Few moments in bass fishing can match watching a largemouth explode through the surface to crush a frog.
You see the bait crawl across a mat, slide beside a lily pad or pause in an open pocket. Then the water erupts—and every instinct tells you to haul back on the rod.
But fishing a frog successfully takes more than throwing one near shallow cover and waiting for a blowup. Where you place the bait, how you work it and when you set the hook can determine whether you land the fish or watch your frog come flying back empty.
Frogs are also only the beginning. Largemouth bass will attack mice, rats, snakes, ducklings and other bizarre-looking topwater baits. Once you understand why a frog works, it becomes easier to understand why bass sometimes lose their minds over something even stranger.
Here’s how to fish a frog for bass—and why you shouldn’t be afraid to experiment with some truly crazy topwaters.
Where to Fish a Frog for Bass
For me, where I throw a frog is more important than the color of the bait or how closely it resembles a real amphibian.
Could a bass rise from deep, open water to hit one? Absolutely. But I have much more confidence throwing frogs around shallow cover, especially where vegetation or wood reaches the surface.
Some of the best places to fish a frog include:
- Lily pads and duckweed
- Matted grass or weeds
- Surface moss and algae
- Laydowns, stumps and flooded wood
- Open holes surrounded by vegetation
- Edges where open water meets surface cover
- Shady pockets beneath overhanging trees
Frogs are among the most useful topwater bass baits because their double hooks ride tight against the body, allowing them to move through vegetation that would foul many hard baits..
That weedless design lets you put a frog in places where bass feel secure—and where they might not see many other lures.
Work the Frog Between Vegetation and Open Water
One of my favorite situations is a shallow area where I can move a frog repeatedly between open water and surface vegetation.
I’ll run the lure across an open pocket, pull it onto the vegetation and crawl it across the top. Then I’ll let it fall back into the water before working it onto the next patch of cover.
Those transitions seem to drive bass wild.
A frog dropping from a grass mat into an open hole can look like an easy meal trying to escape. The same thing can happen when the bait climbs out of the water and starts crawling across the vegetation again.
Pay close attention whenever the frog reaches:
- The edge of a grass mat
- An isolated hole in the vegetation
- The end of a laydown
- A point or irregularity in a pad field
- A transition from thick cover to open water
Those are natural ambush points. Pause the frog, twitch it in place or let it sit for a moment before continuing the retrieve.
There’s a lake near my house with a large bay where the water is a uniform 5 feet deep beside a drop-off into 12 feet. I head to that bay on summer evenings because it becomes choked with millfoil. The vegetation covers much of the surface, but there are plenty of openings where bass can pounce. It’s perfect for throwing topwater baits such as frogs and mice.
I caught a 4-pounder there one summer that is burned into my memory because it produced one of the best chases I’ve ever experienced. I threw a Googan Squad Filthy Frog as far as I could into the center of the bay and started twitching it back toward me.
Again and again, a bass tried to bust through the surface mats to get the frog. I could see the vegetation bulge with every attempt, but the fish couldn’t break through.
Whenever the frog reached open water, I was certain the bass would hit. It didn’t. The fish lunged at the bait only when it was moving across a mat. I don’t know how many openings and patches of vegetation the frog crossed while that same scenario played out.
As the frog neared the boat, I was about to pick it up and cast again when the bass finally inhaled it as it fell into a crack in the vegetation. The strike caught me completely by surprise, but I managed to set the hook and land the fish.
You can’t tell me there’s a more exciting way to catch a largemouth.
READ MORE: Topwater Bass Fishing in May: Baits and Tactics for Heart-Thumping Strikes
How to Fish a Frog Across Heavy Grass Mats
Sometimes you’ll encounter a solid grass mat with little or no visible water. These are excellent places to fish a frog.
Bass often use the space beneath the mat for shade, cover and ambush opportunities. A frog moving across the vegetation can create enough disturbance to attract a fish from underneath.
Sometimes a bass will blow a hole through the mat and completely engulf the lure. Other times, you’ll see the vegetation shake or bulge as a fish tries to break through but can’t quite reach the frog.
That builds anticipation because you know the fish is there and trying to get the bait.
Keep the frog moving, but watch for thinner areas, small holes and other irregularities in the vegetation. Those softer spots may give a bass an easier path to the surface.
Also pay attention to movement beneath the mat. Shaking grass, scattering baitfish or a wake pushing under the vegetation can reveal a bass before it strikes.
READ MORE: How to Fish a Wacky Rig for Summer Bass
Change Your Frog Retrieve Until Bass Respond
There is no single frog retrieve that works every day.
Sometimes bass want a fast, steady presentation that gives them little time to inspect the bait. Other days, they prefer a slow crawl or a series of short twitches and long pauses.
You have to experiment until the bass reveal what they want.
Try several retrieves:
- A steady crawl across vegetation
- Quick twitches followed by a pause
- A fast retrieve that creates constant commotion
- A side-to-side walk in open water
- Long pauses beside holes, edges or pieces of wood
- A stop-and-start retrieve across mixed cover
The walking retrieve can be especially effective in open pockets or along the outside edge of vegetation. Short downward twitches on semi-slack line can make the frog move from side to side without traveling far forward.
When one retrieve produces a strike, repeat that cadence around similar cover.
Even a missed blowup provides useful information. It tells you where the fish was positioned and what combination of speed and action triggered it.
Don’t Set the Hook Too Soon
One of the hardest parts of learning how to fish a frog for bass is resisting the urge to set the hook the instant a fish strikes.
The natural reaction to seeing the water explode is to haul back immediately. Occasionally, that works. Often, it results in the frog flying out of the fish’s mouth.
A bass may initially grab only part of the lure, knock it into the air or miss it completely. Setting the hook at the instant of the blowup can pull the bait away before the hooks are inside the fish’s mouth.
When you see the strike, resist that first impulse.
Lower the rod slightly, reel down and wait until you feel the fish’s weight or see the line begin to move. Then drive the hooks home with a firm hookset.
A quick “one Mississippi” count can help train you not to react too soon, but don’t treat the count as an absolute rule. Feeling the fish is a better cue than automatically waiting a fixed number of seconds.
Trust me when I say this is harder than it sounds. When you see that strike, every fiber of your being will want you to swing.
Wait until the fish has the bait. Then haul back.
Best Rod, Reel and Line for Frog Fishing
The best frog-fishing setup depends largely on the amount of vegetation and wood you expect to encounter.
A rig that works around scattered grass and open pockets may not have enough power to pull a bass through a solid mat.
Best Rod, Reel and Line for Frog Fishing
The best frog-fishing setup depends largely on the amount of vegetation and wood you expect to encounter.
A rig that works around scattered grass and open pockets may not have enough power to pull a bass through a solid mat.
Sparse Cover and Open Water
For lighter frogs and surface baits around scattered vegetation, open pockets and sparse cover, a practical starting point is:
- A 7- to 7-foot, 4-inch medium-heavy rod
- Fast action
- A sturdy baitcasting reel capable of picking up line quickly
- 30- to 40-pound braided line
This setup provides enough tip to cast and work lighter baits while still offering the backbone needed to drive home the double hooks found on most hollow-body frogs.
Heavy Mats, Pads and Thick Cover
When fishing thick grass mats, heavy lily pads or nasty wood, many frog anglers step up to:
- A 7-foot, 3-inch to 7-foot, 6-inch heavy or extra-heavy rod
- Fast action
- A sturdy baitcasting reel
- 50- to 65-pound braided line
That heavier braid is a common choice because once a bass is hooked in thick vegetation, the angler may have to pull both the fish and several pounds of grass back to the boat.
I prefer 30-pound braid, even in heavy cover. I regularly use it to cut through vegetation and haul bass out along with several pounds of grass. Many dedicated frog anglers choose heavier line for added pulling power, but 30-pound braid has worked well for me.
Regardless of line strength, braid is especially useful for frog fishing because it has very little stretch. That helps transfer the force of a long-distance hookset directly to the hooks.
Beyond Frogs: Crazy Topwaters Bass Will Attack
Frogs might be the most familiar surface creatures used for bass, but largemouths don’t limit their meals to amphibians.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service describes largemouth bass as voracious eaters and notes that even terrestrial animals such as snakes and mice can become prey.
That helps explain why anglers catch bass on topwater baits shaped like:
- Mice
- Rats
- Snakes
- Ducklings
- Chipmunks
- Birds
- Insects
- Other animals that occasionally enter the water
Jake Villwock, owner and head guide of Relentless Fly Fishing, believes many of those strikes are instinctive.
“They’re reacting to something causing commotion in their safe space,” he said. “Sometimes it’s because it’s the food that’s readily available, but most times it’s opportunistic feeding.
“Or it’s simply a reaction bite to something that makes them mad.”
Villwock thinks bass can be especially vulnerable to unusual lures, such as mice.
“It’s something they don’t see too often, and it’s a big meal, so they lose their minds over the opportunity to eat it,” he said.
Whether a bass sees food, an intruder or simply something moving through its territory, the result can be the same: a violent reaction strike.
Custom lure companies such as Shank Bait Co. take that idea to an extreme with detailed baits shaped like rodents, snakes and other animals.
Don’t Fish Every Crazy Topwater Like a Frog
A hollow-body frog and a hard-bodied mouse or snake might all stay near the surface, but they are not necessarily interchangeable.
A weedless frog is designed to come through pads, moss and heavy vegetation with minimal snagging. Many hard-bodied wake, glide and rodent baits use exposed treble hooks.
Those exposed-hook baits are generally better suited to:
- Open water
- The outside edges of vegetation
- Sparse grass
- Laydowns with enough room to avoid snagging
- Seawalls and riprap
- Overhanging trees
- Open lanes through cover
Always check how a particular lure is designed to run before throwing it into thick vegetation.
A realistic mouse or snake might make an incredible wake across open water, but it probably doesn’t belong on top of the same solid grass mat where you would throw a hollow-body frog.
That difference would also make the Shank Bait Co. photos a useful part of the article—not simply decoration. They show readers that unconventional topwaters can take many forms and require different presentations.
Summer Is Prime Time to Throw a Frog
Summertime is made for throwing frogs when you’re hunting largemouth bass.
Healthy vegetation, shallow cover and bass positioned around shaded ambush points create ideal conditions for explosive topwater strikes.
Frogs also fit naturally into a broader mid-summer bass fishing plan and can produce throughout the day, especially where thick vegetation or overhead cover gives fish shade and security.
Start with the fundamentals. Put the frog around cover, work it across transitions, experiment with your retrieve and wait until you feel the fish before setting the hook.
Then, when you’re ready to try something different, tie on a mouse, rat, snake or another bizarre surface bait.
The bass might see a meal. It might see an intruder. It might simply see something moving in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Whatever the reason, put that bait in front of a hungry largemouth—or one with an attitude—and get ready.
