MACOMB COUNTY, Mich. — Ish Monroe’s mastery in the technique of going into heavy combat with his namesake frog is well known and defines his professional resume. Of all places, Monroe put on a master class of those skills on Day 1 of the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at St. Clair presented by SEVIIN.
While most everyone else was offshore, eyes on their forward-facing sonars searching for smallmouth, hands on a finesse spinning rod with a drop shot rig, Monroe did the exact opposite, focusing instead on largemouth. The result was a Day 1 weight of 23 pounds, 14 ounces.
Monroe went armed with a Daiwa Ish Monroe Frog Rod, a compatible heavy duty Daiwa casting reel, and a River2Sea Phat Mat Daddy Frog. The target zone was shoreline areas holding isolated stretches of vegetation where the tactic is ideally suited for catching largemouth.
That’s largemouth, not smallmouth. Take note of this quote.
“Lake St. Clair is in my top three largemouth lakes for numbers of those fish in the country,” Monroe said.
Monroe can also back that with 26 years of experience on the B.A.S.S. tour, including 20 years with the Bassmaster Elite Series. Even so, the Tackle Warehouse Elite Qualifier never planned to hatch all his eggs from the same basket.
“My plan was to go catch 16, 18 pounds of largemouth for EQ points and then drag around offshore to anchor my weight with those four-pound smallmouth,” Monroe said.
As the morning progressed, the offshore plan took a back seat to what was playing out in the largemouth water. Of course, Monroe had it to himself, and even more profound, nobody would think of throwing a frog in this mecca of smallmouth fishing, giving the largemouth a surprise attack.
Monroe ran shoreline areas, searching for matted vegetation, stopping at each location to pitch the frog into the strike zone. With nearly every stop he landed a largemouth in the 3 1/2-pound range.
By mid-morning, and with a reasonable limit, he decided to venture offshore after missing a livewell quality largemouth. The urge to leave soon outweighed the temptation to stay and target the smallmouth.
“Where I went the water was a milky stained color from the storm, so I left and went back to catch that largemouth I missed,” he said.
Monroe noted that he observed largemouth locked on beds, giving him more reason to fish his strengths. He did just that, catching between 60 and 70 largemouth and again, lending credence to his proclamation about St. Clair’s credible numbers of largemouth.
Monroe admitted his plan might sizzle on Day 2, but why would he do anything else, given the pattern is in his career wheelhouse?
Monroe also has his eyes on one prize, and that is requalifying for the Elite Series. It’s been mentioned that he needs a 25th place or better finish in the final four Opens of the season.
As of yesterday, he was off to a good start at Lake St. Clair. What’s worth noting is with four Opens remaining, three of those are prime for frog tactics, especially given the matted vegetation required for the tactic is in full summer bloom.
Topping the list is Leech Lake, the natural lake in Minnesota that is chocked full of multiple variations of vegetation. Following that August event is a September stop on the Mississippi River, where Monroe won a 2018 Elite on, you guessed it, the Phat Mat Daddy Frog in the heavily vegetated backwaters.
In the meantime, the plan remains the same at St. Clair. Go early for the largemouth, then reinforce the EQ points with time offshore for the smallmouth.
