How to Fish a Frog Lure for Bass: The Topwater Bite You Don’t Want to Miss

Share this article with every angler you know!

Pretty early on in everyone’s fishing career, they learn about trick worms, the Texas rig, crankbaits, and all the other staples that are easy to use, effective, and usually pretty cheap. 

However, one type of lure tends to cause problems for beginners and intermediate anglers to the point that they stop trying to use it. They see the pros catching giant hogs on it, but every time they toss it, they’re just scooting some plastic around without any results. 

That lure is the topwater frog. 

A frog lure can be one of the deadliest lures on the lake, but it can also be a difficult one to master. 

Today, we’re going to go over it in detail. From what it is, to how to rig it and fish it, and even a few of our top recommendations for it. 

Get notified of new bass fishing articles, tips and tricks!

What is a Frog Lure? 

Technically, there are two types of frog lures on the market. You can find soft-plastic frogs that work just like craws with a different presentation. Those aren’t what we’re talking about, and they require a different approach. 

The frogs we’re talking about have a realistic rubber-like body that’s flexible, but it’s more rigid than a standard soft-plastic lure, and it’s hollow. These frogs also tend to have two skirts acting as legs, and the hook system wraps up from the belly to the top of the rear area with a forked hook design. 

These float on the surface, and they won’t sink unless you mess them up badly or a bass tears them up. These are topwater frogs. 

Common Mistakes with Topwater Frogs

We won’t give away too much here because a lot of it will correlate with our guide section, but there are some common reasons people have so much trouble with topwater frogs. 

The two we really want to cover to help you understand why you might be having problems are equipment and timing. 

Topwater frogs are not lures that you can get on any old rod and perform well with. 

That’s why the guy using a medium spinning reel with 10lb mono doesn’t tend to get bites. Likewise, even when beginners do get bites, their timing is off, and it leads to misconceptions about hooks and other parts of the lure. 

We’ll cover that more, but if you’re having issues, one of those is likely the cause. 

What Equipment Do You Need for a Topwater Frog?

Like we said, equipment is a big issue for many anglers. You don’t want to tie a frog lure onto a random rod and go for it. 

The most common recommendation is to use a heavy rod with a fast-action tip. You’ll also want a faster reel setup regardless of which type of reel you use. 

For line, a lot of anglers see a lot of success with a braided line. You usually want a line that floats, because you don’t want to make the frog’s nose dip while you reel it. This is mostly an issue with really heavy lines or light frogs.  Plus, braided line has no stretch and a thin diameter, which makes it easier to drag fish out of heavy weeds and/or lily pads. 

We’ll have recommendations for frogs later on. 

Fishing a Frog Lure for Bass:
Picking the Spot

Your positioning for a frog lure is crucial. You don’t just start casting it toward the middle of the pond and hoping for the best. It won’t work. 

Frogs don’t swim around in the middle of the lake. They’re typically around the banks, enjoying the rocks, moss mats, and lily pads as much as possible. 

To present your frog properly, you’re going to want to fish around those features. Every lake has something suitable, even if it doesn’t have lily pads all over it. Usually, you’ll find the perfect spots around coves, outcroppings, etc. 

To make it easy, just think about what a frog does in the water, and find spots that would make that possible. 

Fishing a Frog Lure for Bass:
The Cast

Your casting method is going to be very different for a frog lure compared to pretty much anything else. 

Frogs don’t just materialize on the water’s surface, and bass know what to expect when they see a frog. They’re some of their favorite meals. 

Instead, frogs tend to be very visible from the water as they sit on rocks, stumps, the bank, and lily pads, and then they take a big leap in. 

You have to replicate that. 

Don’t just toss your frog into the middle of the water. Find a little perch, cast your frog onto it, and let it sit a minute. 

This can be difficult at first. If you’ve been fishing for years, you can probably put a lure anywhere without any issues, but if you’re a beginner, hitting a small rock 50 feet away and sticking the landing can be a pain.

Just keep practicing. 

Also, this isn’t like crankbaits and similar baits, where hitting hard objects can ruin the bait. Your frog will be fine. The advice to avoid hitting things with your cast is null and void here.

Feel free to slap that frog across every hard object you see. The throw is right up against the bank and starts popping over the pads and weeds, pausing occasionally.  In other words, work it just like a frog behaves.  

Fishing a Frog Lure for Bass:
The Presentation

Once it’s on a landing point, your next few moves are crucial. 

First, you want to let that frog sit. A bass might be looking around that area, and you want it to get interested or at least not watch the frog pop up out of nowhere.

When your cast lands on a weed or a lily pad, nearby bass can hear it.  You want to pause for 2 to 5 seconds to give them time to hone in. 

Next, pop your rod tip down to give a short 6-inch move across the surface, then pause for a few seconds before repeating again. If a bass has been watching, it might get swallowed immediately. So, wait a second and see if the water erupts. 

If not, your retrieval is going to be fairly simple. Pop the tip to make it hop forward, reel in the slack, and let it sit for a couple of seconds. 

You can also work a shake or two into the rod to make the frog flail a bit. 

When you’re doing this, it’s best to try to work the frog between spots of cover on the water. Hop it toward a specific area with a purpose. Maybe there’s a moss pad nearby. Pull it toward that. 

Frogs rarely just swim around for the sake of it. When they’re in the water, they’re typically moving between spots. 

Fishing a Frog Lure for Bass:
The Bite and Hookset

Now, you get to enjoy the fun part. Let’s start with the bite. 

If you’re used to the Texas rig or other lures that are beneath the surface when the bass bites them, this can be a difficult thing to figure out. Visually, it’s the most obvious bite in bass fishing. However, it’s harder to work with. 

You‘ll see the water start to sink in like a whirlpool suddenly formed, and the frog will get sucked in. The bass acts like an underwater vacuum, essentially. 

When you first start using this strategy, we know exactly what you’re going to do. We did it, too. You’ll see that the water swells, your lure will barely get beneath the surface, and you’ll yank that rod like your life depends on it. 

Don’t do that.

This is that timing issue we talked about earlier. The lure needs time to get into the mouth of the bass before you set the hook. That takes longer when the bass is sucking it in from the surface. 

We recommend seeing the lure disappear and counting to two. You don’t want to wait too long, because the bass is going to realize it’s not food and spit it, but this method helps beginners keep from rushing the hookset. 

This is probably the hardest part of using a frog lure. Since most other methods require you to set the hook immediately, it’s muscle memory to react that way. That’s on top of the adrenaline rush you have from finally getting some action. 

Unfortunately, we can tell you about it all day, but you’re going to mess up a couple of times. 

Once you get used to it, you’ll start catching bass. 

Which Frogs are Best for Bass Fishing? 

Topwater frogs have grown in popularity over the years. There’s a good reason for that. Not only are they unique, but they create an explosive fight.

The bass tend to erupt from the water, and you get that signature gill flare that every bass angler loves. Bass look the most like the apex predator they are during these intense and acrobatic fights, and frogs make it happen a lot. 

As such, a lot of companies make them now. Some are great, some are just decent, and a few are trash. 

We’re going to cover three of our favorites to help you get started. Don’t forget to get a couple of colors when you buy any of them. They’re just like any other lure when it comes to matching color to the water conditions. 

1: Booyah Pad Crasher

The Booyah Pad Crash is easily the most recognizable of topwater frog lures. We don’t know if they were the first, or if they just got lucky, but they’re what people think of when it comes to frogs. +

They’re high-quality frogs at a great price, too. 

A Booyah Pad Crasher will set you back about $10, comes in a wide variety of patterns, and has great hardware on it. It’s also set up for some of the other tips we’ll be giving.

2: Pad Crasher Junior

The Pad Crasher Junior is the same story as the one above, but it’s smaller. This makes it a bit easier to use on lighter rods, but it’s good for working in tight spaces. 

Everything else is about the same as the normal version. Sometimes, you’ll find it at about half the price, though. It depends on where you shop. 

Both Pad Crashers are available at Tackle Warehouse if you want to pick them up. 

3: SCUM Frog Trophy Series

The SCUM frog is used the same way, but its unique body shape makes it sit lower in the water, and as you reel it back, it splashes more. 

This more intense water disturbance can trigger reaction bites when the other frogs just aren’t working. 

It's also a bit cheaper at about $7 per frog. 

Unique Tips for Fishing a Frog Lure

We’re going to wrap this up with some tips and tricks that can help you catch bass. These go beyond the normal advice, such as fishing near cover or buying a certain frog, and they lean more into the DIY territory that many anglers don’t figure out for years. 

1: Add Rattles 

In the back of any of the frogs we listed, and most of them on the market, you’ll find a hole. That’s meant to drain the frog between casts, but it’s big enough that you can push a couple of small split shot, glass beads, or similar items into the body of the frog. 

This does two things. 

It’ll make a rattle that attracts bass, and it will also sink the frog slightly. That makes more of a disturbance, too. 

2: Add Scent

Scent is pretty popular in the modern bass fishing world, and you can use it effectively with a frog. 

Squirt your scent into the same hole we just talked about. Usually, scent just washes off in a few seconds, and you don’t get much out of it. With this method, it slowly leaks out and creates a trail. 

This is one of the best ways to use scent liquids. 

3: Cut a Leg

Frog lures are made to wobble a little when reeled in or jerked, but they don’t usually do it a lot. 

An easy fix for this is to cut one of the legs almost in half. 

It helps create an injured look, and the lure will move more dramatically. 

Get Some Frog Lures in Your Tackle Box Today

The team here at Bass Forecast loves frogs. They’re fun to use, and the fight is always exciting.
Hopefully, these tips will take you from missing every hookset to reeling in your personal best. Just stick with it. And, if you’re looking to improve your chances of catching bass, download our fishing app today!