BFM_AugSept_2023 | Page 78

GEARING UP

By Mitchell Forde here ’ s what should be in your

this summer and fall

BOX

Combining the visual appeal of topwater fishing with the physicality of flipping heavy cover , it ’ s no wonder throwing a topwater frog is a favorite technique of many anglers .

It also happens to be one of the most effective ways to tempt big bass in late summer and early fall , when water temperatures reach their warmest , vegetation is at its thickest and fish often burrow into the most dense cover they can find .

The frog market has exploded in the past 20 years , since Bass Pro Tour angler Dean Rojas introduced the fishing world to the power of the hollow-body bait at the 2004 Bassmaster Classic . During that time , anglers have discovered that the amphibious offerings can mimic just about any species of forage and be fished around all types of cover , not just grass mats or lily pads . That ’ s led to the perennial introduction of new baits in the category , designed to impart a different action or navigate certain situations better than their predecessors .

Whether you ’ re trying to skip a bait into a hard-to-reach , shady spot , navigate a field of lily pads or call bass out of thick grass mats , here are five innovative hollow-body frogs you should consider adding to your arsenal .

berkley swamp lord

Pure Fishing filled one of the last holes in its lure lineup with the Swamp Lord , which was unveiled at ICAST in July . One of the reasons it took so long for the bait to hit the market was that Berkley made sure it lived up to the exact specifications of REDCREST 2022 champion Bobby Lane , who designed the Swamp Lord . The Florida native and grass-fishing guru said the bait is two to three years in the making .

Lane ’ s primary objective with the Swamp Lord was to achieve a better hook-up ratio than is offered by other frogs on the market . Anyone who regularly throws a frog knows that the technique can be as maddening as it is exhilarating , with blowups often resulting in empty hooksets or bass spitting the bait halfway back to the boat . To combat that tendency , Lane combined Berkley ’ s signature Fusion19 hooks with “ the softest frog on the market today ” — no modification required .

“ What we ’ ve all always done is try to make the frog softer by heating it up or letting it sit in the sun for three days ,” Lane said . “ Nobody made a soft frog . And then the most important thing is to have a good hook in a soft frog . So getting all those attributes together to make the Swamp Lord what it is today took a lot of work .”

It isn ’ t just the softness of its body that gives the Swamp Lord a

12 colors better chance of pinning bass , according to Lane . He said the aspect that took longest to perfect was finding the ideal angle and configuration for the hooks in relation to the body “ so the frog has a great bite to it .”

The other attribute of the Swamp Lord that Lane is proud of is its versatility . Offered in both a standard , walking shape and a popping version , Lane said the bait can “ do it all .” He noted that the walking version is slightly larger than most other frogs on the market , which makes it ideally suited for attracting bass through matted vegetation . But it can just as easily be walked in open water .

“ The Swamp Lord is designed to do it all , man ,” Lane said . “ You can pop it hard like we do down here at Okeechobee . You can walk it side-to-side . Our standard walking frog , you can literally throw it into a one-foot hole and you can walk it side-to-side in that hole without it moving forward a lot . You can keep it in that strike zone a lot longer . The popping frog , you can make it chug , you can make it spit , you can make it walk . There ’ s just so many different ways to do this .”

$ 9.99 | berkley-fishing . com color : chartreuse perch

76 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2023