I have tried the Sumo Frog at a couple weedy urban lakes with no success--that is no strikes except from a couple 6 inchers tugging the legs. Both times, I was fishing overcast days from 10ish to 12ish, and was casting the frog past, onto, and in front of the weed patches. I was working it both rod up and rod down with a jerk bait twitch, twitch, pause retrieve--do you frog masters do tip up or down? I sometimes just let it sit there for a while. I didn't think brightness was an issue due to heavy overcast. Is it a time of day thing or what? Any tips?


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It seems to me that the frog bite at these small lakes is an early morning or late afternoon deal.

The other day when I got some quality fish on the frog, it was at first light. As I said, the carp were thrashing the grass, moving everything from bass, bluegill and fry around. I think the bigger bass took the opportunity to feed on all the displaced food. I didn't catch the fish in the middle of the grass patches, but off on the edges. They weren't really relating to the grass, but I needed a bait that could chug through it when necessary. On other trips I have caught frog fish early in the morning along the banks, nowhere even near any grass. The frog is just a nice topwater bait that moves and displaces water without seeming too unnatural. Plus you can cast it onto the bank and flop it into the water without fouling the hooks.

The late afternoon bite is more of a grass related bite. The hotter the day, the more likely you'll find fish in the grass. These bass may be lounging in the shade of the grass, or actively feeding in it. The important thing is that the grass provides a structure that bass will use when there really isn't any other structure around(like on park lakes). Cloudy or rainy days won't help pinpoint bass into the grass, they are more prone to be roaming around. Maybe a good time to throw soft jerkbaits or buzzbaits on those kind of days.

Oh, and I always twitch my frog with the rod tip down. When I've fished frogs with my rod tip up, I sometimes pull the bait away before the bass gets it. Another thing, Power Pro braid 30 or 50 pound test will cut right through that grass when you hook up.

Braid is definitely the key, i fish both ways w/ my rod tip up or down. I usually work em w/ moderate speed until i hit a open pocket, then i let it sit on the edge of a bit, then slowly drag it into the hole. Stuck a solid 6plus at the same pond CJ got his frog fish using hat technique. Were you at the gestapo late David or at Yorba? You should really try froggin the Gestapo pond, chris and i were talking about how awesome that place is, you can catch frog fish that rival the fish you'd catch at the bigger lakes. take care.

Tsunami

Gestapo Pond...LOL. Sounds like that nickname is official. That is where I was today and the few guys I talked to were nice kids. I tried the other one a few days back. The comment CJ made about cloudiness I shoulda remembered--duh. Cloudy--they roam cause it's safe, sunny--they hold tight to cover. Getting old and memory is slipping...Thanks for the info guys.

Big Hammer Swimbaits-Hammerhead Jigheads
www.swimbait.com
Pro-Cure Scents
www.pro-cure.com

The other guys pretty much hit it on the head, as usuall, but theres a few things to think about next time you want to fish a frog. Nothing special at all, but first off, if you are fishing on thick mats, or even making a long cast into a shallow cut, you can fill your frog with water to make it much heavier. This will displace the grass alot more and you can cast it a country mile, instead of a regular mile:).

And another deadly technique for the frog, especially at smaller ponds with tulies, is to actually flip the frog in the tulies from the bank. You can actually sometimes get your feet wet when they blowup 2 feet from your feet. Just hold your rod out over the tulies and drop the frog down, a couple twitches and its on, or make another flip. I railed them at Laguna Niguel the other night doing this.

Definately an early morning and late evening thing at the smaller lakes and ponds. At Laguna Niguel the othre night, we only had like 2 bites from 5:30-7, and then between 7 and 7:30, we put 4 fish in the boat and missed 6 more. Then we brought the boat back in and walked the shore a bit. FUN STUFF, cant get much better then getting bit on the frog.

Cam

Cameron,

When you fill the frogs with water, do you silicone it to keep it in? I've been doing that, works good. Also, I like to stuff a big glass rattle in em before I seal it off.

Good point about the tules, its really one of the only baits that you can fish deep in the tules with. If you got the line to get away with it, you can just cast it up into the tules and twitch it around when it finds the water. Wasn't that what Art and Todd were doing at Otay earlier in the year at the tournament you won Cam? They finished 2nd doing it, and had some real nice fish. Something to think about when the fish are stuffed in thick in the tules.

Take Care,
Kellen

Thats what Art sad he was doing, but I saw him alot that day, and he wasnt fishing frogs, or even that close to the tulies. I think there was something else going on there, but who knows. I know I have slammed them there doing that. I actualy left about 6 of them just hanging in the tulies one tournament because I couldnt get them out and I coudlnt get in to them. The braided line works great, but if it gets in the cracks in the tulies, (like 10 at the same time, which happens often when fishing deep into the tulies) you just cant move the line at all, it completely binds up. In that particular tournament, those fish were deep back in the tulies and I only landed one out of 7 fish hooked. It went about 6, but so did most of the other ones I lost. Its funny seeing a big fish like that all the way out of the water just hanging up against the tulies. After about 10 seconds, they would finally flop off and find their way back into the water and I would end up either ripping out like 20 tulies or actually breaking the 65lb power pro. Its amazing how strong tulies can be when you put a few together. To bad theres no more water in the tulies now :(


Cam

Yeah tules suck when you get buried in em. But sometimes ya gotta go in there after em. So no water in the tules there anymore? I havn't been there since that tourney. I was at Murray messing around on Wednesday, and the water is WAY up there. The tule lines are like islands, you can almost fish both sides of em. And for the first time, they were really up in em. It was fun for Murray.

Yeah I had my doubts about what Art was saying too. I have to give him the benefit of the doubt, because I only saw him once. In the morning, he was up in the tules though. When he was prefishing though, he was nailing 4 lbers throwing senkos on the spawning flats in about 12 feet. So, thats a possibility.

From what I have heard, its still dropping from where it was at for our tourney. It was dropping fast then, so they could very well be dry. Open water frog bite now:) I am sure theres still some spots that have fish in the tulies, but I bet by now, most of them are out suspended, chasing shad. Shoots, we caught busting fish in the last tourney there.

I will find out Sun. I have a tourney there, right after the El Cajon Night tourney too. Damnm, hope I can make it to Otay in time for the meeting. With weigh in a 3 am on Sun. morning, it might be hard to be at Otay by 4:45. Especially if we win or finish high up in the Money. Oh well, I'll do what I can to make it there, and I should!!!

Hey, I'm no frog master, but I do know this. When lakes drop, the frog bite suffers. Fish pull out from under the shallow froggy mats when it drops too much. Used to happen at Margarita quite a bit. The few times when there was stable water in the summer when it was hot, the frog bite was the best.

A couple of years ago I was fishing the Delta with Mike Reynolds. He was the first to show me the open water frog bite. He would cast the frog up against the tules and let it slide down them into the water. He said that if you were to cast the frog and let it splat directly on the water, the bass would run for cover, but if you could glide it in like that you'd have a chance. Sure enough, he got some nice fish that hit the bait seconds after it slid in next to the tule patches. He told me that he'd rarely get a "second chance" if they'd miss the bait, unlike grass mat fishing, so patience on striking the fish was important. The Delta gets these nice tidal troughs along the tule banks that these bass will lay up in, even on a low, slack tide day like we were fishing. This particular trip was in May, so the grass had not really began growing to the surface yet. I've since been able to get on open water frog bites all over So Cal.
Anyhow, the falling water(tidal,or whatever) will reposition fish, but frog fishing may not totally go away. Gotta get to the Delta this summer!!!!!