I Didn't Take August Off This Year

18.75 caught 8-26

I blogged about 25 fishing trips I took in August over at the Fishing Log Blog.  That is by far a record for fishing trip blogs in August.  Why did I get out so much this year in August?

1. The fishing was good for the most part; I only got skunked on 2 trips out of the 27 I took.
2. I have the Trophy in the water at the lake place;   It's a superior platform for me to fish out of and not having to deal with the hassle of launching from the trailer is huge for me as most of my trips were two hours or less.  It's no more difficult than fishing at the GOMH.
3. They were biting on frogs, my favorite way to catch 'em.

Good Night On The Slop Slip On Bulldog (Thursday Night)

Headed North

5:00-9:30PM
Conditions: Temps in the low 70's, mostly sunny, wind out of the NNE dying down to nothing.

I put in at Holy Family Access and headed North into the wind.  I missed my first bite in the open area in the reeds past the dock with a pontoon.  I got my first bass out of the pads behind the reeds.

14.5" Sweet Revenge Mad Maxx

I traded of 14.5" and 13.5" fish on the Mad Maxx and I got a 12.5" on the Hack Attack Jig with a breen Chigger Craw trailer.  Then I got this beast.

28.5" Mad Maxx

I got into a good area for prime time.

15.5" Out of shallow slop

16" Mad Maxx

I caught about 10 fish and missed 4 or 5 bites.  On my way back in I missed one, then got my biggest of the night, a real chunk.

17.5" Mad Maxx

I was off the water by 9:35PM

I ended with
15 bass
1 Pike

Bass Snatchers Last Tournament of the Year Tomorrow

Well this year has gone a lot like last year for me in the fishing department of my life.  I got preoccupied with other things and I haven't done any fishing in the month of September.  That will change on Sunday morning when I will be fishing at the Whitefish Chain for the last Bass Snatcher Tournament of the season.  Obviously I didn't get to pre-fish with my boater, long time club member Herman W..  I fished my very first tournament in the Snatchers Club with Herman back in 2008 at Farm Island Lake.  He is quite a character and I'm sure I will have a good time whether or not we catch fish.

I need a motivation shot, because right now I could care less about doing well in the tournament.  I just want to catch a few fish, whether they be bass or pike it doesn't matter to me I'll be happy.

Update: I found my motivation.  This fish crushed it.

16.5" Jumpin Bullhead.

Bulldog & Platte

I got out fishing tonight from shore at 8PM.  First stop was Bulldog where I got this 14" largie on a Yum Wooly  Bug.

Next I headed to Jenny's where I got 2 bass and missed 1 or 2 more.

16.75"

Same Fish

Last stop was the Grumpy Old Man Hole.  Willard was there with another old guy.  John W. was there and he got a limit with the help of a jumpin bullhead from me.  Caught on the "Big Sexy" Mad Maxx same as at Jenny's.

Tonight on Platte

Tonight I fished Platte Lake from 5:30PM to 9:30PM.  I started out across from the access in the vicinity of the   maidencaine. I didn't get anything until I got up closer to shore in the Reeds.. I got two 14 inchers on consecutive casts.  I got a 15 on the Grass Pig.  It was the only one I got on the Grass Pig.  The rice is up enough to foul the Grass Pig so I didn't throw it much.  I got into the rushes up by shore and caught some on the Horny Toad and a yellow Spro Bronze Eye Frog.  I fished near a tree that was fallen into the lake and I got a pike.

22"

 I went around the point to check a little river inlet, but a pontoon was sitting on it, so I headed up to the NW Corner. I managed to pooch my first half a dozen bites or more on the Horny Toad before landing this 16", which was my big fish of the night.

I then managed to miss a couple of more good bites.  Of coarse I caught a 12 incher that smacked the Toad.

I moved to the North Point and got 14.5 on the Toad and a couple on the Spro.  I made one last move to the more East North Point and got a 15 on the Toad and a 14" on the Spro.  Over all I missed a lot of bites.

Bass Junkies Frog Pond Blog

The guys at Bass Junkies Fishing Addiction have added a new blog to their slate.  It's all about the frogs.

Another Frog, Booyah! (And Another)

I see that a new hollow body frog has hit the market that I wasn't aware was coming. It's the Booyah Pad Crasher and it sells for a very reasonable $5.79 a frog at Tackle Warehouse. It only comes in a 1/2oz size and is suppose to have really soft plastic body. The frog has a drain hole so it's not very likely to sink. Not sure what kind of hooks. I think they kind of look like the Knoppers frog only not as detailed. The 3 reviews at TW were all positive, but I can't find anything at Tackle Tour or Bass Pro for reviews.

And under the frogs that I will not be trying:
This is the new Jackall Lobee Frog which goes for $12.99 at Tackle Warehouse. At that price I can't believe they are gonna sell very many

In more frog news I have been racking up the deals on Ebay with Spro's, Snag Proofs, and Zoom Horny Toads. I don't think I will every need to buy a Horny Toad again and probably am set for life on hollow bodies at this point, but at $3-$4 a frog I'll pick up as many hollow bodies as I can. Next Spring I am going to need to buy a box for Spro's and a box for Snagproofs. I'm probably going to try to sell off a bunch of the Horny Toads for $2.25 a pack (retail on Horny Toads is $3.50 a pack).

Fishing with Turkey's

Pete was still around today, so we went fishing around 4PM. First we hit Bulldog at Holy Family and got nothing. Pete then suggested we try Erskine and so we went there. I didn't realize the Erskine public access is actually worth fishing. It has some nice pads right out from shore and there is quite a bit of area to fish. Anyway while we were fishing some domesticated turkeys came along and sat down right behind me. Pete was amused by this and took pictures. While the Turkeys were there I had a fish hit at my white Berkley Havoc Grass Pig twice. Somehow I didn't hook up either time. Eventually we left with the turkeys still wanting to follow us.

Next we went to Rock where Pete had 2 bites on his pink spinnerbait. The second fish got caught in the reeds and Pete's line broke. I think I had one hit on the Crawtube, but it dropped it before I could set. It started to rain.

Next we headed to Jenny's where we amazingly couldn't get hit.

Next we headed to our Lake Place where I got a 15"+ on the River2Sea Frog by a clump of pads up by shore. Didn't have the camera with. I had another fish show at the frog, but I couldn't get it to hit a second time. I think it might have been a dogfish.

Bass Snatcher Mississippi River(Lum Park) Pre-fish(Long)

We pre-fished on Wed July 27th

I met my boater Paul at the Lum Park a little after 7AM. He showed a bit late and I took a few casts from the park beach. I did get a bite on the Crawtube, but I didn't hook into anything. Paul has the only Triton in the Baxter Bass Snatchers, almost all the other boats are Rangers.

Anyway Paul said we would start off by taking a tour and we ran up river a long way to Little Rabbit Lake. I was surprised by the clear water in Little Rabbit. We just looked and didn't do any fishing. We saw baitfish activity as the channel from the river entered Little Rabbit. As we were on our way out Paul wanted to take a side channel, but it was filled in with weeds, so we went back out to the river and entered the side channel from a different spot. It was a backwater with rice and pads that went back to a few docks and this is where we started fishing. Nothing.

Next we went back to the river and went to another back channel on the North side of the river. This channel had rice, pads, and a lot of duckweed. Paul pulled a nice bass out of the duckweed on a frog, but that was it. I was throwing a Strike King Rage Toad.

We went back out to the river and drove down aways to another backwater on the North side that's entrance was choked by rice. This was a long backwater with rice, pads, and duckweed. Paul missed a blow up on the frog. I was throwing the Rage Toad and a bubblegum Berkley Havoc Grass Pig. I had what I'm pretty sure was a pike swirl on the pig a couple of times. Paul tried to get it to hit his frog, but it wouldn't. After fishing quite aways in we went out under power of the big motor.

Next we started fishing by drifting along the rice on the main channel on the North shore. After drifting for a while Paul pulled a good bass that just smacked his Crawtube. Ron Lindner advised that I fish with cut off hooks, so I had put tubing over the hooks on some of my lures. I was fishing with a black/chart Terminator Jig with a green pumkin/chart Berkley Havoc Craw Fatty with the tubing on the hook. I thought it wouldn't hurt to stick a fish doing what we were doing because it would be unlikely to come across the same fish doing this in the tournament, so I took the tubing off. Well I got a bite and set into this 19.25" slobberknocker.

With this fish, Paul thought we should try the same thing on the South side of the river, but this time using the trolling motor to move up current. Almost right away Paul pulled a small keeper bass. I started pitching a junebug Crawtube. I did get a couple of bites, but they would only nibble a couple of times and let go. Paul had the same thing happen.

Eventually we moved into a backwater on the South side of the river. Once again it had rice, pads, and lots of duckweed. It looked phenomenal for bass and dogfish. I cycled through a few different things and I put on a gold Strike King Rage Shad. I was really digging working that bait. On one of my casts I got nailed by what I thought was a nice bass, I saw the fish hit. It was holding onto the bait, so I asked Paul if I should hit it and he said yes. Much to my surprise when I brought it in, I found a chunky 24" pike on the end of my line. We fished into this great looking backwater quite aways, but that was the only hit.

Next we moved out and went to a backwater on the North of the river. This one looked a bit different than the other backwaters we had been in. The water was clearer, there was good submergent vegetation, the rice had a good mix from thick to sparse with pads, no duckweed. We also saw quite a bit of baitfish activity. It looked like awesome dipper water, so I threw the Havoc Grass Pig in a couple of different colors. Paul missed a blow up on the frog. I was hauling water with the Grass Pig. A little later Paul pulled in a nice keeper bass on the frog. I decided to throw a spook that didn't have any hooks. The spook got hammered by a fish and we decided we had seen enough for the day and headed in around 1PM. It had been overcast the whole morning and only started to get hot and muggy around noon.

All in all it was a pretty productive pre-fish.

New Frog On the Block!!!

I have a soft spot for hollow body slop frogs and Strike King has introduced the Strike King KVD Sexy Frog. It uses Gammy hooks, has a rattle, and a guy at Tackle Tour reported it has a drain hole, although they don't tout that on the Tackle Warehouse description. Although KVD is not not known as a frogger, I don't think that will matter if it's good frog, which I'm sure it is. I have no plans to buy any, any time soon. I was just looking at my frog collection tonight and I really don't need to add anything unless I can get a bargain.

Cheesehead Bass Fishing Blog

Somehow or another I came across the Fishing Forward™ boys on Facebook, they have a website with blog. One thing they do is video's. Here is there video on Slop Fishing.
The video is almost 10 minutes long, some of the production is pretty good and some of it not so much. Seriously, what is the deal with washing the dishes?

They have a Facebook Page, so go visit and "Like" them.

3 Topwater Slop Frogs the Bait Monkey Wants

These frogs may have been released in 2009, but I wasn't really aware of them. If I see these in my local stores I'm sure I will pick em' up.

This is the Snagproof Ish's Phat Frog. Apparently this frog doesn't drink water and sink. Here is the Tackle Tour Preview. I can't seem to find a weight for this product, I'm guessing a 1/2oz or more.


The Spro Dean Rojas Bronzeye King Daddy is obviously a super sized version of the Rojas Spro Bronzeye. It weighs in at 1 full ounce and is 30% bigger than a normal Bronzeye. It has a 6/0 Gamakatsu Superline Double EWG Hook. Apparently it comes in quite a few less colors than the regular size and Jr. Bronzeye's. I don't know if the bait monkey will get one of these because of the sticker price of $11.99.

The Mad Maxx is a slop frog made by Tru-Tungsten that weighs in at 2/3oz. To me it's body shape looks similar to a River2Sead Bully Wa, which I would consider a good thing. From reading reviews over at Bass Pro Shops, it sounds like this frog walks the dog fairly easy, which is something I think that isn't really true about Spro and Snagproof frogs.

If anybody has used these frogs, I would love to hear what you think of them in the comments.

The Frog Nation

Thanks to bass blog TBrinksFishing.com I was alerted to the website The Frog Nation, which you might guess is all about fishing topwater frogs. It looks like the site is fairly new, but it is off to a good start. If you are a frog fanatic like me, than I recommend signing up.

Move Over Kermit, Here Comes Bass Pro Shops Kermy!

It looks a lot like the Spro Dean Rojas "Kermit" Bronzeye Frog (click on pic to enlarge) but this is the value priced Bass Pro Shops Kermy Frog. Bass Pro is selling it for $4.99, which would be a heck of a value if it's a quality frog. There is only one review up at Bass Pro Shops at the moment. For some reason BPS does not list the weight in the catalog or online.

Another lure that caught my eye in the BPS Spring Angler 2010 Catalog was the Storm Kickin' Stick

This one looks to be another Sebile Magic Swimmer Clone, but unlike the Koppers Livetarget Blueback Herring and the Strike King Sexy Swimmer, the Storm lure goes for under 10 bucks at $9.99. It's 5 inches long and weighs in at 2/3oz. If they carry this thing at Mills Fleet Farm, Mills carries lots of Storm product, than I will certainly be buying one with the gift certificate I got for Christmas

My Top 10 Baits of the 2000's

Ok I know I said I wasn't going to do a retrospective look back at the 2000's decade but then I saw Hellabass do one on his Top 10 Bass Baits of the past Decade . I thought it was a cool idea and so I am going to do my own Top 10 list.


#10 Mann's Minus One- I use all 3 sizes and they have caught many bass and some big pike. I threw thew them a lot more often earlier in the decade and in the latter part of the decade I have used them primarily for going after pike.

#9 Buzzbait- I don't throw buzzbaits a whole lot but they were the key lure for winning the 2008 Fisher of Men Fishing Club Fall Outing Fally WallEE Trophy  and I caught a 5lb bass on the Herb's Dilly Buzzbait this decade.

Top Brands: Herb's Dilly, Northland, Blue Fox.

#8 Rapala Subwalk- The Subwalk gets the nod mainly because I caught these 2 bass on it in one cast and then there is the episode of getting one bit off, retrieving the lure several days later, and then losing that particular bait never to be seen again.

#7 Rattlebaits- This particular family of baits was hot for me early in the decade, but I have developed upper back issues that interfere with me being able to rip the bait.

Top brands: Cordell Spots, Berkley Frenzy, and the venerable Rattletrap

#6 Swim Jigs- I have pounded bass and pike hard over the last couple of years thanks to swim jigs and of coarse there is the episode of The Lost Jig.

Top brands: Bass Pro Shops Tom Monsoor Enticer, Outkast, All-Terrain, Brovarney.

#5 Buzz Toads- This type of bait is #6 because I just love to throw em and a white Sizmic Toad caught one of my Top 5 biggest bass of the decade.

Top Brands: Zoom Horny Toad and Sizmic Toad.

#4 Suspending Jerkbaits- This decade I hammered bass (Larry and Sally), pike, and walleye on suspending jerkbaits. A green Smithwick Dead-Stick Rogue caught one of my Top 5 biggest bass of the decade and I believe a Husky Jerk was probably responsible for my personal best walleye which was caught trolling in the Fall on Mille Lacs.

Top Brands: Rapala Husky Jerk, Rapala X-Rap, Smithwick Dead Stick Rogue, Smithwick Suspending Rogue, and Bomber Long A.

#3 Slop Frogs- Snagproof Tournament Frogs were responsible for my two biggest bass of the decade and accounted for more 4 and 5lb bass than any other lure. Also Mike Thompson caught the biggest pike I witnessed get caught this decade on a Snagproof Frog.
Top Brands: Snagproof, Spro, River2Sea.

#2 Bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke- I have caught a lot of bass (mostly Larry's but some Sally's too) on Zoom Super Flukes over the past 10 years and it has been clutch for me in tournaments. My Bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke is responsible for my 3rd place finish and Lunker at the 2008 Baxter Bass Snatcher Club Tournament at Serpent Lake (4/02), Big Bass and Tournament win at a Fishers of Men Club Tournament on Rush Lake (20.5"), My 3rd Place in the 2004 Excel Singles Tournament at Rabbit Lake, and was partially responsible for my 2004 Team Bass win at Bone Lake, WI; there is more but those are the biggest Super Fluke highlights.

#1 Berkley Frenzy Popper- Some of my most fun and prolific times on the water this decade involved the now discontinued Berkley Frenzy Popper. Fortunately for me I snapped up lots of Frenzy Poppers off Ebay before they were discontinued.

Frog Rods

Talkin Froggin at Futurebass.com BB...
Frog Rods: I use the 7'3" St. Croix Avid and it is by far the best frog rod I've ever used. They claimed this rod a Med Hvy. They are no longer made:(, Gulp! better not break any more of them. Glad I have 2)

There are a number of manufacturers that are now making rods specifically for frog fishing.

St. Croix Legand Tournament SlopNFrog Rod is a 7" Heavy Fast ($240)

Bass Pro has a Johnny Morris Signature Series Frog Rod that is 7'2" Xheavy Xfast ($170). That same profile is also found in their Nitro Big Bass Rods ($150) and Extreme line ($100).

G. Loomis Frog Casting Rod 863C 7'2" Med Hvy ($230)
Same Profile in GLX ($440)
Loomis has numerous other rods that would probably make good Frog rods in sizes 7',7'1",7'3", and 7'5"

Daiwa Light and Tough Frog Rod 7'4" Hvy Fast ($130)

Kistler Graphite Plus Frog & Slop 7'3" Hvy ($150)

Lamiglass Certified Pro Graphite 7'2" Frog Rod ($185)

Powell Max Flippen Rod 7'3" Med Hvy X-Fast ($200)

Quantum Tour Edition Dean Rojas Frog Rod 7' MH ($190)

Dobyns Champion Series Frog Rod 7'3" Hvy XFast ($190)

Team All-Star Big Boy 7'2" Med Hvy Fast ($120)

Shimano Cumara Rods have 2, 7'2" Med Hvy models that would probably be awesome Frog Rods ($220)

Bass Fishing without a rod???

I am sorry but the idea of catching bass without a rod has exactly zero appeal to me. In the winter I really don't enjoy tip up fishing that much. I don't really care for the line stripping that is done in fly fishing either. I love the feel of the tug on the rod and playing the fish with a winding reel.

UltimateBass.com blog has some good articles on worm fishin, pre-spawn and reel care...

Slop Frog News:

I've been over at Cabela's looking at lures and reading some product reviews. I was reading reviews on the Spro Bronze Eye Frog. A re-occuring theme in the reviews and the #1 complaint about the bait was difficultly with hook ups. Now bass do miss topwater lures outright 10-15% of the time and you don't have a chance for a hook up in that case. But if the fish does get the frog with proper gear you should hook up and probably catch the fish 80% of the time or more. I think people are probably not using heavy enough equipment and aren't doing a wicked enough hookset. Braided line is a must along with a long rod with a lot of back bone. I use a 7'3" St. Criox Avid Flippen stick and have found this rod to be perfect for Slop Froggin'. There are a number of rods out there now designed specifically for Slop Frog fishing. I say if your not hooking up it's a failure of the fisherman and his equipments, not on the Bronze Eye Frog.

Speaking of Frogs, Cabela's has come out with it's own house brand Chuck-It Frog.

It is a handsome frog and at $5 bucks a pop, I'll have to try it.

Another New Frog is the River2Sea Bully Wa Frog

This frog is supposed to be excellent for walking the dog. At $6 a pop, I'll have to give these a try too.

Smith Mountain Day Final & Platte/Sullivan Report

Congratulations to rookie Casey Ashley on his victory at Smith Mountain Lake!

BassFan Story...

BassFan Big Stick John Murray...

Fantasy Bass Fishing Notes: Well John Crews managed to move up to 8th which helped out BP 1 considerably. This tournament hopefully will be the low point of the season for the BP boys. Thanks Morris ya shmuck.

BPboys Score 193, overall place 4201 drop of 1,267places!! In MN Fantasy Bass league dropped from 10th to 18th.

BP1: Score 297, overall place 377 drop of 36 places. MN Fantasy Bass League still #1.


My Sunday Morning on Platte/Sullivan: Not the biggest guy in the world but I decided to take his picture anyway.
Once again my big fish of the day is a 17incher

The Story: I got up at 4:40am and was on the water by 5:20. I forgot to tie the rope off on the trailer, so I sent the boat off into the lake. I ended up wading in to get it, thankfully the area around this access is shallow and sandy. If it would have come to it there was a boat putting in after me. It was a sunny and clear morning with a light SE breeze, but mostly it was perfectly calm.

I first hit the Crossroads reed point, didn't get a bite. Next stop was the PRO river mouth. I got a 16", 15", and 12" (picture 1) on the Spro Bronze Eye Frog. Instead of following the river in, I decided to run to Platte. My first stop was just North of the GOMH fishing the Western shore. I managed to pick up a 15" there, then headed on to the North shore of Platte. The North end of Platte looked extremely fishy but all I caught were the 17" and a 11". Around 8am I headed back to the launch.

Had the GPS out in the boat today and the trophy did manage to hit 20mph, but mostly top end was 19mph.