Froggin' 101: Catching Bass With A Frog In The Heavy Cover During The Hottest Months

Late summer is a great time of year all across the country. The days are long, and you have beautiful weather all the time. However, these months can also be some of the most challenging to get out there and hook into the big bass you’re chasing. 

One technique that works really well this time of year is to fish topwater frogs in heavy cover.

During the summer, water temperatures are at their peak for the entire year. Because of this, the bass are going to look for shaded areas to spend their time in. Sometimes, that means they may push out into the deepest parts of the water system you’re fishing. Other times, they’re going to actually push up shallow and bury themselves in dense vegetation. Places with thick mats, lily pads, and other vegetation on the surface all provide the shady areas that they’re looking for.

When they’re in these areas, they’re usually looking to feed. They’ll be in these shallow areas, positioned just beneath the canopy of these types of vegetation, looking up for their next meal. Some anglers may try to avoid these dense vegetation areas because they look like a great place to get snagged and lose a lure. This is where you can use these lures and outfish everybody else on the lake.

So we know that it’s common to find bass in these shallower areas full of dense vegetation, and we know that they are likely positioned to feed actively here. 

But what does that have to do with using frogs?

A hollow body frog is the perfect lure to use in these scenarios. They’re designed to easily float on the surface of the water, and their hooks typically wrap to the top of the lure, which helps to keep them from hooking into the cover that you’re fishing. They also closely mimic the exact type of food that bass are looking to attack upwards this time of year, making it an easy meal for them when positioned above them.

When it comes to fishing frogs, there are two main styles you’ll want to consider having with you in your tackle box.

Walking frogs are some of the most versatile and widely used frogs you’ll find anywhere. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, but all are designed to be cast out and retrieved with the walk-the-dog retrieval style. With a twitch of the rod tip, these frogs will walk side to side on the surface of the water. It’s pretty common to get a massive topwater strike on these when you mix in some pauses to your retrieval as well.

Popping frogs work a bit differently than walking frogs. Design-wise, they’re pretty similar (with one key difference). On the nose of a popping frog, you’ll notice that it has a concave design. This allows the frog to displace a lot of water on the retrieve, creating sound and vibration to call bass in from a long way away. With these frogs, you’ll still want to add twitches on the retrieve with pauses, but the bait will kick up water instead of walking like the other style of frog does.

When it comes to actually picking the best time and spot to throw a frog, there are a few great places you should be on the lookout for.

Lily pads are by far one of the best places to fish a frog in the summer months. When you find a field of lily pads, you’ll want to fish all around it. You can work a frog along the edges to bring fish up and out of the cover if they’re holding close to these edges. If that doesn’t work, try casting your frog directly into the field and work it across the tops of lily pads. This is where a frog can really shine, as most other bass baits aren’t going to be fishable in these areas.

Matted vegetation is another great place to look for bass with a frog. In areas with hydrilla, milfoil, duckweed, and other types of vegetation, bass are going to be hiding just below the surface, waiting to strike. You can work either style of frog in and around these areas to get a big topwater strike.

Weed lines can be another great place to try tossing a frog. These work well because they’re typically found in the transition zone between the deep holes bass spend their time in during the hottest time of day, and the shallower areas they move into when the sun is at its lowest. If you can catch fish moving within these transition zones, a frog is a great option to throw.

When it comes to picking the right time to throw a frog in these areas, there are a few things to keep in mind. When you find these dense vegetation areas in shallow water, it’s usually going to be most productive right away in the morning and the last few hours before sunset. In most lakes, bass are going to come up shallow to these areas early, stay there until it gets too hot, and move back down to deep water until the evening when they come up shallow again.

The type of day you have will also determine just how long a window you have in these areas. If it’s a sunny day without a cloud in the sky, these windows are going to be shorter. If it’s an overcast day that’s a bit colder, then the windows will be extended more than usual. Frogs can also work really well at night if you plan to fish for bass all night long.

It’s not a bad idea to start your day in the lily pads and topwater vegetation right away in the morning with frogs. Once the bite slows, look for those weed line transition zones until the bass are out deep. Then, as sunset approaches, go back to these weed line areas as they transition back to the shallows, and then go back to where you started your morning.