Whether you are a newb, bank beater, or seasoned bass angler, one lure you must carry at all times is the topwater frog. Topwater frogs are easy to fish and effective in all areas of the country. They also elicit some of the most explosive and exciting bass blowups you’ll ever experience.
Thanks to such popularity, there are hundreds of models to choose from, so you might be wondering which is the best topwater frog for bass fishing? The good news is we have fished with enough frogs to know which types and brands work best and provide the best value. Read this guide to learn which frogs and colors are best for bass.
The 3 Types of Hollow Body Frogs
The first thing to know is there are actually three types of topwater frogs. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, but most beginners should start with the walking frogs and add to their bait box as needed.
- Walking Frogs: The classic topwater frog baits. You can fish them as fast or as slow as you’d like. The ability to drag, twitch, walk the dog, or burn the bait over the nastiest of cover makes the traditional hollow body frog such an effective bait. There are dozens of manufacturers, in every imaginable color and pattern. Most serious bass fisherman devote an entire tackle tray to storing their frog arsenal. Our Favorite – Livetarget Hollow Body Frog
- Popping Frogs: This style of hollow body frog is an evolution of the traditional frog. By molding in a cupped mouth or a hard plastic lip, the popping frog can spit water, chug bubbles, and even walk back and forth at the same time. A popper creates a little more action, commotion, and sound in the water for when bass are keyed on shad and baitfish. These frogs are typically a little smaller in size compared to the others. Our Favorite – Spro Bronzeye Poppin Frog
- Plopping Frogs: Part hollow body frog, part prop bait, these topwater frogs are relatively new to the bass fishing scene. They have legs that rotate like a prop in place of the traditional skirted legs and cause a great “plopping” style commotion on the surface that bass can’t stand. They are a great alternative for areas with thick cover that would otherwise snag a buzzbait. Our Favorite – Booyah Toad Runner
What are the Best Frog Colors for Bass?
When the first hollow body frog lures came onto the scene, they were green and only green. Today we have more colors and patterns than ever, to point where it’s actually a little confusing as to what color you should choose. Frog color selection is much simpler than you might think when you consider these basic concepts. First, frogs are usually fished in heavy cover where a bass is not likely to inspect your frog’s colors. Second, most frogs are going to be shades of white, green, or yellow. Finally, a topwater frog can also imitate baitfish like shad and bluegill. You can condense almost all frog colors and patterns into one of these groups: Black, White, and Natural.
- Black: Black and any dark colored frog are great for bright days and thick mats where the bass will burrow under the veggies looking for bluegill to snack on. Black creates a nice silhouette that can be more easily seen and tracked under the canopy.
- White: Light colored frogs are best for imitating live frogs and baitfish like shad. If you ever see a fish with a shad hanging out its gullet, tying on a white frog can be the ticket. White is also excellent in crummy weather. For whatever reason, when clouds and rain create low light conditions, a white frog can be stellar.
- Green/Brown/Yellow (Natural): These colors are more natural and are a great choice when grass and vegetation are thinner and spread out. Green and Brown patterns imitate lots of natural forage and are less likely to spook fish in clearer water.
8 Best Topwater Frog Lures
- LIVETARGET Hollow Body Frog – Livetarget frogs have some of the most lifelike finishes of any topwater frogs. It also has a lively walking action and great hooks.
- Spro Bronzeye Frog – The Bronzeye was designed by the Frog Master himself, Dean Rojas. He’s won hundreds of thousands of dollars fishing his signature frog.
- Strike King KVD Sexy Frog – With a keeled nose and bulging eyes, the Sexy Frog has a sexy walk the dog action.
- Booyah Pad Crasher – The Pad Crasher is extremely popular thanks to excellent hooks and an affordable price.
- River2Sea Bully Wa 2 – The Bully Wa is an awesome smaller sized hollow body frog. It is well balanced and can be worked in whatever way you like.
- Spro Bronzeye King Daddy – The King Daddy is the best big hollow body frog. It’s an inch larger than any other frog lure out there.
- Terminator Walking Frog – The Terminator Walking Frog has a very loyal following amongst frog fishing addicts, thanks to its keeled belly and irresistible action.
- Original Scum Frog – The Original Scum Frog is what many bass fishermen have grown up fishing. It has a skirt rather than legs and is fantastic for pulling, dragging, and twitching slowly over scum, pads, and submerged grass.
4 Best Popping Frogs
- Spro Bronzeye Poppin' Frog – When you really want to slow down your frog presentation, the Bronzeye Poppin’ Frog is a 1/2oz and 2-3/8″ frog that chugs, pops, and walks with the best of them.
- Booyah Poppin Pad Crasher – The Poppin Pad Crasher is a stubbier popper at 2-1/2 inches, but this helps it work itself through the nastiest cover.
- River2Sea Spittin Wa Frog – The Spittin Wa is an excellent compact popping frog. The molded cup spits, pops, and bubbles with short rips of the rod tip.
- Spro Bronzeye Spit Shad – The Spit Shad has a longer, narrower body to imitate baitfish struggling at the surface. The front end is slightly nosed down to create more bubbles and spitting action.
3 Best Plopping Frogs
- Booyah Toad Runner – The Toad Runner, with its single large boot plopper, is much like a buzzbait with the loud noise and surface commotion that it creates. The foot is replaceable should you tear it up on big bass.
- Stanley Top Toad – The Top Toad is a soft plastic frog rigged on a twin hook with screw lock keeper. You buy the frogs in packs like any other soft plastic and rig it up on the hooks. Reel it fast for bubbling and gurgling action.
- Scum Frog Big Foot – The Big Foot adds two molded paddle feet to the classic Scum Frog body. The result is an effective plopping and gurgling topwater action that fishes well over nasty vegetation./
Last updated 2024-04-24 at 15:58 / Affiliate Links & Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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