For me, it depends what lake I'm fishing. One of the three that I frequent, I leave my topwaters at home. I wasted hours throwing every kind, including hollow body frogs, with little to show for my efforts.

On the other two, it's lights out for the HBF, mainly because of all the vegetation. I don't seem to do well over open water with them though.

My lake a frog is one of the most productive baits. River system and shallow reservoir with lots of pads. Some days are better than others but I’d bet 90% of boats have one tied on throughout the post spawn, summer, and fall.

My hookup ratio has improved with timing and the right setup. On blowup I reel down and set the hook. You can’t be too quick or wait too long. There’s def a sweet spot. I use the expride XH and 50lb braid. Most throw a padcrasher.

Frog fishing is pure heaven down here in south Florida. If you ease a frog off the pads and kinda plop it into the water it’s going to get annihilated, usually by a fish 5lbs and up. I like to use a lot of other lures, too, but the frog is a form of fishing that’s almost three-dimensional because you can fish it anywhere, any place, day or night, and in any of the thickest stuff imaginable, all of which require different retrieves. Thought patterns change constantly when fishing a frog. The mind visualizes the scene and attempts to create a very desirable target. A lot of other lures can get pretty darn boring and methodical, casting and casting and casting….but a frog, oh, no, they can keep things very exciting!

My highest success rate with HBF is a soft body (Scum Frog) and slightly bending the hooks up. Bend them just enough where they are resting on the body, not pushing into it like "factory" and not too far where it hangs up on everything.

As for conditions I've caught them frequently in just about all conditions but the best has been when its humid enough to have my bubble trails stay after a retrieve. Saw that tip from Fish The Moment years ago and that's one of the few that has held up for me.

40 minutes ago, Zcoker said:

Frog fishing is pure heaven down here in south Florida. If you ease a frog off the pads and kinda plop it into the water it’s going to get annihilated, usually by a fish 5lbs and up. I like to use a lot of other lures, too, but the frog is a form of fishing that’s almost three-dimensional because you can fish it anywhere, any place, day or night, and in any of the thickest stuff imaginable, all of which require different retrieves. Thought patterns change constantly when fishing a frog. The mind visualizes the scene and attempts to create a very desirable target. A lot of other lures can get pretty darn boring and methodical, casting and casting and casting….but a frog, oh, no, they can keep things very exciting!

Grew up the first 33 years of my life in west central Florida. I still struggled with a frog there too. Just not my thing I suppose

It seems like you started the thread asking people to help you with the frog - it seems like mostly you’re struggling to “have fun” tossing it - which makes sense. With no success or real frame of reference - it’s really hard to know confidently if we are giving a frog a fair shake or if we need to make one of a million adjustments so I’ll clear the air with advice that can at least make throwing it less of a chore and more of a part of a “healthy rotation” of baits.

I think the advice to go slow with a frog is very discouraging early on because we picture these super long arduous retrieves where one Cast takes up half our day and we don’t catch anything.

That’s not necessary or exciting or efficient with any bait category until you’re on a lot of fish that are eating it well so don’t punish yourself!

Instead of overdosing on boring - micro dose the frog in nice areas for it throughout the day and I challenge you to work it slower and more methodically but in a very small area and then quickly retrieve and make another cast. When probing with a frog I’m generally not spending 15 minutes slowly fishing it in a corner - I’m casting it at a log or a stump or under some shade - twitching it gently or popping it a few times and making it walk in place a bit and maybe moving it 3 feet out from the cover or so and then if I don’t see any action or get bit - I reel it in and make a different cast and do the same quick and efficient little thing maybe popping more or walking more / varying things subtly - but not spending more than a few seconds on a cast - and then if it ain’t happening - I don’t get my feelings hurt - I pick up a different rod and try something else.

Eventually you’ll find the frog fish that you’re looking for when you’re more methodical and intentional and efficient and less trying to force it and making it a painful chore.

Just something to consider because it is fun and I know the rewards will probably be well worth the minimal effort (once you get this little “microdose the frog in good areas” deal rolling)

I’m of the opinion that locking a frog rod in your hand for a whole day is actually a horrible way to learn a frog because I fish a frog enough to know that just isn’t going to be efficient or very successful even.

Sometimes I find the fish with a worm or jig and catch the biggest fish with a quick cast back to the cover with a frog before leaving - not necessarily making the frog “my focus “

It’s better to think of the frog as like a jig on the surface like fish a small area you expect to get a bite for a few seconds and then reel in and fish another target. Don’t try to catch fish on frogs “on the retrieve” - that can be effective but accounts for very very few of my frog bites.

I’d say 90% of my frog fish bite on the first twitch next to a great target. Not really a slow technique once you kinda grasp that (which comes from success)

Picking it up is just like a couple seconds of target casting and then you can put it back down.

This is all just if you want to maybe make it more fun and keep trying it - if you are resolved to putting it down - do that. I mean life is long - I just try to stay open to everything because it doesn’t take much hammering fish with anything to make them stop biting it around here and it’s usually only a matter of time until my favorite bait this week is something they are conditioned to.

I like frogs and worms and jigs and stuff like that because once you get pretty good at fishing them - they are pretty close to fishing pressure proof.

Excellent!

OP

Read paragraphs 4&5 again of @Pat Brown last reply.

Mike

For me they are right with the whopper plopper, a good bait to leave home.

1 hour ago, Joedodge said:

Grew up the first 33 years of my life in west central Florida. I still struggled with a frog there too. Just not my thing I suppose

Nothing wrong with that. Gotta go with what you like or with what works best for you. Sometimes, though, I may not like something but I still learn how to use it to get the job done. Fishing lures, rods, reels and so forth are nothing but tools. How we use those tools is a matter of choice as well as skill. What works for one may not work for the other but, regardless of our selection, it still may be very effective, like the frog is.

I think Pat nailed it, and I'd like to add one thing to all that successful froggin' info above...... and I'd be interested to hear other's thoughts on this as well.

When using a frog I think our delayed reaction to setting the hook should be a tad bit longer. Maybe a 3 count after fish takes the frog off the surface and turns to head back down deeper with it.

If one tries to set the hook immediately might pull the frog out of the fish mouth. But with a frog give the fish just a tad longer with it before setting the hook.

Thoughts on this?

I/3 of the time I"m to slow with the hookset, 1/3 of the time I'm to quick and the other third I'm right on.

I love froggin. One of the times I use braid. I really like the Bobby’s perfect frog by Snag Proof i wait till I feel em on then set the hook if I don’t pull it away from them first. Fish a lot on open water too.

Bending hooks out is a must for frogs or you’ll miss like every single one that bites. They’re still plenty weedless - the hooks point up and aren’t in the water. If the hooks are pointing back into the frog - hardly a way for them to get any mouth meat!

One thing I’ve observed in every good frog fisherman lately is when they get hit the FIRST thing they do isn’t reel DOWN into the bite they actually lift UP to about 9 o clock AS they reel slack and then if the line is starting to tighten up (fish has it) they complete the Hookset with a firm UPWARD swing to behind their shoulder.

You can’t reel down and swing sideways - you’ll miss every single one that bites.

Slack line management throughout the retrieve can help but you’ll pull the frog away from fish that are almost ready to eat it but smacking it - lifting the rod to 9 o clock while reeling quickly gets you In position no matter what the fish is doing AND if she drops it you are still in the strike zone.

This is what guys who feed their families do with the frog.

I’m working on it right now.

1 hour ago, Joedodge said:

Grew up the first 33 years of my life in west central Florida. I still struggled with a frog there too. Just not my thing I suppose

Nothing wrong with that. Gotta go with what you like or with what works best for you. Sometimes, though, I may not like something but I still learn how to use it to get the job done. Fishing lures, rods, reels and so forth are nothing but tools. How we use those tools is a matter of choice as well as skill. What works for one may not work for the other but, regardless of our selection, it still may be very effective, like the frog is.

1 hour ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

If one tries to set the hook immediately might pull the frog out of the fish mouth. But with a frog give the fish just a tad longer with it before setting the hook.

Thoughts on this?

I nail ‘em as soon as I see the splash, just like I do with most topwater lures. Rarely loose a fish, either, so I’ve never really thought about it. Hot topic, though. Often the fish in my area are so aggressive and bite down so hard, they ain’t lettin nothing go!

I fish a frog way more than I should with our limited places we have than they're really effective at. The bites they get are just much bigger than other topwaters on average. I fished one quite a bit last night in our Tuesday night tournament and never had a bite. The confidence is just always there for me.

On 6/9/2026 at 9:33 AM, MassYak85 said:

Such an underrated bait. Extremely weedless, can bring it over the top of the really thick stuff and then drop it into holes and let it flutter. Works pretty well even in open water just straight retrieve and then letting it fall and die it acts like a weedless flutter spoon.

I should add that if you do use the Silver Minnow you should definitely sharpen the hook. The gold plating leaves the hook with a dull point.

1 hour ago, the reel ess said:

I should add that if you do use the Silver Minnow you should definitely sharpen the hook. The gold plating leaves the hook with a dull point.

The hooks suck lol, but I'll take the tradeoff. I usually step up to a heavy power rod if I'm fishing them.

1 hour ago, Pat Brown said:

Bending hooks out is a must for frogs or you’ll miss like every single one that bites. They’re still plenty weedless - the hooks point up and aren’t in the water. If the hooks are pointing back into the frog - hardly a way for them to get any mouth meat!

One thing I’ve observed in every good frog fisherman lately is when they get hit the FIRST thing they do isn’t reel DOWN into the bite they actually lift UP to about 9 o clock AS they reel slack and then if the line is starting to tighten up (fish has it) they complete the Hookset with a firm UPWARD swing to behind their shoulder.

You can’t reel down and swing sideways - you’ll miss every single one that bites.

Slack line management throughout the retrieve can help but you’ll pull the frog away from fish that are almost ready to eat it but smacking it - lifting the rod to 9 o clock while reeling quickly gets you In position no matter what the fish is doing AND if she drops it you are still in the strike zone.

This is what guys who feed their families do with the frog.

I’m working on it right now.

Until this thread I never thought or knew to bend the hooks I must have 4 different frogs at home that I’ve never bent the hooks on

25 minutes ago, MassYak85 said:

The hooks suck lol, but I'll take the tradeoff. I usually step up to a heavy power rod if I'm fishing them.

Yeah, my frog rod is a XH/XF

2 hours ago, Joedodge said:

Until this thread I never thought or knew to bend the hooks I must have 4 different frogs at home that I’ve never bent the hooks on

That depends on the frog.

Some of the most popular here are “hard” soft body frogs.

I only use the original Scum Frog and never had a reason to bend them out.

I do touch them up out of the box once in a while tho.

Mike

@Pat Brown Pat said; "I think the advice to go slow with a frog is very discouraging early on because we picture these super long arduous retrieves where one Cast takes up half our day and we don’t catch anything."

You got to find em first. When looking, I just reel the frog across the mat. If there are fish there they will show themselves and then you can spend time working the area. They ain't everywhere and you will waste time and get discouraged by trying to catch fish where there are none. Even "The Deity" can't catch bass where they ain't.

Many times there are groups of bass under a mat. I wouldn't call it a school, but 3-5 in an area. Although I have caught 20-30 in a small area (I would call that a school!).

A hollow body frog is in my top 3 favorite/most productive techniques. It’s more versatile than most think. I use them in just about every shallow water situation from slop, to pads, to docks, and overhanging trees. The number one key about them is that you can keep it in the strike zone for a long time, which can be hard in super shallow water. You can walk a frog without moving it forward hardly at all. I fish mostly up north where there are a ton of pike and pickerel. If I’m missing fish on a frog 99 times out of 100, it’s a gator face. The bass rarely miss unless it’s in super thick stuff (which you can usually go back over the blow hole and get bit again). It’s a big fish bait and I rarely downsize. Spro 65 is my fav but there are a lot of good ones out there. Toad Thumpers are nice, swamp lords are ok but tend to roll a little, agree the Kaera is good for a smaller profile, and booyahs are decent.

Whoever recommended scum frog - those are the easiest frogs to hook fish on! I have a ton of confidence in the “bass rat” which has a round bend lighter wire hook and a thinner profile but still casts well. I have caught 30 fish in an hour on one and you almost don’t even have to set the hook with them. They also have an ingenious design that vents water through and they basically never sink. And they’re good people - small American company. Also very affordable frogs in today’s market and seem to last many fish for me.

For skipping back under trees and overhangs the Copper Red Baits Wave Frog is second to none but you gotta bend the hooks out a touch with those and set the hook more like you mean it. Spro Bronzeye 65 and Scum Frog Launch and the Bobby’s Perfect are all excellent for this as well.

For open water the Spro Pop 60 is king in my world. Scum Frog popping trophy and the Copper Red Baits Loud Mouth are great also.

For heavy mats - I like the big frogs - king daddy/tsunami/pop 90 etc

Ahhh...don't give up. Here's some good info......

About the only time I have luck with a frog is when I'm fishing heavily matted ponds, and those ponds have not seen a lot of frog fishing pressure. Most of the time I will be fishing with a popper, walking bait, or a Jitterbug.