Teckel Sprinker
The Basic Parts
• The standard floating frog body is altered to skim smooth-
ly across the surface.
• The paddle tail rotates during the retrieve, creating the
plopping action.
• A swivel in the butt lets the tail rotate freely.
Classification
According to Cox, the Sprinker represents a new class of
frog.
“It’s pretty much a Whopper Plopper that you can throw
weedless,” he says. “It’s made for fishing on a straight
wind, at all different speeds, but you always want to have
that tail going.”
One of the best features of the frog is its speed range,
which makes it an effective search bait, but with the capa-
bility of being fished as a target bait.
“You can reel it wide open, and it will kick really well,”
Cox says. “Or you can reel it just slow enough so that tail is
just making that plopping noise, but you can barely hear it.
I like reeling it really fast, but I’ll change it up a lot. I’ll burn
it to a point where I feel like I’ll get a bite. Then I may slow
it down over that area.”
Jones takes a similar approach with the Toad Runner.
“I always start fishing it fast and then slow it down if I
need to,” he says. “If they’re missing it I’ll speed it up
because a lot of times if they’re missing it it’s because
they’re getting too good a look at it.”
BOOYAH Toad Runner
Tournament Applications
Cox considers the Sprinker to be a big-fish bait. He
doesn’t get as many bites with it as he does with a buzz
toad, but the average size is better. It’s also a window bait,
meaning that once in a while when the cond itions are right
and the window is open, the fish really dial in on it, and the
result is a really hefty five-bass stringer. He believes it’ll
eventually land right on a major tournament, and some-
one will blow away the field with the Sprinker.
Outside of that window, a ploppin’ frog is a great prac-
tice tool.
“Normally, when you get fish to bite that thing, you’re
around some good ones,” Cox says. “So if you get two or
three bites with that in an area, you can go back with a
Horny Toad or something else that gets a lot of bites and
catch them in the tournament.”
When it Works
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A ploppin’ frog works just about anytime fish will eat
topwater, from prespawn through late fall. Cox believes
the best windows are when the fish are guarding fry and
when they’re chasing bait up shallow in late summer or
fall.
Certain vegetation types are best fished with a ploppin’
frog, too.
“I’ve mostly fished it over open-water hydrilla and other
big open areas, and through lanes in the lily pads or holes
in the hydrilla,” Cox says.
“I throw it in vast grass, like in the hay grass at Rayburn,
or along long stretches of water willow on the bank – any-
where that I need to cover water,” adds Jones. “In the fall
time of the year, when there’s a Whopper Plopper bite, but
I can’t get into areas around docks or cables or trees
[because the Whopper Plopper has treble hooks], then I
can throw it in that situation, too.”
FLWFISHING.COM I JULY 2018