Tips from the frog man

Published 3:02 pm Thursday, May 18, 2017

Pete Ponds spotted a flash and swirl that sent a school of small fry skittering across the top. Ponds instantly sailed a Scumdog Walker Frog past the small fry and started working the lure back in a walk-the-dog pattern. Just as it passed over the small fry a bass crushed the lure and bore down toward deep

Ponds has been fishing the bass tournaments since 1996 and has learned the water. Ponds dropped his rod tip, reeled in the slack and snapped the rod back, driving the Honer hooks deep into the jaws of the lunker bass.

This angler knows a thing or two about competing with the best bass anglers from around the country. What he learned on Ross Barnett Reservoir many years ago was how to find and catch lunker bass on frogs.

Ponds searches for any movement on the water, or signs of bass or baitfish. “I like to use the Scum Frogs because they are soft and different from the new generation of frogs,” said Ponds. “I use something a little different from everybody else and the other frogs on the market tend to be the harder plastic type of frogs.”

According to Ponds one of the biggest myths about fishing frogs is that they have to be worked around vegetation. “Although you can catch a lot of bass on frogs in vegetation, that’s a stereotype that is widely held but not really true,” he said.

In fact you may want to fish the Scumdog Walker anywhere you would a Pop-R,” said Ponds. “I’ll use it when fishing for the post spawn small fry bass. I’ll use a lighter rod, a 7-foot-3 rod and fish it around the riprap also.”

“I’ll fish it along the rip rap in a twitch, twitch, twitch, pause and I’ll switch it back and forth,” Ponds said.

“I normally catch larger quality sized fish on frogs instead of other baits, too.”

Ponds also utilizes the frog in different open water techniques targeting baitfish. “I’ll skip it around wood and under brush tops, overhanging limbs and docks, places you’d normally hang a Pop-R or other similar topwater lures,” Ponds continued. “When they bite the frog in open water, they’re not always as aggressive as they are when they’re in the pads,” he said. “Instead of exploding on the frog they’ll just suck it down.” And that’s all Ponds needs as he can handle the rest with a quick flick of the wrist and hook set.

Scumdog Walker in vegetation

Once the bass start living and feeding in the vegetation, Ponds switches to a Scumdog Walker. “The Scumdog Walker is one of the true walking frogs that anybody can use, and it has Honer hooks on it,” he continued. “It has a V bottom and is designed to walk. Simply pull it and it will go in one direction, then pull again and it will go in the other direction,” Ponds said. “This bait is my go to frog and is different than any other frog on the market today.”

“I’ll cast the Scumdog Walker out and work it aggressively through the vegetation and pads until I get to an opening and then I’ll work it through in a walk the dog fashion,” he continued. “I’m not worried about fishing it too fast and missing fish, I simply want to see some kind of movement in there. And sometimes I make a second cast and work it through the area more thoroughly and then catch the bass.”

When you have a lake full of vegetation and it all looks the same on top, it’s hard to know where to fish. As a touring pro Ponds has to find and locate bass fast and then he can catch them once he’s located them. “If I’m practicing for a tournament, or in a tournament situation and need to locate bass I’ll idle my boat through the pad fields or weeds and look for fish activity,” Ponds said. “If there’s fish there they will run and move through the vegetation if it’s an active pad field and I’ll come back in 30 minutes and I’ll work the area over good.”

“Another one of the keys I listen for is bream sucking and popping as they feed under the pads,” he said. “If they’re making a lot of feeding noise and there’s movement present, then bass will be there. If not, then you might as well not waste time fishing it and move on.”

If you’re looking for some bone-jarring frog crushing topwater action then head to your favorite honey hole or salad patch and feed ‘em frogs for desert, Scumfrogs that is. And you just might catch the bass of your lifetime!

Call Mike Giles at 601-917-3898 or email mikegiles18@comcast.net.