|
better than fishing hollowbody frogs . Launching a faux frog into heavy vegetation with a whippy rod and 10-pound monofilament line leaves little chance of a successful hook-up , let alone dragging a bass wrapped in 10 pounds of milfoil to the boat .
Bobby Lane has transformed the toe-to-toe slop brawl that most of us know as “ frogging ” into a fine art , often skipping frogs under thick overhanging tree limbs and walking them in place with a deft rod tip action that draws strikes deep beneath the canopies .
Tools enable talent , explains Lane , who keeps two Abu Garcia Veritas Tournament series casting rods on his deck to work two styles of frog – a popping frog and a walking frog .
|
ROD ACTION
A supple rod tip enables Lane to make long and accurate casts and to walk his frog with tantalizing action . A broomstick won ’ t suffice .
“ A fast or super-fast tip allows you to keep that frog in the strike zone longer ,” he explains .
Lane completes his frogging tackle with an Abu Garcia Revo X ( 8:1 gear ratio ) reel spooled with 50- pound-test moss green Spiderwire Ultracast line .
Bobby Lane
|
Lucas employs two 7- foot spinning rods from the Abu Garcia Fantasista X series : the medium power , fast action model for open hook presentations and the medium-heavy model for Texas-rigged plastics .
Strikes tend to be subtle when drop-shotting . Sensitivity is a drop-shot rod ’ s most valued virtue . Lucas credits the Powerlux 500 resin system in the rods for their added strength and sensitivity .
With the drop-shot suspended below the lure , a fasttip rod imparts action to the bait with little effort . Lucas fishes the medium power rod when he ’ s fishing an open size 2 drop-shot hook . When he shifts to a Texas-rigged worm , the extra power of the medium-heavy rod helps drive a 1 / 0 worm hook home .
|
Lucas ’ s reel of choice is the 30 size Abu Garcia Zenon reel . He uses 6- pound-test Berkley X5 Crystal Line on the medium rod ; 8-pound-test on the medium-heavy . Leader material is 8- or 10-poundtest Berkley Trilene 100 % Fluorocarbon .
jig vs . rig
Jig rods are workhorse tools and often the most versatile rods on the boat .
“ The 7-foot , 3-inch rod is the key length with the American angler right now ,” says Bob Brown , head of product development for Lew ’ s .
Jig fishing , shallow and deep , has accounted for much of that popularity .
According to Brown , pitching has replaced flipping as the dominant short-line
|
||||
PHOTO BY PHOENIX MOORE |
Justin Lucas |
||||||
“ I can make more accurate casts and skip a frog easier under docks and laydowns with the 7-foot mediumheavy , fast action rod ,” he says . “ If I see thick grass or lily pads , I know I ’ ll have to make long casts and horse fish out with the 7-3 heavy rod .” |
drop-shots
“ I have a drop-shot tied on almost everywhere I go ,” says MLF pro Justin Lucas . “ It doesn ’ t matter if I ’ m fishing largemouth , smallmouth or spotted bass . It ’ s a technique that typically works everywhere .”
|
PHOTO BY JOSH GASSMANN |