PHOTO BY JOEL SHANGLE
Careful now , froggin ’ is addictive and leads to big boxes of frogs .
Then there are the wild card colors . Roumbanis carries a yellow-headed blackbird color called Dirty Bird seemingly made to order for bass on California ’ s Clear Lake .
“ I always have a black-and-red frog close at hand ,” adds Crane . “ I don ’ t know what it is about that little bit of red in there . It just triggers big bites .”
MLF pro Mitch Crane is a froggin ’ fanatic .
“ You catch a better quality of bass with a frog .”
PHOTO BY JODY WHITE reading the mats
Much frogging action takes place in dense mats , thick jungle cover comprised of aquatic plants such as hydrilla , Eurasian milfoil , filamentous algae , duckweed and assorted assemblies of matter living and dead . That often necessitates a different approach than walking the bait in open water .
“ There are times with duckweed or algae or matted hydrilla where you need to use a heavier frog , something that will go through that stuff and sit lower in the water ,” says Rojas . “ With a lighter frog , bass are more likely to knock it off the mat or totally miss it .”
Mats are never uniform in thickness . They vary in density and composition . Some mats are comprised of fresh growth , others of dead or decaying matter . The best froggers pay close attention to patterns within mats . One key feature can be thinner sections , often identified by a variation in color .
“ I was the last man standing in a tournament on the Mississippi River near La Crosse , Wisconsin ,” recalls Roumbanis . “ Half the field was throwing frogs to the mats . The only thing I was doing differently was making more accurate casts to areas with lighter color and targeting those areas . I didn ’ t waste time throwing to super dense stuff .”
Crane agrees . “ You want holes in that upper mat ,” he says . “ Any time you chug that frog in thick cover and you see the water ripple around the frog , you know the mat grass is thin there . So you look for the ripples and other signs . Maybe brighter green grass or cheesy areas where fish are hanging out . Always pay attention to where you are getting bites in heavy cover .”
modifications
There ’ s no end to the things anglers do to get the most out of their frogs . “ They bend out hooks , add weight , cut the tails off or half off , paint them , boil them , do things to make them softer or harder ,” says Rojas . “ In the end , you need to balance attributes that improve your hook-up ratio with those that affect its overall usability .”
Hook-up ratios tumble in the mats . Bass are apt to inhale a mouthful of salad with the frog , if they reach the bait at all . Frogging aficionados often trick out their frogs to help bass find and engulf them .
“ Some put glass rattles in the frog when fishing heavy cover ,” says Crane . “ It gives them something to home in on . You can also add BBs or a 1 / 4-ounce tungsten weight inside the frog . It makes the frog sag through the mat .”
In pressured areas , Cox will insert a bell from a craft shop or a rattle into the body of his frog .
“ A frog that fills with water can work to your advantage in a cheese mat , as well ,” he says . “ It sits lower in the mat , and fish are less likely to knock it out of the water . Sometimes I ’ ll just add a tungsten nail weight .”
72 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2023