buzz frog bite is on and i'm comfortable with my ribbit rigged on a 5/0 horny toad screw lock, so it's a fairly light set up to be throwing with 55 lb braid, and distance is lacking. also my line comes to a violent halt during mid-cast because of how light it is. and i have experimented to no end with brake settings but distance suffers even more. so how low can i go, considering i'll be fishing in and around full blown lily pad fields? by the way i'm using a 7'6" H rod.

You don't have your reel adjusted properly and put some KVD line treatment on. After that learn to throw that lure with the heavy action rod. If you can't handle it, change to the Zoom Horny Toad, it weighs more.

I throw swimming frogs with 50, 65, and 80# braid with no problem.

yeah i feel pretty confident in my reel settings, i've had these reels for over 2 years now, i'm just going to have to try the line conditioner as i wasn't aware it worked with braid. and yes the horny toads are heavier but the ribbits cause a tad more turbulence and its a good option to have when the conditions warrant it. thanks wayne

You might try letting your line out behind the boat and reeling it back up. Sounds like it is digging into itself causing the bungee effect you're getting so letting it out and reeling it back up should make it lay right again. I'm sure there are ways to keep braid from digging into itself and causing this problem to start with but I'm not sure how to prevent it! I don't smaller line is your answer here though.

I've got to go with Wayne. What you're describing is your reel isn't set correctly for the bait.