Ribbit: Done right frog fishing bass can be exciting, effective

Bass fishing with a frog can be both exciting and frustrating until getting the technique just right.

There is not anything more exciting than catching a bass on a topwater bait. Of all the options, a frog may top the list because of the excitement of that big mouth exploding out of the vegetation.

I just wish I was good at it. I get a lot of swings and misses. Hookups, for some reason, for me are hard to come by.

"The most important thing where I see people go wrong is they don't use braided line," explained fishing pro and Lake Fork guide James Niggemeyer. "You need to use braided line. You will increase your hookup ratio tremendously."

My mistake No. 1.

Unlike monofilament or fluorocarbon line there is no stretch in braid, sending the power straight from the rod tip to the bait eyelet. Niggemeyer said he prefers 50-pound test line, but said you can get away with as much as 65-pound line or more.

His next piece of advice has to do with technique.

"If they explode on it, generally they are harder to hook. You need to pause on it," Niggemeyer said.

My mistake No. 2.

Learning to slow down is something that can be hard to do because the natural tendency when a fish busts on a bait is to set the hook. Niggemeyer said that a lot of time that initial strike is the fish attempting to line up on the bait, and often results in a miss especially if the fisherman continues to move the bait.

"You have to pause. The best motivation for not missing fish is not slowing down and missing fish. You will get frustrated watching them blowing up. You have to be purposeful. You don't have to wait long, just a second or two," he said.

Niggemeyer said he likes to jig a frog through the grass, pausing from time to time. The key, however, is trial and error for speed.

"I think a large portion of frog bites come when (the baits) are sitting still or it may be immediately after it. When it is warm and they are chasing bait, they can come up pretty fast. You have to play around with the pause time. Sometimes they like it paused for awhile," he said.

My mistake No. 3.

Besides braided line, Niggemeyer's other frog gear tends to be a 7-foot medium-heavy rod for casting into tight locations. He will at times switch to a 7-4 for longer casts.

"You want to fish a stiff rod, but not too stiff. If it is too stiff you are going to pull it out of their mouth. I would rather have a medium-heavy rather than a heavy, but in heavier cover I am going to go to a heavy," he said.

I got one right.

Although he fishes deliberately, he goes with at least a 7:1 reel more for catching up with a hooked fish as it runs with the bait.

I got two right.

While there are days topwater lures can be effective over any depth, Niggemeyer limits his frog fishing to no more than 5 or 6 feet of water. When working the vegetation in shallow water, he will go with the pointed-nose frog. If working more open, deeper water, he often switches to a chugger style to create more commotion.

"Once I get out of shallow water I want to draw the fish out. You need the chugging style frog to get their attention," Niggemeyer said.

Of course frog fishing is mostly related to summertime, but Niggemeyer said it can actually be good pre-spawn and even the spawn when the fish are territorial. He has fished a frog with water temperatures in the high 50s and lower 60s. In this part of the country the frog can work into November.

It looks like I have some things to work on to get better at frog fishing, but I have the rest of the summer to get it done.

For information on fishing with Niggemeyer, go online to jamesniggemeyer.com .

"Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all."