What’s more exciting than catching bass on topwater baits? Nothing,
it’s as good as it gets, and is also a fantastic way to catch some really big
bass all summer long. Big bass love slop (lily pads, dollar pads, wild rice,
reeds) through most of our Midwest season, but you need to be prepared
for some one on one combat in order to land these gorillas!
A few things to be prepared for include beefing up all of the tools of
the trade. The rod should be of medium heavy or heavy action, not much
less than seven feet long, and should be paired with a good quality reel
with a drag that can be cranked down tight. There is no reason to skimp on
line strength due to the fish having minimal visibility on it. At the same time
you want to be able to make long casts, so I often settle for 65 pound
braided line. A few good options for line include Suffix, Fireline,
SpiderWire, Power Pro, Cortland, and many more.
The rig is ready to go, but now what to tie onto it, and where to throw
it? There are countless lures to use in the slop, but undoubtedly the most
exciting is a frog style bait. There are days when bass just won’t bite a frog
style bait, and plastics and jigs seem to be the only answer. I have
encountered this in nearly every weather condition and time of day, but I
have also seen the opposite, and had great frog bites in nearly every
weather condition and time of day. In my experience, truly awesome frog
bites occur right before a low pressure front moves in.
There are countless styles of frogs and just as many places to throw
them. The optimal location to throw a frog can vary by the day, and even
by the hour. This can make it challenging, but by keeping a few things in
mind and having the right tools, an angler can shorten the searching time
significantly. I approach frog fishing with three rigs on the deck of my boat;
one with a weedless floating frog, one with a buzz frog, and one with a
weedless spoon. I begin by casting frogs over a wide variety of depths
and weeds until I find a common denominator as to where the fish are
located. Once I find a particular area that the fish are utilizing, which is
often a particular depth, transitions of weed species, a particular species of
vegetation, or points, I spend most of my time fishing similar areas. This is
called finding a pattern, and is the key to every type of fishing. Catch the
details in “Froggin’ For Bass 102.”