(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)
Since the beginning of his professional bass angling career, Fred Roumbanis has made the hollow-bodied frog a central component of his success. It’s “more than just a confidence technique,” he explained, and it’s good for more than just heavy mats of vegetation. Indeed, even in his tougher seasons, it’s the tool that keeps him going. Last year, every Elite Series check he earned was attributable at least in part to his favorite lure.
“If I get on this bite, very rarely do I not cash a check,” he said.
He’s developed a new “Boom Boom Frog” with Stanford Baits in order to maximize that success. It has a soft body with a triangular lead belly weight to promote maximum body compression, a quality hook, and even sticky “frog fur” to keep the fish pinned. He utilizes five basic color patterns: white, which provides a big profile when fish are feeding on shad; black, which projects a smaller profile in most other circumstances; brown when he sees crawfish on the grass; bullfrog when frogs are present; and Fred’s Frog, which has a white belly and an orange throat, when he’s fishing around the bluegill spawn.
The frog itself is just one component in his system. He throws it on a 7’5” Fred’s Magic Stick from IRod, which has a 12-inch handle to allow for long casts and provides leverage to “winch that sucker in,” but it also has a soft tip that allows him to skip the lure and provides the proper load rate when combined with braided line. He’ll use a 6.5:1 gear ratio reel for much of his frogging, but up to an 8:1 when a burning retrieve proves to be most effective – “slower to walk, faster to chug.”
While many anglers prefer the smooth, quiet braid that excels for flipping, when it comes time to frog Roumbanis turns to rougher brands like the old P-Line or original Power Pro. “It doesn’t matter if it’s 6-strand or 8-strand,” he explained, as long as it repels water and keeps the frog floating high.
He’ll start throwing the frog consistently when the water temperature reaches 64 degrees in the spring. That’s when you’ll get many of your biggest bites of the year, as fat spawning females get territorial. In the summer, he’ll fish it all day long. Then in the fall, when cooler nights creep in, he said the best window is in the afternoon, most often from 2 to 5 p.m.
He varies his retrieve depending on the clues that the fish provide and the prevailing conditions – anything from walking to slapping to chugging to burning. For example, when it’s windy out, he likes to chug a frog, creating as much commotion as possible.
“You’ll get a rhythm going, and once you do, just keep it going,” he said.
If you want to learn some of Roumbanis' other frogging secrets, including key clues on when to set the hook and comeback baits for fish that miss, check out his full video, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
