With summertime upon us, there are many ways to find some fun in the sun action. For fishermen tying on their favorite frog and hitting the water – the excitement of that visible blow up is one of the best ways to spend the hottest season of the year.”Froggin’ that’s easy,” said Lane. “It’s pretty simple, you just have to listen to the fish and let them tell you what they want. Other than that, it’s just about the most exciting way you can fish. It is definitely a favorite technique of mine.”
Lure Selection & Presentation:
Having already iterated the frog as a fave way to land lunkers, Lane explained the two types of the frog imitations that he uses as toad temptations. “There are two kinds of frog fishing,” he stated. “There is the floating frog and there is the swimming frog. A floating frog like the kind made at Snag Proof are made for grass mats. I fish a Bobby’s Perfect Frog for this kind of fishing, except at Guntersville. When I’m fishing a floating frog, I’m looking for thick matted grass that the fish are in and work it real slow. When I’m in scattered grass or sparse vegetation by logs, I want a swimming frog. I use a Luck E Strike swimming frog.” Lane continued his differentiation of the two types of froggin’ as the relate to tidal water saying that he opts to throw a swimming frog on edges of vegetation when the water has moved out and then changes to the floating frog on tops of mats as the water depth rises.
He described the variation on working each type of frog. “With a swimming frog, just reel the entire time unless you see a bass just under it, but not striking,” stated Lane. “If you see that, just pause and let it sink a little, then pick right back up reeling and wait for it to explode on it. The floating frog is a reel, twitch, sit, let them come it get retrieve.” When setting the hook, Lane always gives a two-second wait time after the frog disappears. If he finds he is missing fish after a blow up, he said, “wait longer.” Offering an extra two seconds, before setting the hook could make the difference in those “ones that got away stories”.
Chris Lane’s Guntersville Frog:
As for the inspiration for the Guntersville Frog that Lane developed with Snag Proof he stated there was no fishery that could compare to his home water, – Lake Guntersville in Birmingham, Ala.”We, as fishermen – are funny,” said Lane. “We always think we can do something different, something that swims better or has a better hookup or a bigger strike. I knew that was something that could be done with a frog on Guntersville. That place has world-renowned, forage frog fishing. Anything can happen there. It holds big, big bass. The anticipation that an angler feels as soon as you throw that floating frog over a mat, is incredible. “The amount of mats and type of vegetation is the best; there just isn’t any place like it. It needed a different kind of frog.” He described the mats as thick, but hollow underneath allowing a space for the fish to get up underneath. He explained his ideal mats saying he looks for ones that are look as though t hey are dying and have the appearance of “dried out”. Describing the hopper that he created for Guntersville, he said the legs are weighted to depress the thick mats indigenous to the fishery and said that they can come with rattles as well for an added, audible attraction for the bass to track the bait. His personal best on his home water invention went 10-lbs.
Frog Gear:
Standard supplies and setup Lane uses for froggin’ is a 7’2″ All Star Rod with a 6.3:1 Abu Garcia Revo reel. “I want a stout rod for frogs,” he stated. “I use 50-lb Stren Sonic braided line. If the frog bite is really, really good, I may move up to 65-lb, but that is very seldom. I use 50-lb, because I can cast farther with it.”
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Froggin’ With A Champ Summer 2013 Bass Angler Magazine (Jody Only pg. 32 – 33)
