Frogs

[gerty]

I was wondering if anybody has used frogs in fall specifically for fishing walleyes? If so, what was your presentation and what type of luck have you had? Do you need to stay in the shallows which is more their natural environment for finding frogs or can they also be used to jig out in deeper water?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

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Gerty

[ghotierman]

Gerty...I know of lots of anglers that use frogs when shore fishing in the fall. Typical presentation is 1/0 or 2/0 hook..plain...maybe a split shot or two a few feet above...hook through the chin and let em swim. Works best in the shallows..natural habitat, like you said. I've caught walleyes through the ice with muddy noses and bellies full of frogs..they'll root 'em out under the ice!

I've tried lindy rigging with them too..working deeper structure. Haven't had as much success.

Frogs can be a very effective bait this time of year. Of course they're not for everyone. One angler I know commented..."I just can't put anything on a hook that has HANDS!"...It is a bit pitiful...but hey...it works!

good luck and good fishing!

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Alexandria Outfitters
915 Hwy 29 N NE
Alexandria, MN 56308
(320) 763-9598

[fiskyknut]

Frogs are a great fall bait on the Red river for Walleyes. Fish them on a slip sinker type rig or on a good sized jig with a larger sized hook than your average walleye type jig. I have some owner football head jigs that work quite well for this.

Fisky

[gerty]

Thanks ghotierman. You confirmed what I was thinking. We also do some jigging in a very deep whole in the fall. Minnows work good, but thought I might also throw on a frog just to see what happens. Again, not a real natural environment for a frog but, who knows.

Thanks again.

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Gerty

[Guest]

Do you think walleyes will attack a frog in 70'-100' of water? I know of a spot that i can fish that deep but mortality seems to be a issue but the fish are all eater size so it aint bad.

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Fish ON!

[gerty]

PikeEye,

That is what I am going to try. Only about 50' to 55'. Who knows, it's worth a try.

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Gerty

[Guest]

Frogs are most effective from 0-12', they seldom winter much deeper, so the walley seldome look for them deeper.

When walleye key in on the fall frog bite they are hunting very shallow, and mostly at night. I have witnessed schools of walleye darn near beach themselves scooping up frogs off the shore line in early October....at night.

Jigs, slip rigs, 3-way trollong slow with electric while casting shallow, on the surface with no weight just a 4 O/T Tru-Turn hook through the frogs lips, all these will work in fall.

Start shallow, work slowwwwwwwwwwly deeper.

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Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding "ED on the RED"
701-281-2300
[email protected]

[gerty]

Backwater Eddy,

I understand the shallow thing. My curiosity with the deep water is if you mark known fish (they have been in this deep water every fall at a certain time)do you think sending a frog down there will do the trick? I know they are not looking for frogs in this water but, will it trigger fish that may not be so willing to bite?

Thanks for the info.

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Gerty

[Guest]

I just wonder if a walleye missed out on the frog bite and went deep instead and wished there were frogs down there. LOL naw. But you never know unless you try.

Ya there just might be alittle bit of experimenting going on this fall to see if these walleyes will take more than just a minnow.

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Fish ON!

[Guest]

Sure you can try, almost anything is worth a try.

But odds are good that frog will blow up or get the size of a football by the time it gets real deep. Yet it is worth a shot, ya never know? Jigging down fast breaks would be one plan I would try.

Now Water dogs...that's another thing. Deep walleye really dig them in gilled puppy's in the fall!

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Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding "ED on the RED"
701-281-2300
[email protected]

[This message has been edited by Backwater Eddy (edited 09-17-2003).]

[Guest]

Ya i was kinda wondering about the frog being puffed up thing. Since the pressure is so great maybe it wont work.
Maybe if i get my hands on some water dogs I'll try them too.

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Fish ON!

[gerty]

Backwater Eddy,

You read my mind. The exploding things is what I was kind of worried about too. It also concerns me about the CPR of the fish that we catch when there.

Where can a guy get ahold of those water puppies? And are they real expensive? I've seen the in the wild but, never anybody selling them.

Thanks again.

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Gerty

[Guest]

You hit on a sour point for me, deep water fishing.

Mortality is so high on deep water fish I never fish them. Just because the fish appear to go back down "OK", odds are very good they will not adjust the the pressure extremes quickly enough and will roll over and die shortly after.

Reeling fish in slowly is not any help and is a common misconception. That's unless you have a hour or so, per fish, to spare so they can properly Adjust then they just might? That is how long it would take for those deep fish to adjust.

It boils down to the oldest question in modern conscientious fishing. "Just because you can...should you?"

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Backwater Guiding
"ED on the RED"
[email protected]
701-281-2300

[Chris Haley]

They won't get bigger as they go deeper, the pressure will crush them. Things only get bigger when you bring them up from deeper water.

[Try Too Fish]

The question i have is How deep of water can you safely CPR a fish out of?

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Try Too Fish
Forced Too Work!!

[Guest]

Ya im starting to not like it but its kinda like a addiction. Only happens once a year and every year.

As for letting a fish go in deep water. I would say the very maximun would have to be 40'. But like Chris Haley said, You should take a close look at the fish before releasing it.

In the fall it seems in deep water is were the small walleyes hide and in shallow water is were the big boys hide. The biggest I have seen come out of 90' was 19" but on average they are around 14".

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Fish ON!

[Old Guide]

Gerty, you might try some pork frogs like the bass fisherpeople use. I've had some great success trolling them on a modified spinner rig. (river fishing).

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Old Guide Charters
Lake of the Woods
http://fishingminnesota.com/oldguidecharters/
Call Toll Free:1-800-952-(9484)

[Guest]

I'm with backwater eddy leave em alone in 40 feet or plan on eating em. Does pressure double every 33 feet? Do the fish respond accordingly if caught deeper than 33 feet? What about releasing lakers caught in 40 feet? Lakers are different beast right?

[Chris Haley]

Anything over 25ft maybe even 20+ you need to take a close look at the fish. Smaller fish tend to do better than bigger fish, colder water also helps them out. Look in the mouth and if the bladder is coming out, keep them. If you don't see the bladder, let go as soon as you can. If they can't make it down right away, try to help but watch so they don't go to waste.

[Chris Haley]

Also different species are affected differently. Walleyes are tougher than crappies, and you can almost pull an eelpout of a hundred ft and not affect it.

[Guest]

Deep offers opportunity's in certain calender periods no doubt about it. But for me, in fall I look shallow first for active walleye.

On the rivers and prairie lakes that I most often fish the shallow fall pattern will hold true year after year for walleye of all sizes. I have caught well over 130 #10 and better walleye in the fall. All but maybe 4 came from water deeper then 6', day or night.

My 3 largest C&R walleye to date, a 15.5, a 14.11, and a 14.09, all came from less then 3' of water. So you can see why I am convinced shallow is the place to be for me in the fall.

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Backwater Guiding
"ED on the RED"
[email protected]
701-281-2300

[Guest]

I have thrown live frogs in the past, but hooked them in the butt-bone. I found that worked better as they tend to "fight" a hook in the mouth. I used a rubber core sinker about a foot ahead of the hook. The sinker was large enough for them to pull/swim with... but would not pin them down to the bottom. I would cast out and do a slow retreve. Frogs live longer if you let them have a breath every five minutes or so.
Frogs catch Walleye.... I have had great success with them. Lately though I do not see as many frogs out there to grab for bait. The roads used to be full of them in the fall.
Catch-n
Dave Hoggard

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[Guest]

Ya since I really got into fishing couple years ago and now I know a lot already (Thanks to the site and other sorces) I am starting to think about targeting walleyes shallow. I know numbers of big walleyes have come out of shallow water like Backwater Eddy said. And its seems the small fish go to deep water to stay away from the jaws of the BIG fish (up shallow) anyways.
If I may ask under this topic: What is your #1 bait to target shallow eye's? I was mainly thinking crankbaits at night or in low light. Is there any other "hot" method I could try?

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Fish ON!

[Guest]

Big shallow minnow bait cranks (4-8" cranks)and very big scented plastics on jigs are my top two picks.

I seldom carry live bait, except for the stray frog early in the fall. Late fall early winter I will tip jigs with a pinched off minnow if need be.

The plastics I like most are 4-5" tube baits and 4-5" sassy shads. Keep the jig weight to a minimum so you gain neutral buoyancy with the big tube baits. The shads need some weight to work properly, yet just enough to get them down and swim well on the retrieve.

You want the bulk with the jigs, but let the baits swim naturally and fall slowly. Walleye are suckers for that fluid slow action in the fall.

Be darn sure you have a large solid/quality jig hook with plenty of gap open to do it's job.

One last tip that I feel is the most important one, and one that many guys skip, and subsequently miss that dream fish. Carry a good hook file or hone with you at all times.

Cranks and jigs bump bottom often, the hooks get dulled/tweaked easily. Nothing is more impotent then the hook, nothing. Take a break and touch them up with a few pass's of the hone frequently.

It will pay off when a sumo THUMPS that jig or crank and that hook finds it's mark smoothly.

The Super-Do jigs I just received have been impressing me. Very strong jig and the weedless action keeps the snags to a minimum. They have a nice action on the bulky tube baits.

Another good jig for pitching shallow is a wedge style stand-up jig that has the a good 4 O/T hook. I got some stand-up wedge style jigs from Jeff Beckwith at Scenic Tackle last season and they were great, very strong with good durable paint. They proved great for "Frog Fling'n" and larger Sassy Shad style baits. For 5-6" Sassy Shads I get Owner Darter jigs with 4-5 O/T hooks, expensive but well worth it.

Remember light wire jig-hooks are not for Sumo walleye, they will straighten them buggers out under their own dead weight!

Hope this helps.

Ed

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Backwater Guiding
"ED on the RED"
[email protected]
701-281-2300

[This message has been edited by Backwater Eddy (edited 09-18-2003).]

[Guest]

Thanks for the Reply Backwater Eddy!
I got some baits in mind that I think will work perfect for the job.

I got some sassy shads (black/pearl) that i will try with a northland weedless jig or a plain 1/8oz jig. I got a hook sharpener and i know having sharp hooks is very important!

For cranks right now I got some storm lures, jointed J-11 raps, tail dancers, and some jointed shap raps that should work. For the cranks Im using some 10/2 lb power-pro. I tried that stuff out for the 1st time last weekend and i love the stuff! Used it for trolling some cranks and did they ever go deep. A lot deeper than the 30/12 lb line I got on my pike rod.

I might be going fishing this weekend so I probably will try casting some cranks shallow. Since last weekend I caught some nice eyes trolling in 10'.

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Fish ON!