Creature baits...

[dannyhan83]

(03-14-2012 02:17 PM)manitoubass2 Wrote:  

(03-14-2012 02:12 PM)dannyhan83 Wrote:  I always used a spoon or crankbait, but never thought of the creature lures. I've heard that the frog works pretty good. Guess I have to buy that and give it a try.

I had a few days last summer fishing the shallows with a frog where pike were just all over that frog.

I couldn't get good hooksets though from a distance. My longest rod is a 7ft., and it still didn't make much difference.

So I bent the hooks on the frog just abit, so they pointed just a smiggen upwards.

I went from landing maybe 2/10, to about 6 or 7/10.

Big difference. I think I heard that tip from Iaconnelli???

Yup, I heard it from Iaconnelli lol. But everytime I catch pike with frog, I had to buy couple more cause it destroys my frog....I use 7ft med. heavy to heavy so I can set the hook as hard as I can.

[manitoubass2]

(03-14-2012 04:01 PM)dannyhan83 Wrote:  

(03-14-2012 02:17 PM)manitoubass2 Wrote:  

(03-14-2012 02:12 PM)dannyhan83 Wrote:  I always used a spoon or crankbait, but never thought of the creature lures. I've heard that the frog works pretty good. Guess I have to buy that and give it a try.

I had a few days last summer fishing the shallows with a frog where pike were just all over that frog.

I couldn't get good hooksets though from a distance. My longest rod is a 7ft., and it still didn't make much difference.

So I bent the hooks on the frog just abit, so they pointed just a smiggen upwards.

I went from landing maybe 2/10, to about 6 or 7/10.

Big difference. I think I heard that tip from Iaconnelli???

Yup, I heard it from Iaconnelli lol. But everytime I catch pike with frog, I had to buy couple more cause it destroys my frog....I use 7ft med. heavy to heavy so I can set the hook as hard as I can.

Yeah, toothy critters sure tear up a frog quickly.

[Woodsman]

Do frog lures work in March April when there are no natural frogs?

[manitoubass2]

(03-14-2012 06:01 PM)Woodsman Wrote:  Do frog lures work in March April when there are no natural frogs?

I have no idea on other water bodies?

But.... The frogs in the Rainy River show up at the river in the 3rd or 4th week of March.

How do I know this you might ask?

Because their spawning grounds are one good stretch of my local fishing grounds.

This year it's warmer than usual. I suspect frogs will hit the water within the next week.


All that aside,

Topwater frogs can be used anytime really. The only time they won't produce is when it's really cold and fish are sluggish. Just because the bait looks like a frog, doesn't mean it can't imitate something else. The retrieve and color of the frog can make it appear to be something else. Or simply cause a reaction strike or even an aggressive strike being pulled through a fishes territory.

[Bass]

I have used frogs for pike too, I already caught a pike on a kind of senko brown worm but that was random, I usually fish for pike with swimbaits

[Dennis L. Mitchell]

I've seen 'frogs' for sale at our local independent tackle shop and thought they were a gag item! Now I might have to pick one up!