Gearing up for Frogging in Heavy Slop and Cover
Some of the hardest fights in bass fishing are those battles fought in heavy lillypads, reeds, rice and other dense cover. One of the worst feelings is losing a trophy bass simply because you couldn’t get it out of the pads quickly enough or because you used gear that wasn’t heavy enough. Don’t take any chances losing your biggest bass this summer and gear up for heavy cover frogging.
Here is what I use to increase my odds of winning the battle:
The Set Up
7’11” Thorne Bros. Predator HMF Rod (Mine is named “Swamp Thing”)
Abu Garcia “Rocket” Reel 9:1 Gear Ratio
65 lb. PowerPro Super 8 Slick
The Frogs
Spro Popper Frog in black or white
Spro Brozeback Frog in black or white
For reeds, rice and rushes use the Spro Bronze Eye Frog and switch to the Popper Frog when fishing pads, duckweed and more sparse cover
Bright day = White Frog and Dark Day = Dark Frog
Trim 1/3 of the tailing legs to reduce short strikes and improve walk the dog action
The 7’11” Thore Bros. Predator is key to the setup. You can cast a mile and it has a heavy backbone to allow you to pull bullish bass out of extremely heavy cover. Any reel with at least 7:1 Gear ratio will work well, but the “Rocket” has the fastest retrieve speed to allow you to get the fish up to the surface and into the boat faster. The 65 lb. braid won’t break on the hookset or on a fish.
