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In Strike King Journal entry
#20, Chad Brauer talked about using Strike King's Pop'n
Grass Frog...
Question: So, Chad, tell me about
a day of fishing where using Strike King bait saved the day
for you.
Brauer: I was fishing a bayou of
tidal water similar to the Potomac River that was filled with
milfoil in North Carolina. When I had practiced-fished there,
I'd caught bass on white 1/4-ounce spinner bait. However,
when the tournament began, a strong wind hit the lake, causing
the water in the bayou to recede drastically. The high tide
during the tournament was at the same level the low tide had
been at during the practice.
The milfoil I was fishing over was matted on the surface,
which killed my spinner bait pattern. Although I tried flipping
a Strike King jig, I couldn't get any bites. Around 1:00 p.m.,
I dug through my tackle box and found a white Strike King
Pop'N-Grass Frog. I started popping that frog across the top
of the milfoil, stopping it in the holes, giving the bait
two, quick pops and waiting on the strike.
Up until the time I started fishing the frog I only had one
bass in the boat. By 2:00 p.m., after fishing the frog for
only an hour, I'd caught a limit of bass and culled two bass.
On that day, although I was totally out of the money at 1:00
p.m., by 2:00 p.m. I was in the top 20 and finished the tournament
in 15th place, receiving a nice-sized check. If I hadn't had
the white Strike King Pop'N-Grass Frog in the boat with me,
I'm convinced I wouldn't have placed in the tournament.
Question: Why did you choose to fish
the white frog?
Answer: I liked the white frog because
the water was fairly clear, and the bass had been biting a
white spinner bait in practice. By force of habit, I always
carried a white frog, a chartreuse frog and a black frog with
me wherever I went.I cast the frog out on 25-pound-test line
and made really long casts. By using the white frog, I could
see it from a long distance.
The real key to fishing frogs or rats successfully on matted
vegetation is making sure the fish gets the bait before you
set the hook. When I see a bass start to bite a frog, I'll
fight the urge to set the hook. Here's why. When a bass starts
to bite at the frog, if the bass doesn't get the bait, the
bass will usually circle it and take it the second time.
So don't set the hook until you feel the fish on the line.
However, in that tournament the bass were biting the frog
hard enough to set the hooks themselves. The biggest mistake
that most fishermen make when frog fishing is setting the
hook when they see the bass bite down on the bait. Generally
all you're doing is pulling the bait away from the fish.
In Strike King Journal entry
#21, Mike Wurm talked about using Strike King's Grass
Frog...
Question: Tell me about your experience
at the Classic when Strike King saved the day.
Wurm: I was fishing at Lay Lake during
the practice days just before the beginning of the 2002 Classic
in Birmingham, Alabama, and struggling to catch bass. Lay
Lake has a lot of grass, and I had heard bass were hitting
the swimming jig coming through the grass. Supposedly the
bass were hitting a white jig with a white trailer.
For some reason, I didn't have this particular lure combination
in my tackle box. So I began to throw a green pumpkin Premier
Elite Jig with a Premier Trailer, and although I was getting
a few bites on the jig, I just wasn't catching the quality
of fish I felt I needed to catch to do well in the tournament.
So I began to dig around in my tackle box.
I could tell from fishing the jig the bass were holding behind
the grass in open areas between the grass and the bank. As
I dug through my tackle box to try and find a lure to fit
this fishing situation, I discovered an old Strike King Grass
Frog. I tied the bait on, and with my first cast I caught
a 4-1/2-pound largemouth. I said to myself, "I've found the
secret weapon."
I could cast the Strike King Grass Frog really well, reel
it right on top of the water and watch its legs kick. When
I would get the frog to a little open spot in the grass, the
bass would blow up on it and annihilate the frog. I could
tell the Lay Lake bass really wanted the Strike King Grass
Frog. As I continued to fish the Grass Frog on down the bank,
I caught two more bass -- each 3 pounds or better. So I was
really excited when I arrived at the Classic this year after
doing so well in practice.
I felt confident I could really do well in the tournament.
However, none of the contestants knew from the time we practiced,
until the tournament began, that the bass would pull out of
the grass and move upriver to moving water. But at least on
the practice day, I found the bait the bass wanted and had
a great practice, which is the real secret of a magic lure.
Question: What's this secret of a
magic lure?
Wurm: A magic lure will catch bass
on a particular day under certain conditions when other lures
won't. For this reason, I keep a wide variety of all types
of Strike King baits in my tackle box. You never know when
a bait you have almost forgotten about will be the secret
lure you need for a certain day to turn on the bass. I hadn't
fished that old Strike King Grass Frog in a long time, but
when I needed it, the lure paid off for me.
In Strike King Journal entry
#25, Randy Dearman talked about using Strike King's Grass
Frog...
Question: Tell me about an unusual
technique that you've used in a tournament to catch fish.
Dearman: In New York one year, we
were catching the fish on a Strike King Grass Frog in heavy
duckweed. The bass kept missing our bait. The green, fine
duckweed nearly floated on top of the water and was matted.
As we'd pull the frogs through the weeds, the bass would
blow up on the frogs but miss them. A bass would leave a hole
in the weed where it had blown up on the frog. If the other
guy could make a cast and get the frog to that hole quickly,
he could catch the bass as it struck again. So, I ended up
fishing with two frogs on the line.
I'd tie on one frog with a piece of braided line, and I'd
put another frog about a foot behind it. When the bass would
blow up on the first one, it would leave a hole in the grass
where the bass could see the second frog. So we would just
slide the second frog into that hole and catch the bass probably
90 percent of the time.
Question: Did you come up with that
idea yourself?
Dearman: Yeah, I finally figured
that if I could throw two frogs like a train, the bass would
bite that second frog.
Find Tips & Tactics for other Strike King Lures here!
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Pop'n
Grass Frog and Grass Frog
