Instead of thread jacking Matt or Cranky, I decided to write up a detailed report of today's outing.
I set out to Old School after work today with the gameplan of frogging and frogging only. My Shimano Scorpion DC is my only reel rigged with 50 lb. braid, and with the thick weeds of Old School I opted to try baitcaster frogging for the first time. The DC reel really assisted in the learning curve as it corrected several mistakes for me. By the end of the day, I was able to back off all the handicaps and resume my normal reel settings. I tied on my trusty Booyah Pad Crasher jr. and hoped to be able to make my evaluation on those frog trailer hooks.
I arrived at Old School at about 3:15. After rigging and applying copius amounts of DEET, I embarked on my adventure. 4th cast already resulted in a hookup. After retrieving it, I immediately noticed that both frog hooks were firmly embedded in the roof of the mouth, but the trailer hook was a non factor. She weighed in at 2 lbs. 10 oz, the heaviest bass I've caught at Old School.
I moved down to the channel, my most productive frogging spot. I had a few blowups, including a VERY good one that hooked up and felt heavy but got tangled in the pads and popped off without ever showing itself. That was a real heartbreaker. Moved just south of the channel and got a few more small blowups but no success. I headed back North and casted north from the channel and hooked up with my 2nd catch of the day. It came in at 2 lbs. 3 oz. This time, the trailer hook was crucial for the retrieve. One frog was skin hooked in the roof of the mouth, the trailer hook was deeply embedded just before the gullet. I was able to get it out without much trouble, weigh pic and release. At this point, I decided to adopt Cranky's personal rule of a 3 catch minimum as I was getting some back pain and incredibly annoyed with what seemed to be DEET immune mosquitoes.
I paced from the NW corner to the south channel getting pops and blowups all along the way. Finally, at the trusty channel on a LONG southbound cast, I hooked into what ended up #3. Pretty cool, I casted, popped once, and it slurped up the frog with little commotion. Only reason I knew it was fish on was weight on the end of the line. I kept the fish high to try to keep it out of the pads and succeeded. This last one ended up weighing in at 2 lbs. 1 oz. Immediately after CPR, I packed up and headed home.
Some take aways from today:
I can't endorse thise trailer hooks just yet. At $3 a piece ($5.99 for a 2-pack), I don't see an added benefit outside of the fact today may have only been a 2 catch day instead of 3. I ended the day with 3 landed, 2 hooked but lost in weeds, and 9 blowups without hookup. Frogs have a ridiculously low hookup ratio, but I can't help but believe that if I was using a Chatterbait for example I'd be looking at at least a 3/4 ratio, but 3/12 (not counting the ones lost in weeds) doesn't prove to me the trailer hooks are working.
The sub surface weeds seem to have nearly or completely died off. There are multiple mats of sludge on the surface. All 3 catches came from fishing over the sludge mats.
Speaking of sludge mats, the bluegill pecking at them sounded like a bowl of Rice Krispies cereal. Unreal. I knew it would be a good topwater day after hearing that. There were plenty of topwater strikes by bass on actual bait too.
Now that the weeds are pretty much gone, its really showing how dense the pads are. I attached a pic of the channel from the same spot last year and today. The lighting is totally different but I think you can tell.
If I forgot anything just ask and I'll answer as always.
I set out to Old School after work today with the gameplan of frogging and frogging only. My Shimano Scorpion DC is my only reel rigged with 50 lb. braid, and with the thick weeds of Old School I opted to try baitcaster frogging for the first time. The DC reel really assisted in the learning curve as it corrected several mistakes for me. By the end of the day, I was able to back off all the handicaps and resume my normal reel settings. I tied on my trusty Booyah Pad Crasher jr. and hoped to be able to make my evaluation on those frog trailer hooks.
I arrived at Old School at about 3:15. After rigging and applying copius amounts of DEET, I embarked on my adventure. 4th cast already resulted in a hookup. After retrieving it, I immediately noticed that both frog hooks were firmly embedded in the roof of the mouth, but the trailer hook was a non factor. She weighed in at 2 lbs. 10 oz, the heaviest bass I've caught at Old School.
I moved down to the channel, my most productive frogging spot. I had a few blowups, including a VERY good one that hooked up and felt heavy but got tangled in the pads and popped off without ever showing itself. That was a real heartbreaker. Moved just south of the channel and got a few more small blowups but no success. I headed back North and casted north from the channel and hooked up with my 2nd catch of the day. It came in at 2 lbs. 3 oz. This time, the trailer hook was crucial for the retrieve. One frog was skin hooked in the roof of the mouth, the trailer hook was deeply embedded just before the gullet. I was able to get it out without much trouble, weigh pic and release. At this point, I decided to adopt Cranky's personal rule of a 3 catch minimum as I was getting some back pain and incredibly annoyed with what seemed to be DEET immune mosquitoes.
I paced from the NW corner to the south channel getting pops and blowups all along the way. Finally, at the trusty channel on a LONG southbound cast, I hooked into what ended up #3. Pretty cool, I casted, popped once, and it slurped up the frog with little commotion. Only reason I knew it was fish on was weight on the end of the line. I kept the fish high to try to keep it out of the pads and succeeded. This last one ended up weighing in at 2 lbs. 1 oz. Immediately after CPR, I packed up and headed home.
Some take aways from today:
I can't endorse thise trailer hooks just yet. At $3 a piece ($5.99 for a 2-pack), I don't see an added benefit outside of the fact today may have only been a 2 catch day instead of 3. I ended the day with 3 landed, 2 hooked but lost in weeds, and 9 blowups without hookup. Frogs have a ridiculously low hookup ratio, but I can't help but believe that if I was using a Chatterbait for example I'd be looking at at least a 3/4 ratio, but 3/12 (not counting the ones lost in weeds) doesn't prove to me the trailer hooks are working.
The sub surface weeds seem to have nearly or completely died off. There are multiple mats of sludge on the surface. All 3 catches came from fishing over the sludge mats.
Speaking of sludge mats, the bluegill pecking at them sounded like a bowl of Rice Krispies cereal. Unreal. I knew it would be a good topwater day after hearing that. There were plenty of topwater strikes by bass on actual bait too.
Now that the weeds are pretty much gone, its really showing how dense the pads are. I attached a pic of the channel from the same spot last year and today. The lighting is totally different but I think you can tell.
If I forgot anything just ask and I'll answer as always.
