I been wanting to try some toad lures, you know those soft plastic ones you rig with a EWG hook. But it dawned on me, it might just be getting kinda late for them.

 

How late do you throw frogs and toads?

 

What about a warm winter day, worth a shot?

This year in Missouri might be middle of November. Still hot and dry 

You can catch frog fish in water below 50° but I like over 50° and under 70° for a frog or really hot water also is fine.  Something about water that's 70-80 makes topwater not quite as good as when it dips below 70 or gets above 80.  Don't know why.

 

Generally speaking, this is the best time of year to throw topwater of any kind - tournaments this time of year are typically won on a topwater, even in the era of forward facing sonar.

 

Frog is my favorite way to catch bass - buzzing style baits are my other favorite. I like buzzbaits more than toads but toads work better to get bites overall more of the time.  Usually if they aren't chasing buzzers - the frog works and usually if the slow froggin doesn't work - buzzing something will.

So spring I won't throw a topwater till almost 60 degrees.  Fall, I'll throw it some places until low 50s, although not as many fish. The lake will normally tell me what time to quit. But fall is great for topwater with falling Temps and fish on the feed before winter. Can't catch fish on something unless you throw it. Get out there. Good luck

Thanks for the tips all.

 

I saw an Ott Defoe video where he said he throws a toad just about year round, even in open water. Similar to the way others would throw a paddletail grub. He said he does pretty good with it, and it's something that the fish probably don't see a lot.

My son asked me to go last Sunday and I passed, but he caught 16 including one 5 pounder, and a limit of 3.5 pounders on a white buzzbait .

Heck I don’t even fish buzzbaits anymore, I was in shock 🤣🤣🤣

All year. This is Florida. 🙂

The topwater bite starts and ends before you think it should.  Late Oct early November is one of the most consistent times to fish topwater.  I like buzzbaits and pencils over frogs in open water because of the hookup ratio, but in slop or cover a frog or toad is the way to go.  I like those stanley ribbit frogs, they hold up really well to pickerel and the head has enough mass to hold a cps or corkscrew without blowing out.   

Hard to tell, but these are the tip of a leopard frog's feet sticking out of a bass' throat that I caught in low 40* water a few years ago.

 

42* is the coldest I've caught them on a frog and I had a really good day in March one year on a frog in 45* water. They'll bite them in much colder water than most people think.

On 10/9/2024 at 9:53 PM, Bazoo said:

What about a warm winter day, worth a shot?

 

Down here somewhere around the middle of February we'll get a couple weeks of "warm" weather. This triggers an insane buzzbait bite. I substitute a Stanley Ribbit for the buzzbait. 

I caught my PB on a frog, late October (Michigan), windy, and rainy. All I threw that day was a frog and they were blowing up on almost every cast. I’d throw right back and they’d hit again. I only landed 4 or 5 in 3 or so hours, but the smallest was 2.4 and my PB was 5.4. It was one of those days I’ll never forget because of all of the action.

Thank you everyone for sharing!

 

Thank you bluebasser! That's awesome.

It's more about water temp than the air. But eventually, the water catches up. They simply won't be in a chasing mood. I just use them until they stop getting bites. In the spring they will get a few bites just before spawn. I'll actually start throwing a big Plopper before spawn because the bites are usually from big staging females. Here that means water in the high 50s to mid 60s. When they do stop getting bites I'll rig my frog rod with a heavy jig or lizard for a 1-2 punch on the jig-T rig.