One misconception that a lot of fishermen have about frog fishing is that it’s an early morning deal for really shallow water. Actually, it will work in water as deep as 10 feet, and it will work all day if the conditions are right. In fact, you’ll catch your biggest fish on a frog between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

The only rule I have about frog color selection pertains to the amount of sunlight and the color of the water. If it’s a bright sunny day, I’ll use white. If it’s dark or cloudy, I’ll go with black. If it’s somewhere in between, I’ll probably use a bluegill pattern.

Otherwise, there’s no real trick to it. You just fish a frog back to the boat with a series of short twitches – call it walking the frog. For that, I use a 7-foot, 4-inch Daiwa Steez frog rod with a Daiwa TD Zillion Type R reel in 7.3:1 gear ratio and 65-pound-test Maxima braid.

I’ll tie the frog, say, a Snag Proof Ish’s Phat Frog, to the line directly with a double Palomar, and that’s it. As far as setting the hook, if I can’t seen any color to the frog when the fish grabs it, I set the hook right then with an upward popping motion. If I see a bit of the frog, I’ll wait a second before setting the hook to give the fish time to get it down its mouth more. If you miss the fish, throw the frog right back. Usually that’s all it takes, and I seldom use a backup lure. - ISH