Rubber Frogs for Barra

[Pazz01]

Hi Guys,

Just wondering if any other fisho's have used or still use the old rubber frogs for freshwater Barra fishing with any success. I learnt to fish with my father and he always cleaned up on these when I was a kid up at lakefield. Due to limited supply of them I use lures, but keen to hunt down a few to give them a try again.

We had a few but gradually over the years they have been lost on snags etc, and just wondering if anyone has any that they don't use anymore and is willing to part with them or aware of anywhere they might still make them (if they do I might have to buy the business;D ).

Cheers Guys

[Little grey men]

The blokes at Squidgees are about to release this one. There's a few others around as well. Berkley make one and a lot of frog plastics can be sourced from the states.
But the Suidgee frog's will be pretty easy to get a hold of soon.
The latest edition of the Fishing DVD has a segment with Jason Wilhelm breathing new life and putting his own touches on this old technique. If you haven't seen it, you should....Wild stuff indeed.

[joshcarty]

Hey mate after seein the latest fishing dvd brought from the newsagent i am very keen to give this technique a go. They were using a soft plastic frog called the "horny toad". They were a weedless plastic and these guys just cleaned up working them in shallow water over heavy weed beds at awonga. Yeah so keep an eye out for the plastics named horny toads. they look to work a treat.
Cheers Mate

[warrior]

rivertosea put one out as well called the bully wa 65 it is a bit light but i cant see why it wont work in the shallows looks good too

[SeekingBarradise]

Hi Pazza as the Helpfull Ausfish guys have said on here there are lots of plastics out there mate so maybe do a search on a bass pro site ( and others) to check out all different brands, don't limit yourself to one brand. That would be like only buying one brand of beer when you could buy 10....(M&G crew)... A good starting point might be to buy the opposite brand to the one being used all the time..the one that barra always get to see.

History: Barra caught on frogs dates back to the late 1800's where old cane cutters & farmers used to make frog shapes out of there thongs & shoes etc ha funny stuff - good old Aussie ingenuity dating back 120 plus years ago. Gold...

Lots more stuff would have been done that's never been reported or heard of.

NT: Keen fisho's on cattle stations cut frogs out of old tyre tubes dating back Decades. The left overs were used to make shanghai's!!! so the kids got to have lots of fun making both!!! When these 2xweapons were made no crows or fish within 5kms were safe!!! Either way they were going to cop 5000 stones flung at them or 5000 casts thrown their way by keen anglers!!!!

Don't limit yourself to frogs.. Have a look at anything else in the plastic range that might do as good, if not a better job than them. Frogs might only be 1% of the equation yet get 100% of the attention at the moment etc.

Change: Barra lakes have changed since last year and the frogs might not be as effective, food for thought for those that remember what the lake was like last year compared to now!!!.
Future: Yep this summer lots of barra will get caught on frogs, because lots of frogs will be thrown around barra dams 24 hours a day, but what if you were throwing something better that you made/researched yourself- how cool would that be?.

Food For Thought: Yet some barra guides don't use frogs at all, or even well known soft plastic brands as they have found better options through trial and error/tinkering with different products all the time which is a constantly challenging & creative process that delivers better results. The top 2 tournament Barra Anglers for the last 2 years catch barra on the surface using other methods as well.

Fishless on Frogs: We are already starting to see and hear of people going fishless on frogs as they rely on them too much which reminds us of 2006 where a crazy frenzy was going on all over Barra Dams down here which turned out to be a white elephant. Again travelling anglers were the losers & went home in fishless droves which was a pity.

Help: Don't rely on just one technique too much, even with a frog on the end of a line we all still have to keep thinking...It's not the magic wand.

1. Buy less well known brands.
2. Odd looking plastics.
3. Plastics with different shapes-sizes-actions.
4. Put plastics side by side - think about their function - how they swim.
5. What is the result you want. Will this plastic give you this result e.g. are there better swim actions out there in the same shape- compare rival brands etc.
6. Swim them in a bath tub, pool, billabong side by side and see what the difference really is.
7. Swim them side by side with a hard body - other plastics - get down next to them and see what is going on from all angles.
8-100: Make up your own mind & have fun tinkering.


At the end of the day there are so many good soft plastics/lures out at the moment, especially overseas. Most don't ever get to grace a tackle shop shelf or are re marketed to us over here down the track. Have fun doing your own research Pazza and let us know how you go.

Good luck on all your future fishing trips..We might see you on a barra dam down our way one day? If so make sure you let us know mate.

Cheers Lyndon & Kel

ps. Ausfisho's let us know when you are heading to a Barra Dam..Let's catchup for a yarn around a campfire or over hot or cold drink.

We will attach some photo's of basic mods...There are lots of smart guys on here that go about their work quietly. Some of these guys have stuff way more advanced than our pics, but we will post them to at least give people a starting point. Hope they help someone out.

[SeekingBarradise]

Some helpful photo's.:)

Helpful items to get started.

Stanley Knife
Scissors
Sewing needle and thin braid
Super glue
Heavy duty pliers or tin snips to cut the weight down on some plastics.
Vice - but you can get away without one

A workbench for man or woman time.
Posters on the wall (your choice)!!!;D This could get interesting!!!
Fridge within arms reach of work bench. What should it be stocked with???
Tv to watch sport - super glue it to the sports channel.

Optional Extra's: A pond full of Barra in the back yard!!! right next to the BBQ!!
Hope we didn't miss anything..Feel free to add a few Ausfisho refinements to this list:)

Cheers Lyndon & Kel

[Magella]

Pazz01
Mate frogs have there place in the barra fishery, but not the be all and end all and don't wait for shimanos copy as they are only copies of all ready proven lures. Think about where you are going to use them as there are better options available for different situtations but are great in some areas. If you want to use them use them if we didn't try new things we would still be all be using handlines and bait. Mate I have had great success on them at Monduran but I thrught about where to use them. As said before don't get caught up in brand names as a lot of lesser know plastics catch more fish. Big name Big advertising budget=a lot of product sold = more fish caught on product., EXPERIMENT and you will be surprised.
Cheers Foxie

[BR65]

lyndon, interesting pics of the HB/softy hy-breds, why is my castin arm suddenly twitching????????????

cheers
brian

[Steve B]

For anyone obssessed with frogs. Yes they are great. They do work, and Jas's DVD is one of the best pieces fishing footage I have ever watched. It was simply awesome. For the average fisho like myself, we have to expect not to expect the same, unless we learn where, when and HOW to use them effectively. I will predict a lot of dissapointed 'frog' fisherman this year, purely because of 'lastest craze' mentality.

Lyndon and Foxie have made some extremely valid points regarding situations where frogs, toads or any surface reaction bite are at there peak effectiveness... know when and where that is first....then worry about what frogs to get. I haven't said this for a while but thats just MHO.!!!;);D

"fish the situation...not the promotion"

Steve

Brian, you better see a doctor about that twitch...seems to get worse the further south you are. Nagg lives in Sydney...his twitch is begining to register on the richter scale!!;D

[BR65]

steve, lol

soon mate, soooooon

[NAGG]

For anyone obssessed with frogs. Yes they are great. They do work, and Jas's DVD is one of the best pieces fishing footage I have ever watched. It was simply awesome. For the average fisho like myself, we have to expect not to expect the same, unless we learn where, when and HOW to use them effectively. I will predict a lot of dissapointed 'frog' fisherman this year, purely because of 'lastest craze' mentality.

Lyndon and Foxie have made some extremely valid points regarding situations where frogs, toads or any surface reaction bite are at there peak effectiveness... know when and where that is first....then worry about what frogs to get. I haven't said this for a while but thats just MHO.!!!;);D

"fish the situation...not the promotion"

Steve

Brian, you better see a doctor about that twitch...seems to get worse the further south you are. Nagg lives in Sydney...his twitch is begining to register on the richter scale!!;D

:2vrolijk_08: What :2vrolijk_08: TwItCH!!!:2vrolijk_08:

[Whitto]

It's been that long i need a refresher.......Now Monduran is just north of GinGin if Im not mistaken....someone correct me if I wrong please....IBM sufferer....Whitto:( PS The call of the puddle is ever strong:'(

[LeeannP]

"fish the situation...not the promotion"




How true. Love it Steve!!!;D

[PaulMark]

How true. Love it Steve!!!;D
I hear you really love it in a Kayak,Leeann;)
Paulo

[BARRAkid]

Has anyone tryed 110mm squidgy with the weedless hook ? and doing the same with high rods and winding along the surface at a speed you would doute a barra would hit.
I caught 14 barra two summers back out of local lakes with this technique only between 60 -80cm but bigger barra will eat :D works well at night aswell


This is my first using this set up and my old bream/flathead stick (exceller 2500)

[two fold]

barrakid, a cousin of mine who lives at townsville has been doing that for ages that is a well known method he fishes the weirs up there and catches fish like that. i think he use squidgy fish as well as slick rigs but he takes the head out and uses wormhooks. still a bit different to the frogs but the same sort of i spose.
purcho

[BARRAkid]

yer it works with everything really wriggler tails (not as well tho) I believe with this style it isn't really the lure it is the amount of vibration and the V ripple it puts out.I mostly fished hardbodies this summer but always like this style you can see the wake from the fish following it.
It is the same as in the movie but with a squidgy fish it is a old style but jas is just bringing it back with a old lure (horny toad) and a new lure (boof frog) which i think is going to sell out very quickly and it is the bast time to bring it out in winter when the fish will be in the shellows where the lure should be used.
I agree with the amout of frogs that are going to be bought and not used in the right area but the monduran and awonga barra are going to see more frogs then ever ;D

cheers BK

[Dick Pasfield]

Noted the mention of a squidgey used at night but what about frogs? Anyone tried them after sundown, was it successful, need to know half baking a plan over here

[two fold]

This is a quote from jason it was on the abt barra website.
“There was little difference when it came to night and day and the number of hits that we got”, explained Wilhelm.

“There was however a difference in the size of the fish, with all the big ones coming during daylight hours”, he added.
purcho

[BARRAkid]

They would work just as well i would think.
I remember (i think) jas said somthing about" he likes to fish day because he can read the water well and not so good at night"and if you know where to go at night you will have a good chance.

Oww another way i have found out is if you are fishing a dam with lilles don't be sceared to cast strait onto the lillies i have hooked barra while it is skipping over the lillies and just as it comes of the lillies. ;)

[2manylures]

:2vrolijk_08: What :2vrolijk_08: TwItCH!!!:2vrolijk_08:

A finger impediment

[Richard]

Well I gave some Zoom Horny Toads a go for the first time today up at Teemburra Dam and although i didnt land anything i was quite impressed. I dropped two fish, one that would have been around the 80cm mark and another one which i think would have topped the ton. All from cranking ones of these littel suckers (in white) over the surface of the water.

Can't wait for summer and some warmer water to really give these toads a good workout.


Richard

[Whitto]

Just bare in mind for Ausfisher's going to have their first crack at Barra that soft plastics and frogs are not the be all end all but another OPTION......remember the old faithfuls can and do still catch Barra.......Whitto

[shaneoo]

wow guys,
u all have given some great info on here for new starters, and that is great to see. Thanks to all for there positive input. Lydon u have to careful there with those pic, people could get the wrong idea u are genetically enhancing lures, there really did look like some interesting combination's there lol. But that is how u have to do it , think outside the box not what tackle shops and dvds always promote. Sometimes the smallest change can make all the differnce , from a lure change to a rod twich on the day. Again to all that have put info cheers makes good reading
cheers shaneoo

[NAGG]

Well I gave some Zoom Horny Toads a go for the first time today up at Teemburra Dam and although i didnt land anything i was quite impressed. I dropped two fish, one that would have been around the 80cm mark and another one which i think would have topped the ton. All from cranking ones of these littel suckers (in white) over the surface of the water.

Can't wait for summer and some warmer water to really give these toads a good workout.


Richard

Thanks for putting that up Richard ......... apparently Teemburra is renowned for its warmer months surface bite ....... so thats a positive on the toads specially during the cooler months8-)

Cheers

Nagg

[cod muncher]

i think when these frogs are on sale , they will catch more fisherman than fish ,marketing hype , its easy to sit down and watch a 30 minute video and think ,sh*t those frogs work good , but they don't show ya they were there filming for 3 or 4 days to get that 30 minutes of sh*t hot action , he who works hardest will catch the most fish;D

[TinarooTriumph]

he who works hardest will catch the most fish;D

That would have to be one of the silliest statements I think I have ever seen.

I believe sometimes we look to far into things and try to hard to further our thinking about these fish. We can overlook the most noticeable patterns and vital info when we do this, thus why some of us lose out. Barra fishing is incredibly complex, but keeping things as simple and as well thought out as possible is top priority in my Boat. When you get too far ahead of yourself in differeing situations, you are only making it harder for yourself - why I don't like your statement (think you could have put it much better). Anglers that work hard physically (a.k.a chucking Lures nonstop in a bid to outwork a fish) fail also.

You are right however about these new Toads luring more anglers then fish. The amount of newborn anglers that have gone out and got Jasons segment of him and Shannon landing all those fish at Awoonga, on Toads, in the heat of the day have no doubt gone ahead and brought themselves many packs of different Frogs/Toads to try. Good on em' for doing so... some know what they are doing, the rest are just there to chuck a toad and pray that a silver sided slab of fatness smashes their Lure. Its an exciting way of fishing, that good fishermen would only consider using when the time is right. Fishing surface Lures requires a totally different mindset and thinking, but most importantly it comes down to timing - this is coming from someone who has landed more fish (meteries) on Surface lures then any other Lure. There is a delicate line here between fishing effectively and absolutely wasting your time.

Theo

[mjc85]

Old post rebump, but I just watched IFish on tv today and they were at Monduran using the new Squidgy Boof Frog as mentioned earlier in this thread. They cleaned up, caught 6 or 7 monsters in one session in the shallows including a 60lb specimen. Frogs definately work, will be purchasing a decent barra spin stick and spooling the certate 3500 with 30lb braid for chucking frogs on my next trip to Monduran in January.

Mitch