I Am Going To Try Some Frog Slop Fishing Soon, Maybe Tomorrow

[Jerry Rapp]

the little lake I like to fish in the winter is basically now ringed by weeds and slop (pond scum). I am going to rig a rod with 50lb braid and a seven foot composite rod and throw some frogs and horny toads. Any suggestions to try to improve hook up ratios? My past experiences with frogs is about a 10% hook up.

[Nick Williams]

Hesitate before you set the hook. My biggest problem when fishing hollow bodies is that I'll get so excited when a fish slams it that I will rip it right out of their mouth. When I can give a second to let them actually grab the frog I will usually hook up. Of course, I haven't ever used any frogs except the hollow bodies, so I can't give much advice there. The hollow bodies are insanely weedless. Vary your retrieve and make some pauses on the thick parts of weeds. Have some fun though, I am jealous.

[stlfisher]

I'd always wait until I actually felt the fish or I saw my line move off before I set the hook. If you are using a horny toad and the fish aren't busting on top try lettin it sink a bit and slowly swimming/twitching it back....works great for me in small ponds when the fish won't hit it on the surface. Only works with a horny toad and is best used in shallow water. Or you can carolina rig it as well.

[MOsmallies]

If you're fishing a hollow bodied frog like a Spro Bronzeye or something similar, try bending the hooks up slightly so they're not pointing into the body of the bait. I also trim the skirted legs a little bit.

Good luck and post some pics!

[Jerry Rapp]

getting ready to head out and try it this afternoon, the rain has petered out before it got here, but it is cloudy with a nice breeze and actually below 90 degrees.

[Nick Williams]

getting ready to head out and try it this afternoon, the rain has petered out before it got here, but it is cloudy with a nice breeze and actually below 90 degrees.

Sounds just about perfect!

[hoglaw]

Yes, bend the hooks up a little on the hollow body frogs. I've never had too much of a problem with hook-ups on horny toads and find them to be about the same as any topwater bait. They do make a little stinger hook for them though. Girlfriend and I caught some serious slop donkeys last Friday. I told her she couldn't break the braid no matter how hard she tried and to get nasty on these fish. Then my knot failed so she won big fish by default. Man I love that kind of fishing.

[Jerry Rapp]

fished about 2.5 hours, they bit the frog ok for the first 30 minutes but then the clouds gave way. Caught 4 on the frogs, nothing over 2 lbs. I had 3 strikes and caught 2. Thanks for the tips! We did back off into the channel and caught several on worms, again nothing big, but we can do that all winter. Sun came out and started getting hotter and we both had committments this evening so we came home. Will try again soon some early morning.

[rps]

Hardest thing in the world to do -> When fishing a top water (frog, spook, fin, popper), reel until you feel the fish before you "set the hook."