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After snakehead fishing last weekend I was in the mood to keep throwing the frog around, so I decided to hit one of my favorite lakes yesterday. I arrived at 5 am, well before the sun was up. I blindly threw a Megabass popper in the dark to no avail. When twilight started illuminating the lake I could make better casts but still no luck - plus my braid kept getting fouled on the front hook of the popper which was getting very annoying. So I put on a frog and started hitting the lily pads and it wasn't long until I got the first fish of the day - a chunky largemouth that was holding tight to a fallen tree in between the lily pads and the shore (click on the thumbnails to see full-size pictures, I'm trying a new image hosting method):
Not long after that I got a second fish on the frog - I don't remember exactly where this one was hiding but I suspect it was an almost identical scenario as the first one but the fish was even prettier:
I caught a third bass on the frog, a tiny guy, and then the sun broke the tree line and it started to get hot. I started throwing a 5" swimbait around in the shallows and caught 2 bass. Then I threw a crankbait in deeper water and managed a small crappie but no bass. Despite the sun in the sky I went back to throwing the frog because I found a little corner of the lake that looked too good not to. A few casts later and I caught.... a bullfrog!
Not five minutes later I caught another one. These little guys were feisty. As soon as my frog hit the water I could see them make a bee-line for it. I'd try to move it away from them but that only made them attack it faster. Luckily they were pretty easy to unhook and I sent them back on their way.
Now it was really getting hot so I put the frog away and put on a worm. I quickly figured out that the ticket to using this worm was to cast it as close to cover (lily pads, fallen timber) as possible and let it drop. If the fish didn't hit it on the drop then they weren't there. I caught 2 nice bass and a pickerel with this tactic.
All in all it was a great day. I caught 7 bass, 1 crappie, 1 pickerel, and 2 bullfrogs. The sun stayed mostly behind clouds which kept the heat down a little, there was no wind which is absolutely unheard of for this lake, and I had the lake all to myself which is also nearly unheard of, especially on a Saturday.
Not long after that I got a second fish on the frog - I don't remember exactly where this one was hiding but I suspect it was an almost identical scenario as the first one but the fish was even prettier:
I caught a third bass on the frog, a tiny guy, and then the sun broke the tree line and it started to get hot. I started throwing a 5" swimbait around in the shallows and caught 2 bass. Then I threw a crankbait in deeper water and managed a small crappie but no bass. Despite the sun in the sky I went back to throwing the frog because I found a little corner of the lake that looked too good not to. A few casts later and I caught.... a bullfrog!
Not five minutes later I caught another one. These little guys were feisty. As soon as my frog hit the water I could see them make a bee-line for it. I'd try to move it away from them but that only made them attack it faster. Luckily they were pretty easy to unhook and I sent them back on their way.
Now it was really getting hot so I put the frog away and put on a worm. I quickly figured out that the ticket to using this worm was to cast it as close to cover (lily pads, fallen timber) as possible and let it drop. If the fish didn't hit it on the drop then they weren't there. I caught 2 nice bass and a pickerel with this tactic.
All in all it was a great day. I caught 7 bass, 1 crappie, 1 pickerel, and 2 bullfrogs. The sun stayed mostly behind clouds which kept the heat down a little, there was no wind which is absolutely unheard of for this lake, and I had the lake all to myself which is also nearly unheard of, especially on a Saturday.
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