk with. My Fury Heavy is 6.1oz, making them basically the same. So they don't appear to be light. Some of the reasons given for why a stout rod is needed is because of those big, double hooks that both have to penetrate in some cases...x2 difficulty...large hooks makes it harder..often a long cast and sometimes buried in weeds...there is a lot working against a frog hookset (not to mention the need to use heavy line and winching out of cover). Some frogs have thinner wire hooks, and you could rig a single hook lighter wire frog soft plastic..just some ideas if that was the issue. I'd be interested to hear how people who have fished both MH and Heavy+ report on fishing heavy frogs in slop.

What Tom said. Sunline is unlike U.S. lines, it is rated closer to break strength, but it's also got a smaller Diameter..so if you buy sunline, you buy much higher #test than you would buying a U.S. line. Now, after messing up twice, I check diameter vs Stren Original. If it's off, I re-calibrate and/or check interweb to confirm suspicion. My Defier just came in, it's 17lbs but is a 13lbs Stren Original diameter. My 13lbs defier is like 8lbs test I think, what a waste, should have sent it back. I may still now that I think about it. Same boat as you, you're not alone. And then Yo-Zuri got me the other way. I thought hey, it's Japanese, 6lbs will be 6lbs. Right? Wrong, it's higher diameter than the 8lbs rating on my BFS ultra-shallow spool and is useless. Ouch! If fishing line was ruined after some mild heat and water, well...I think the world would catch on pretty quick!

I got some pitbulls too after a guide showed them to me, cuts clean effortlessly, no tension needed. I had been using some of those braid clips everyone sells, the little semi-retractile...they are terrible over time. I also have a side cutter on my pliers that are at my hip, that works well too. If those super line scissors work well over time on braid, and dont' fray or need tension, that may be the way to go...sometimes I clip the lure eye which can create sharp edges...a big no-no. That's harder to do with scissors.

If I found the lure I throw two lures. The lure, and a secondary that's fished slower and/or in a different part of the water column or completely different presentation/action. If I'm still looking for the right lures, I generally throw appropriate lures for the area in the major types - top, middle, deep, some fast moving, some slow. Unless I'm dead certain fish are there, at this point, if no fish, I figure I'm in the wrong *locations*, and change those up. If still no fish, only then do I start trying random crazy colors and oddball lures. And I usually do that just to fish them some I assume at this point I just don't know where the fish are. Happened to me yesterday at a lake I have had this happen on before. I should have moved sooner rather than later, but I just knew they were up in the great bank cover, shady with trees and structure...I KNEW it! So I was trying lure after lure. They weren't there. I jigged the bladed jig deeper at a brush pile and a 6# hit it like a freight train. Ooops, time to go, I burned all my fishing time beating the banks. I'm having fun with 1/4 oz bladed jigs with a subtle trailer lately. I can fish them fast, or slow mid water, or I can stop and jig them. Really let's me quickly find fish rather than having to change up lures/reels. Lately I fish topwater + bladed jig, and I both swim and "jig" the jig, which gives me all three columns in 2 rods. But I still bring 5-6 so if I wanted a soft plastic or frog or crankbait, I can. So, typically 2-6 range.

I'm curious too. I replaced a pack of Senkos with them in my day box, because Senko's disintegrate as a hook enters them, it's absurd. I'll open them up tonight and rig one up if we don't hear anything

Here's my 2 cents: Video - is it normal to troll fast, towards your casted lures? That may spook fish and mess with retrieve, IMO. Consider slowing down, and cast broadsides. If you found fish, why not pause and work the area, fan 360, then move up to the next location that doesn't overlap, and repeat? If fish are clumping up, you want to be able to find those spots. If they are indeed all spread out, it is apprpriate to keep on the move but consider slower/broadsides? Maybe that's just a difference in trolling style. Coming out of cover to hit a lure puts a fish at risk. Coming to the surface, puts a fish at more risk (birds, etc.) Clear water and bright light, adds to that. Ideally an overcast day (look at cgolfs clouds!), and low light times, can improve the topwater bite. When fish are more easily spooked (clear water, bright sunny day), casting farther can help too. Lure: Why stick with one lure? If it's not putting fish in the boat, try something else. A different action (Slow popper, erratic walking, etc.) Color Size Video is a pretty area to fish, makes me want to go fishing!