Line for frogging?

[mainbutter]

I've decided that this year I need to fish more topwater lures, in particular artificial frogs and WTDs. I had such a blast last year with panfish poppers on my fly rod, it'd be fun to have one spinning rod rigged up at all times for topwaters.

I typically set up all my rods with braid and a 20 or 25lb fluoro leader. It breaks the line-to-lure visibility and has great bite protection against esox. However, with fluoro's tendancy to sink, this is probably not a great idea for topwaters.

I'm thinking of simply spooling up with some mono, especially since it's affordable, and seems less visible than straight up 65lb braid. Will just straight mono work well with topwaters? How heavy of a lb test should I go for pulling fish out of vegetation, and possibly providing a tad bit of bite-protection from pike?

[BTL]

In my experience, line visibility is not really a factor in frogging. I use 50lb braid whether I'm fishing heavy mats in dirty Potomac river water, or casting into bulrushes in a gin clear Minnesota lake. Can't remember ever having a frog bitten off, but I haven't tangled with many pike over 7lbs or so.

[Cecil]

Go 50-65# braid. Don't mess with mono on frogs.

On regular topwaters, I use 12# mono

[goblueM]

Yep, mono is nasty when frogging in thick cover. I use 50 pound power pro, tie direct to the frog. No leader

[Aaron Carrell]

Personally, I think that 90% of the time line visibility when fishing a topwater doesn't matter whatsoever. Topwaters are typically going for a pure reaction bite. If you're fishing a hollow body frog, its usually going to be in areas with enough weed cover that your line will be obscured anyways. If fishing open water, you're most likely walking the dog or using a buzzfrog which is moving so fast that I can't imagine a difference either way. Sure on super clear lakes and with smallies, you might be doing alot more pauses with a WTD lure, but even then I haven't found much of a difference. I've fished side by side with another guy on a smallie lake in WI that was 15-20' clarity. He was using mono and I was using 30lb powerpro near sunset. I outfished him with the exact same Zara Spook, 20:5. Could've been technique, but I've seen it happen enough to think that the line isn't making a difference except that it may have improved my lure's action enough to get those extra bites.

I've used all mono before about 4-5 years ago and I would absolutely never go back. I use 100% Power Pro for all my topwater uses nowadays, even walk the dog lures. I get frustrated with the stretch allowed when trying to keep my steady walking action, but it does take extra patience on the hooksets (much like hollow body frogs).

I have 2-3 rods that I typically will switch between depending on the type of topwater I want to use. 2 of these rods are fairly multipurpose, but my pure frog rod has a Spro Bronzeye or Bronzeye Popper tied onto it 100% of the time all year long with 65lb PP.

I also don't think you're going to gain much with any line that you use to prevent bite-offs from pike when using most bass sized topwaters. In my experience, pike will typically completely miss or snip the back end of the lure, or absolutely wolf the whole thing down and theres a 90% chance of your line just slicing right through. If anyone has a better suggestion in that respect I sure would love to hear it. I've considered putting a ToothyCritter leader up on some frogs when fishing pike-heavy waters, but I just find it hard to justify since pike bites are much more rare for me.

Personally, my recommendations:

Hollow body frogging or anything in the thick stuff: 50-65lb PowerPro

All other topwater: 30lb PowerPro

[mainbutter]

alright then I guess I'm already set up to rock and roll, thanks guys.

[Friar_Tuck]

mono will equal disappointment~take the adcive on spooling 50-65# braid. mono stretches, need to be able to set those frog hooks home. plus braid helps cut/rip pads also when the fish get wrapped around one.

a pad stem is rated somewhere around 16lbs of breaking strength. so you get a fish wrapped around a couple pad stems and well, you need have that heavy braid to horse that fish out.

i use high vis yellow braid myself and just take a green sharpie and color the last 7ft or so.

plus you do want the floating aspect of braid to help minimize your line from sinking and getting tangled up in veg.

[EBass]

K good - I echo the above 50lb braid, but I have been getting away with 30lb Sufix.

[MuntzAngling]

I prefer a large spinning reel and 20 lb Power Pro. Distance will improve on your casts with this line thickness. A rod with backbone and keeping the tip high to the sky will help guide the fish through the lillies and into the boat.

[Larson15]

50-65lb braid powerpro and nothing less.

[corncob]

I've been using 30 and 40 lb braid Stren and never broken off, fishing in pads and rice......Don't know why 65lb is really neccesary....I've caught numbers of 5 lb bass and the attached vegetation.....You guys with the 65lb braid must be brutal when your winching em to the boat.......

[DeBo101]

I've always used 30lb braid. I think 50 or 65 would be better though. Not for the extra break strength but the thicker diameter will be less likely to dig in to the spool after a hard tussle and hook set in the heavy stuff.

[Aaron Carrell]

I've been using 30 and 40 lb braid Stren and never broken off, fishing in pads and rice......Don't know why 65lb is really neccesary....I've caught numbers of 5 lb bass and the attached vegetation.....You guys with the 65lb braid must be brutal when your winching em to the boat.......

I've honestly lost track of how many times I've seen 30lb break in my boat. I used 30lb up till about 3 years ago and I'll never go back. A buddy of mine that fishes with me regularly refuses to make the switch, and he probably breaks off at least 4-5 times every year on fish in some really thick stuff. Sometimes we get carried away with really horsing a fish in out of that stuff, but why risk it either way. You gain a little casting distance for sure w/ the smaller diameter, but its not worth the trade-offs for me, especially when money may be on the line in our league.

[Wayne Ek]

50-65lb braid powerpro and nothing less.

+1

The only thing I could add is casting distance. When I'm fun fishing or pre-fishing with a frog, I will make longer casts. Heavy cover, light cover it really doesn't matter much to me. But come tournament days I make my casts as short as possible, without spooking the guppies. Once you get a piggy on in heavy cover the shorter the distance between her and the boat,the better the chance you will have of landing her.

[delmuts]

For most of my top waters i use 30# PP, but where i have to deal with northerns i've been using a 10" flouro leader where the snap has been replaced with a split ring. This rig comes thru weeds much better than having a snap. The extra weight doesn't seem to pull the lure down much.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

For hollow body frogs, 50 lb braid minimum. Ive had 30 lb braid fail several times so I switched to 65lb and then most recently 50 lb. Used 50 the last two season with no breaks, so I feel safe recommending it as the bare minimum. You're going to want a heavy action rod (baitcaster) for this type of fishing.

Walk the dog lures are a different approach all together. For fishing these types of lures Id go with a medium or medium heavy baitcaster and 10 or 12 lb mono to get the best results.

[wlmrs]

30lb power pro has always gotten the job done for me.

[delmuts]

If i'm fishing the edges of weeds, then i go with my flippin stick and 30# braid. But if i'm going to be casting back into the nasty stuff i bring out the 8' XH with 80# briad.