TopWater Frogs

Hey Guys–I know topwater season is a long ways off. But I was wondering from you on what your favorite topwater frog is that you use. And if there is anything different you may add to it. I throw the Snag Proof tournament frog. As with this frog and many others I do not like the hook system. Is there something or someway to improve this? What do you all do? I also shove rattles inside. Would love to hear your responses……..dhnitro,,,,,,

I use the Southern Lure Scum Frog. Sometimes I remove the skirt and put on a twin tail trailer.

I prefer either the snag proof pro series with the new owner black nickle hook and a nice color selection also sumo frogs from http://www.basstackle.com The sumo frogs are really soft and you dont miss hardly any fish they have the same hooks as the Pro series manns has some good frogs also . Personaly I like using a tube and swim it on the pads and drop it in the pockets and work it . Bass pro has alot of good frogs also if you dont feel like ordering fro Bass pro go to Bobs Bait and Tackle in LaCrosse they carry just about everything that Bass Pro does
Keep a Tight line Buzzer

Dhnitro,
I agree with Buzzer that almost any single hook plastic will work as well as a floating frog on heavy slop and have the added ability to sink in holes or sparse duck weed. I personnally like to use jigs for this as I think a jig works better in weed situations than other Texas rigged plastics. As I stated in another post I like the King Cole Fang for this application as it will stand up on the bottom and appear more like a crawfish which are major inhabitants of these shallow weedy bays, especially in the spring and fall. In spring and fall I like the craw colors like black/blue, brown/orange and favor the white or green colors during summer to better imitate frogs or shad. The shad pattern is my primary color pattern in the fall in these situations and you can also swim the jig on the outsides of the weedbeds or if you are lucky enough to have a ball of shad around they work great if swam through a ball of shad. The shad part the sea so to speak and mama bass comes and crunches the prime attraction!! It is really neat to watch when the conditions are right.

Now to answer your question, I like the pro series tourney frog and the Sumo because of the better hooks. Sumo’s have the color pattern on the bottom of the frog too.

I would agree with the above- snag proof tourney series and sumo- however the sumo is about 7 bucks i think and not nearly as durable. It is softer and I think the hooking % might be higher, but I had one become ruined after about 3-4 fish one day- torn up so bad it did not float. I tried the mann’s phat rat with minimal success last fal. I do have to be fair, the slop seemed to be slow when i was using it. One interesting thing- it has a treble hook. It also has a lead wt on the belly which plugs a hole and this wt came out of mine- again causing sinking.

If they made scum frogs with a better hook and still charged only 2 bucks that would probably be the best. The appearance of the lure seems to have little impact as long as it is heavy enough to cause a disruption. I think that may be why the tubes/jigs/etc work- they are heavier and compact enough for the fish to track down. Just my 2 cents worth.

I see the 2 main frogs are the snag proof pro and the sumo. Can you buy the sumo frog at a local dealer? Or only on-line some place. I see the web site for them. And yep they are expensive. But paying $1.75 for a gallon of gas is to. How much is gas around the river area. I would guess Iowa is cheaper???? I think maybe I’ll have to try at least one of the sumo frogs. Sounds like they have a better hook system from your all advice. Bass423, I too throw a lot of tubes and jigs on the slop. I was just wondering what you all use for froggies. I like the slop frogs to but wish they had a double hook. Thanks again guys for the input………..Is it spring yet…

This is a little something for those who dont know what a Sumo Frog is also a link to the Pro Series Tournament Frog
http://store.basstackle.com/topwater.html . Hope this will help you out .

Keep a Tight Line Buzzer

my best of luck has been the black scum frog popper with a strike king trailer hook on the back end. yes it gets hung up quite a lot but even then that will deffinatly improve your catch rate and when they get back in them weeds usually that hook stays in there. The Shore shinner

Gas in Iowa is about 1.65 . I know it get cheaper as you get farther South, but not in ILL.

A buddy of mine turned me on to the “phat rat” by Manns last year. This baits casts like a rocket!!!!!!! It has a treble instead if the standard double hook like the other slop baits I have been using. This bait was the real deal for my slop applications last year. If I remember right, I think I saw them at wal-mart last week. If you can’t get them there, I know Gander Mountain carries them. Try one out this year, I think you all will be plesantly suprised by them.

~~~~~~~~alkfish

Its a great bait however the stinking weight falls out making it the sinking fast rat.