How to Walk a Frog

Earlier this week Tim and Matt got to spend a day frog fishing the California Delta. As the day was winding down we realized that many of the fish had been caught while "walking" the frog. While many anglers know how to do this, some do not. We decided to take a few minutes and try to teach you how simple it really is to "walk the frog".

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While this concept is incredibly simple, the reality can be very difficult for most anglers. Hopefully this step by step tutorial will help you dial in your technique so that you can catch more frog fish on your next outing.

The frog in this video is a River2Sea Bully Wa but this concept can be applied to ANY frog on the market. Always remember, if the frog isn't walking, its not the frog you're probably just over-working it!

Fall Bass Fishing: Top 5 Baits

I love fall fishing! After a long summer the lake finally feels alive again. The baitfish are schooling, the bass are feeding, and the fishermen are wrapping up their tournament seasons. Whether you want to catch more bass, win the AOY race, or win a new boat, these 5 baits will get you headed in the right direction.

Its never easy to limit yourself to just 5 baits but if I had to choose one season to do it, it would be the fall. As the bass group up and feed they become much simpler to target than they were throughout the summer. In no particular order, my top 5 baits are as follows:

1) The jig: The bass are gorging before winter and one of their favorite meals is a crawdad. Stick to a simple craw profile and you'll succeed. There are a lot of great jigs out there including a plethora of colors, head designs, and colors but if I could only choose one it would be the Dirty Jigs 3/4 oz Pitchin' Jig in "Molting Craw". That color, coupled with either a Sweet Beaver-style trailer or a Twin Tail Grub-style trailer creates a phenomenal crawdad imitation.

2) The Spook: Walking-style topwater baits work great through all the summer months but their effectiveness peaks during the early fall. Bass are gorging on baitfish and baits like the super spook (see our video on the top 5 walking baits for ideas) are a perfect imitation. Choose a color you have confidence in but you can never go wrong with whites, silvers, or even a little chartreuse to draw the bass away from the 1000's of other easy meals swimming around. Try The Super Spook in "Okie Shad" or the Rover in "sooner" if you need a place to start.

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Top 5 Baits for the Fall Transition

3) The Glide Bait: Glide baits have taken the industry by storm the last couple years. If you aren't throwing one this fall, you're missing opportunities for great fishing! I'm particularly partial to the S-waver in the 168 and 200 sizes in "Warden" or "Light Trout" (See our S-Waver Video and S-Waver 200 Video to see why) The S-waver is easy to use and won't break the bank but is by no means your only option. Check out the Gan Craft Jointed Claw, Smith Baits Hitch-X, or if you're in to the custom baits, the Hinkle Baits is hard to pass up. These are all baits that we've seen success with over and over again. They're big, but they get bit and fall is a great time to build your confidence!

4) The Deep Crank: Whether you're throwing a big 10XD, a Rapala DT-Series (because Ike says so), a slim profile like the Deep Six, or my old standby DD-22 you can't go wrong with a deep crank. We throw a lot of the shad patterns including those with lavender, chartreuse, or brown backs. We even branch in to the craws a bit. Whatever it is you choose, the deep crank will let you cast farther and reach deeper to catch those fish other anglers are overlooking.

5) The Lipless Crank: Who could possibly overlook this crank? Whether you're burning through the fading grass, fanning flats, or ripping off the bottom around docks and cover, the lipless is probably the most versatile bait during the fall. Again, stick to the shad patterns. If I could only choose one lipless it would be the Lucky Craft LV-500. Like many Western anglers I've discovered the benefits of the fast sinking, loud rattling bait. Try Chartreuse Shad, Ghost Minnow, Wakin if the fish are really active, or even Crack if the water has some stain to it.

What "Top 5" list would be complete without fudging and including some extras? Because 5 baits really is tough to do, the rest of the baits that really should have made the cut are the Swim Jig (California Swim Jig to be exact), the Flutter Spoon, The Jerkbait (ripbait if you live on the west coast), and the paddle tail swimbait (I'd go with the 6" basstrix or 4.8 Keitech on a Dirty Jigs Swimbait head).

Put these baits to work for you and have a great fall. Good luck out there!

Is your favorite bait on the list? Did I miss something? Let's hear what's on your top 5 list.

Top 5 Topwater Walking Baits

In 1939 the first plastic "Zara Spook" hit the market. After more than 80 years it has undergone quite a few changes but it is still the most prevalent walking bait on the market. Until recently, there were not a lot of competitors in this category but seemingly overnight the flood gates have opened.  With significant sections of wall space in every tackle shop covered in walking-style topwaters its difficult to know where to start.

Even we had a difficult time narrowing it down to just 5 baits. Frankly, we fudged a little in the end anyway but who can blame us? You may be surprised by the list we came up with. There were some baits omitted that definitely would have made the cut if their availability were different but you can't make the list if no one can get the baits!

In no particular order our list of top 5 baits are as follows:

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Top 5 Walking Baits

The Super Spook: Can you blame us? Its the bench mark! They are in virtually every tackle box (including ours) and have earned their place. I lost count of how many big bass I've caught on the spook!

The Rover: The Rover is a fairly new addition to the list but it has earned its place. On multiple occasions I have been able to "fine tune" my pattern and catch bigger fish by switching to a rover. Here's a tip... get the "tuned" version by Scott Martin, you won't be sorry.

The Vixen: While sporting the same body style as a rover, the high-pitch sound emitted is completely different. The recent prices on EBAY, if nothing else, show the power this bait holds over bass (and fishermen). Now that they are widely available again this bait should be added to your arsenal.

The Gunfish: With its unique cupped face and slender body the gunfish has a unique spitting action that turns followers into biters. I sometimes wish they had more than two hooks on the smaller models but the fish eat it, it cannot be denied.

The popper: (I told you we fudged a little but to narrow it down were talking about the Yellow Magic, Rico, and Splash It) How does a popper make a list of talking walking baits? Easy! Try it and you'll find out! They walk, they move water, and they get eaten just like they're larger relatives. If your fish are finicky, especially in shallow water, walk a popper. Its an action they rarely see and they will ERUPT on it!

Soft Body Frogs: Everything You Need to Know

"Soft-body Frogs" is such a huge category but is often overshadowed by Hollow-Bodied Frogs. Let's start with why you need them and then I'll give a more detailed definition of what they are.

When you think of soft-body frogs think "soft buzzbait". These are the 4x4, go anywhere, do everything, come back unscathed, topwater bait. You can throw them through tullies, over slop, on timber, in grass, and they will paddle their way back to the boat. When the cover gets nasty, when you get tired of picking grass off hooks, out of blades, or dealing with snags, its time for the soft-body frog.

So what are they? First off, its a plastic bait that is solid-bodied. Second, it has one or more "kicking" feet that help the bait rise to the surface and create action as it is steadily retrieved on the surface. Third, it has no additional appendages or it becomes a "creature bait". Lastly, it has no hook. It will need to be texas-rigged with some sort of  after-market hook.

Most soft plastic brands now produce a soft-bodied frog. So what makes one better than another? It comes down to two variables: Sound and Speed.

From Left to Right: Strike King Rage Tail Toad, Rage Tail Shad, Stanley Ribbit, Zoom Horny Toad, Sizmic Toad

Each frog has a unique sound and action. Its important to explore different "sounding" baits to find what your fish want. As a rule of thumb the baits with thicker feet (Rage Tail for example) will create a louder, more violent sound while those with thin feet (Horny Toad for example) tend to be much more subtle.

Additionally, the thicker the feet on a bait the more quickly they must be retrieved to create the desired sound. If the bait it making a subtle sound it can generally be retrieved much more slowly than a loud bait and still make the proper sound. This is so often overlooked and is CRITICAL to why some baits get bit more than others. We're so keyed on sound and action we don't even notice that one bait has to go nearly twice as fast as the next. No wonder the bass aren't eating all the baits, all the time!

You'll need to explore a few models to find what works best on your waters but a great place to start is the Rage Tail Toad, Zoom Horny Toad, and Stanley Ribbit. These 3 baits will cover the gamut of sound and speed so you can get a feel for what your bass prefer and you won't break the bank trying to dial in the pattern.