It should come as no surprise that Florida bass pro Ron Klys loves throwing a topwater frog over grassbeds. It's his stock in trade during hot weather, and it pays off with big catches.
"Few things are more fun than to work a Berkley Gulp! Bat Wing Frog over vegetation on a summer morning," Klys says. "If bass are there and feeding, you're going to get bit."
Klys uses the frog to cover water and lots of it, working the bait very fast over likely bass-holding cover. He's a firm believer in the old adage that 10 percent of the water holds 90 percent of the fish and knows that the angler who can find them fastest will usually catch them best.
"The frog bite generally doesn't last all day," Klys explains, "so it just makes sense to cover as much water as possible and catch the bass that are aggressive. Later in the day — usually around 9 o'clock or so — I'll switch over to flipping and pitching the thick stuff. Until the sun gets up, though, I stick with the frog."
For his frogging, Klys opts for an Abu Garcia Revo STX baitcast reel with a 7:1 gear ratio mounted on a 7-foot heavy action Fenwick rod and spooled with 50-pound-test Stren Super Braid. His hook is a Stanley Wedge V Lock, to which he adds an unusual trailer hook.
"I catch most of my bass on the main hook," Klys admits, "but the trailer gives me confidence, so I use it. I like to take a treble hook and put a short piece of aquarium tubing over the eye, then I pass it over the main hook. Then I clip off the hook of the treble that hangs down below the frog and stick the points of the other two hooks into the legs of the frog. It works great."
The other customization that Klys makes to his frog is to add a split ring to the eye of the hook. He finds that by tying to the split ring rather than the eye, the frog will have a better side to side action and wobble.
Klys' other frogging trick helps to increase his hook-up percentage. He's made himself disciplined enough that he automatically presses the thumbar on his Revo once he gets a strike, a practice that may require nerves of steel!
You've just got to let them eat the bait," he says. "A lot of anglers miss strikes on the frog because they pull it away from the fish before they can eat it. If you can give them some line, you'll catch those bass.
"I don't worry about them spitting it out before I can set the hook, either. In fact, I don't think you could take it away from them once they have it."
This Florida pro's tactics will work for you wherever you find shallow, aggressive bass ready to attack a topwater bait.
