Kermit: Ready To Rumble

IT’S LATE SUMMER AND FALL IS just around the corner. It’s a good time for all you gutsy bass busters out there to put Kermit on a leash and get ready to rumble.

Kids may recognize Kermit as the mouthy Muppet character with a colorful personality.

Bass anglers are di erent. When they think of Kermit, most picture a so plastic lure with a squishy body known for ge ing into serious trouble in the shallows.

Frogs are nimble amphibians that rank pre y low on the food chain. Bass are eating machines and top end predators with very few enemies.

ings can get bloody when the two collide. e bass almost always wins. ey love to munch frogs.

Anyone who has played the game will agree it takes some nerve to take Kermit out for a stroll. Strikes frequently come when you least expect it, and most hits are so violent they might be heard from a considerable distance on a windless day. ink of it like a head-hunting linebacker crushing an unsuspecting tailback who has just hauled in a screen pass that should have never been thrown.

Strikes can be so violent at times that it is almost like practicing self-defense out there. It catches big ones, too.

I’ve had some banner days with a toad tethered to my braid and boated some real-

It was the only frog bite I had on that warm spring a ernoon, but it was well worth it. Catching a 10 pounder isn’t something that happens every day. Having one explode on a frog, then being fortunate enough to wrestle this sh out of a maze of slop is even rarer.

Best Times For Frogs

e best time to throw a frog is whenever the bass want one. Fall can be hard to beat.

Water levels are usually low and clear during fall. Low water causes vegetation to crowd the surface and makes it easy to detect the distinctive grass edges bass use to ambush prey that swims dangerously close.

Fall also brings with it cool weather, shorter days and longer nights resulting in a downward slide in water temperatures. It’s feel-good season that puts bass in the mood to chase shad, bream and other forage prone to gravitate towards shallow cover once the cool down begins.

Frog Country

Frogs can be e ective anywhere but tend to shine the brightest in shallow water when tossed around aquatic vegetation, overhanging bushes and other cover.

Areas with clumpy or sca ered vegetation are ideal. Huntington bass pro Keith Combs says elds of lily pads can be magic. Combs likes pads with “clean water” or on open understory beneath them, not congested with hydrilla.

When shing around grass mats, Combs keys on holes, guts and other broken spots in the mat. He also pays a ention to places where thick, green surface mats have begun to fade to yellow. He says surface mats will get thinner as the grass goes dormant and begins to decay in late fall. is makes it easier for bass to zero in on a frog when it passes above.

Toads To Choose From

ere are dozens of frog brands on the market that are divided in two basic styles — hollow bodies and buzz frogs.

Hollow bodies have an open body cavity that traps air. ey oat when idle and work best around thick cover with a stop-and-go retrieve. Popping style hollow bodies like the popular Spro Bronzeye Poppin’ Frog tend to work best in situations where grass is sparse or clumpy, whereas walking hollow bodies shine around denser grass mats and pads.

One of the best walking hollow bodies I’ve seen is the Slither K by Deps. e 2 1/4 inch frog weighs 3/8 ounce, has super so body and a pulsating rabbit hair tail that adds casting weight when wet.

e Slither K also comes through heavy cover remarkably well, is simple to walk and provides an excellent hook-up ratio. e downside is the frog is somewhat pricey. e Slither K sells for $20.99 on tacklewarehouse.com. ere are plenty of other good ones with catchy names at a cheaper price. Strike King’s Sexy Frog and Booyah’s Pad Crash both sell for under $10. e Ribbit is equipped with boot-style feet that churn the water like a buzz bait; others have at feet that produce more of a subtle “pi er-pat.”

Popular buzz frogs like the Stanley Ribbit and Zoom Horny Toad are made from so , solid plastic. ese frogs are designed to swim across surface using a steady retrieve and they sink when idle.

Gear For Frogs

Frogging is no di erent than any other specialty technique. It demands speci c gear to be most e ective.

It also demands the proper mindset and discipline to avoid overreacting when a sh slams the lure unexpectedly. Many anglers set the hook prematurely and wind up jerk- ing the bait away from the sh before it has the chance to eat it. Always wait a couple of seconds or until you feel tension on the line before se ing hook.

• ROD: e main body should be sti enough to drive the hook deep into the bass’ jaw and provide the necessary leverage to overpower sh before they wrap you up. Meanwhile, the tip should be light enough to help launch the bait. Two more a ributes to look for in a good frog rod are high quality line guides that can take the punishment dished out by braided line.

• LINE: Premium braided line with a breaking strength of 50-65 pound test is the only way go in frog country.

Braided line is super strong and resistant to abrasion. Plus, it casts extremely well, has no memory or stretch, and cuts through vegetation like a knife.

• REEL: You need a high quality baitcasting reel built with some guts to withstand the shock of hard hooksets on large sh in heavy cover with braided line.

It also helps to have a reel with a relatively high gear ratio, 6.4:1 or higher. e high gear ratio makes it easy to get a buzz frog up and running. Plus, it gathers line quickly.

Bass are natural born bullies, and few baits bring out their mean streak be er than Kermit does. ough frogs won’t work all of the time, the results can be magical when everything lines up just right.

Fall brings with it some of the best frog action of year.

IT’S FALL IN TEXAS. BUT don’t stash the crappie gear in exchange for a scattergun or deer rifle just yet. You could miss out on some of the best fishing of the year.

Fall is the harbinger of cold fronts that bring a gradual chill to water temperatures on lakes across the state. It’s feel-good season when the days gradually grow shorter, the nights longer and mornings become increasingly crisp with the passage of time.

Jason Barber of Gun Barrel City loves fall weather. He is an even bigger fan of autumn’s crappie fishing prospects.

“Once we have that first cool snap the fish seem to start coming out of the sum- mer doldrums,” he said. “They start getting aggressive and put their feed bags on. They’ll shallow up and really thump a jig. You’ll catch big ones, too.”

Barber is a veteran fishing guide who grew up on the shores of Cedar Creek Reservoir. It’s not the state’s very best crappie lake, but it certainly ranks among them. The lake offers a range of cover and structure where anglers can fish this time of year — boat docks, brush piles and bridge crossings. The crappie will most often be suspended around 8-12 feet down, give or take.

Here’s a brief look at the patterns and tactics Barber relies on to catch fall slabs.

Find something similar on another good crappie lake like Sam Rayburn, Toledo Bend, Fork, Granger, Lavon, Richland Chambers or Coleto Creek and his tricks might work for you:

Shooting Docks

Barber “shoots” jigs to get at fish attracted to docks by shade and forage. Done correctly, shooting will catapult the jig at a low angle, parallel to the water, with enough velocity that it will sail far beneath the dock or whatever you’re aiming at.

Barber shoots with a 6 foot medium action spinning rod using 6 pound high-viz green line. The bright line sometimes helps you see bites before you feel them. He prefers shooting with a 1/16 ounce hand-tied jig; plastics are prone to tear or slip down. Barber says deeper docks in 8-12 feet will hold the most sh.

Heavy Brush And Minnows

Crappie love to hang out around brush piles. When shing vertical with minnows, Barber likes a 6-6 medium action spinning rod matched with 1/4-3/8 ounce slip sinker and 30-pound braided line tethered to a snap swivel with a No. 1 gold Aberdeen hook with a pre-rigged leader. e heavy line allows for bending the hook if he gets hung.

JIGS AROUND BRUSH & BRIDGES

Barber uses a 6-6 medium rod with 6-pound line for casting jigs to get at sh suspended on top of, or on the sides of brush piles, or around bridge cross members. He says the light line casts well and helps if the sh are line shy.

LONG POLING BRUSH & STUMPS

Barber says long poling with a 12-13 foot specialty rod is ideal for forward facing sonar users when targeting sh suspended around stumps and the edges of brush piles. e long rod prevents ge ing too close and eliminates having to reel in the bait between presentations; just li the bait up and drop it back down.

Bridge Fishing

Bell Sinker Minnow Rig: Built similar to a drop shot rig, except the hook is staged on a 4-5 inch dropper loop about a foot above the bell weight. e loop allows the minnow freedom to swim. Barber likes this rig when shing vertically for sh that are suspended near bo om.

A split shot rig is great for casting minnows, it slow falls around bridges. Rig a single split shot (1/16 to 1/4 ounce) about 10 inches above a No. 1 hook.