Finesse BASS FROG LURE Fishing

by kayak with Capt Ken's Designer Bass FROG Lures™

Capt Ken's Designer Bass FROGs™ were re-designed "for" and "while" fishing by kayak, and there are some distinct advantages to fishing them from a kayak. 

Lily Fudder has been one of my favorite Original Series Full size Designer Bass FROG™ Lures. (Now retired on my shelf !)

Lily is a Medium Green Southern Leopard, and in this photo, wearing DNA Hot Legs and lots of make-up ! 

She's a real Sweetie, but don't be fooled. She's a certified Monster Bass Killer and she has the video to prove it.

Lilly Fudder's 28.5 inch Monster Bass

You can watch her catch it in the video below ---


Level #1 Finesse Bass FROG Lure Fishing

This 28.5 inch Monster Bass was caught with a medium heavy spinning rod and 20 lb. braid line with a 20 lb. mono leader. I was lucky to get this Monster Bass away from the very thick emergent Maidencaine border grass and the very tough lily pads that bordered the pocket where it was hooked. Heavy pressure caused it to head for deep water, leaving me only to worry about it jumping off as it towed me around the open water. It is an extreme result of the "Back Up Drag Factor", and it's called a "Kayak Sleigh Ride".

From the animated YOUTUBE video --- by Danielle Daubert ©2009
Ol' Swampfart n' Lilly Fudder 
 Often it is the trolling motor on bigger boats humming that can spook bass in quiet area, but the sheer size difference of a larger watercraft and the increased water displacement, creating an obvious presence, similar to an elephant in a small Diner establishment, that is much too invasive to hope for a biologically sensitive and cautious bass to ignore.  My #1 Rule is "no wakes" from my kayak when approaching an area to invest my time for a presentation. ​​​​​​​

Level #1 Finesse Bass FROG Lure Fishing

Bass love to get into the shallows and heavy cover, and a kayak allows you to quietly penetrate those areas that other boats cannot access without spooking the bass. It is called the ---

"Kayak Stealth Factor".

There is another factor that is a great advantage when Kayak Fishing for Bass and even larger fish, including huge fish such as Tarpon in saltwater. It is called the "Back Up Drag Factor" when a fish is fought from a kayak. While battling the fish, the kayak will slide over the surface toward the fish, reducing the overall force and stress on the line. Likewise, when the fish creates more force on the line. Sometimes the fish moves toward the kayak, sometimes the kayak moves toward the fish, and sometimes, they both move closer to each other. As in the video below:

Level #1 Finesse Bass FROG Lure Fishing

Capt Ken spooks a bass on his way to setting up for a presentation to another target. Fortunately, there is another big bass at that equally beautiful spot covered in duckweed for overhead cover. This video demonstrates very clearly the "Back Up Drag Factor" which makes lighter tackle, and "Finesse Fishing" much more effective when fishing by kayak.

Bass love to hang out in protective cover such as heavy vegetation. When hooked, if they are not already tangled in it, they will do their best to get to it. All vegetation has different challenges that you can learn to make the best efforts to successfully land big bass even on light tackle when they burrow into it. The kayak's Back Up Drag Factor still works in the kayak fisherman's advantage, even when the fish cannot be moved toward the kayak. With a steady force upon the bass hung up in cover, the angler can wind the reel forcefully enough until the kayak slides over the surface of the water and the weeds and makes it possible to put direct pressure pulling straight up over head to allow the bass to break free of the obstructions. If it doesn't break free, you can usually reach down and get it. Most bass fishermen, especially those in larger boats tend to use heavier tackle (55 lb braid or higher on a very stiff, heavy action rod) to "winch" their fish and usually much of the vegetation all the way back to their larger boat. The actual battle with the bass sometimes never happens.

Level #1 Finesse Bass FROG Lure Fishing

​​​​​​​"Back Up Drag Factor" heavy cover battle advantage

In a kayak, the heavy cover can actually help you more than it can hurt you while bass fishing, and especially while FROG Fishing. It can hide you from the fish and insulate you from detection. I will often use vegetation to hide behind to make a presentation to a particularly promising target. But, you should position yourself so that you can break free of the vegetation easily enough when you hook a bigger bass and get to its' location quickly. A bigger bass can use very thick vegetation to tear the hook out of their mouth, even if you resort to much heavier tackle.

Level #1 Finesse Bass FROG Lure Fishing

It is very helpful, when you need to fish more slowly, to position your kayak more strategically and to stabilize it in that position. Even on a relatively calm day a kayak can drift out of position, causing you to hurry your retrieves and fish much faster to include more casts in a particularly good looking area with many targets. Sometimes a bass will need multiple casts and retrieves to get a solid strike.  If the fish are acting less aggressive or cautious, you may not get a solid strike, and you may never even know that a big bass was there. On days when stronger gusts are intermittent and come unexpectedly, you might be passing by a catchable but difficult monster bass. On very windy days, you may need to position your kayak on thicker or more abrasive vegetation that has increased friction applied to the bottom and sides of the kayak. If you do not quickly escape the friction, your bass of a lifetime may dive into unforgiving vegetation and tear the hook loose. If you reach for your paddle, you must also keep tension on the bass, pinning it to the current vegetative obstruction to prevent it from burrowing further in before you can get there. Fortunately, sometimes a bass actually breaks free of the cover and heads for more open, deeper water.

Level #1 Finesse Bass FROG Lure Fishing

In this video above, there were two casts edited out between the first appearance of the bass and the final cast where it gobbled the FROG Lure. It was a perfect example of a cautious bass that wanted to eat, but it was also a perfect example of conditions and an oppurtunity to go to the next level of FROG Fishing Finesse Level #2 (same tackle but smaller lure). I should have actually reached for another rod with the same tackle and line strengths (20 lb. braid and 20 lb mono leader), but the FROG Lure should have been a Micro FROG. It probably would not have taken that many casts to get a better strike and catch that bass. 

Fortunately, not all bass are always that cautious and some bass are sometimes ready to smash a FROG Lure as soon as they can catch it, providing that you do not spook them first. That's when a kayak can be the ultimate fish finding craft in heavy vegetation where you can silently move fast, make longer casts and cover a lot of water while maintaining great stealth. A bigger boat with a noisey trolling motor strong enough to chop through the vegetation cannot do it this well.

Level #1 Finesse Bass FROG Lure Fishing

Kayak FROG Lure Fishing is not always about slow, careful, and patient coaxing of a big bass to bite. Often, it's a high speed search with with great finesse and stealth, even in heavy cover. 


You can fish the Designer Bass FROGs faster with the Kicking legs just as I did in the video above, but you can also switch to a pair of Skitter Legs also which were designed for this style of FROG Fishing so that you can cover more water by using the FROG as a "searchbait".

Level #1 Finesse Bass FROG Lure Fishing

You can fish the Designer Bass FROGs™ even faster as a "SearchBait" and even add a Stinger Hook on back with Texas Rigged spinnerbait trailers to make the Stinger Hook weedless. If the bass try to target the gurgling legs, they get a big surprise. But, you don't have to fish them fast. They look good sitting still, twitched, or in a stop and go fashion. Mix it up & find out what they want right now.

Sometimes the bass will grab a smaller FROG when they might not hit a bigger FROG. Possibly, it's because they look so helpless and easy. Sometimes, I'm sure it's because they know all the smaller bass will want it, and they are very competitive, even with the smaller bass. With the bigger FROGs in very calm quiet situations, I need to toss the bigger FROGs up into some grass or on shore to avoid spooking bass in a very secluded environment. The Micro FROG, however, lands very lightly and gives more of an invitation to come over and take a look. They can also be fished with any of the Bass Fishing Finesse Levels, including Level #1 Bass Fishing Finesse (see Finesse Bass Fishing Page).

Bigger is "not always" better when it comes to FROG Lure Fishing for Monster Bass.

You can see the size difference between the full size FROGs and the Micro FROGs above. 

You can see many more full size FROG species/models on https://bass-frog.com ---------

---------and many more Micro FROG species/models on https://noflyrodneeded.com

Bass fishermen often fish full size frog lures of roughly the same size. But, bass have been eating tiny little frogs since they were little hatchlings. There are many more very young frogs out there in the shallow water grass where the small bass grew up eating them,  and they never paid a price for doing it. So, they are not conditioned to avoid them. It just might be that your favorite frog spot is someone else's favorite spot too. It just might be that your personal best will be caught sooner on a Micro FROG. 

Level #2 Finesse Bass FROG Lure Fishing

Quiet backwater, shallow, heavy cover with spooky bass can be approached with great stealth in a kayak and fished from a distance. Smaller Micro FROGs can be used to make a lighter presentation without spooking the skittish bass. Vegetation can be used to stabilize the kayak without drifting too close to the target areas, giving enough time to carefully search the area before breezes can blow the kayak too close and too soon, spooking a cautious bass. Once the bass is hooked however, you must get to the heavy pads etc. before the bass can use them to tear loose from the hook. You can use the "Giddy Up" technique to intermittently free the kayak from the "friction" of the  vegetation pressing against the bottom and sides of the kayak. With this technique, both hands can stay free to keep winding and fighting the bass, allowing the kayak to be quickly pulled toward the bass. If you use an anchor, you will be handicapped at trying fight the bass and raise the anchor before moving toward the bass.

If your kayak is stationary due to an anchor overboard or an abundance of surface vegetation or other obstructions, you may need to use your drag system on the reel or use the ability to "back reel" on a spinning reel or a "direct drive" baitcasting reel. In all bass fishing situations, I prefer back reeling rather than to depending upon the drag system on a reel. But unfortunately, letting a big fish run further into entangling vegetation is like granting them their freedom, because they can use that extra vegetation as an unyielding, solid hangup to tear the hook from their mouth.

Level #2 Finesse Bass FROG Lure Fishing

Another way to hold your position without anchoring in grass or pads is to use a "clamp" to attach onto the vegetation or brush etc. When choosing Lily Pads, you can pick healthy pads when the winds are strong and weaker, dying pads when the winds are lighter. The lighter pads will allow you to break away free from the pads very easily and quickly when you hook a big bass. You might have noticed this happen in the video above, but it was very quick. Then you can benefit from the 

"Back Up Drag Factor".

The higher the finesse levels with lighter & lighter tackle make learning some extra skills increasingly more inportant. The BackUp Drag Factor and the Hands Free Factor might not be enough and can sometimes even work against you when a strong fish wants to pull your kayak into heavy cover. Another useful skill you should practice is paddling rapidly backwards as fast as you can with one hand while holding the rod to restrain a strong fish with the other hand. I can't even tell you how many times that has helped me to prevent a snook from pulling me into the mangroves or a big bass from getting into cypress knees, lily pads strong enough to tow your car, or a thick wall of maidencane that could restrain a Sasquatch. The real trick is to decide when you should be winding, and when you should be back paddling. They are quick decisions. Oddly enough, I actually find it easier with a fly rod.

In the video above, you can see the big bass steadily pulling the kayak toward the Lily Pads. The force from the fly rod is also pulling the kayak toward the bass which is closer to the Lily Pads. In this situation, you do not want to move toward the bass yet, unless he makes it into the LilyPads. Practicing your back paddling with one hand can save you from unnecessarily allowing the bass to get into the cover where he may be able to tear loose from the hook or even break the line due to the uncontrolled additional resistance of the Lily Pads or any other hard cover.

 So, the only alternative to the "Kayak Back Up Drag Advantage" in heavy cover is the heavier tackle which eliminates the "Finesse Factor". The combination of the "Stealth Factor" of the kayak and the "Finesse Factor" of the light tackle gets the bigger bass onto the hook more often, and the "Kayak Back Up Drag Advantage" gets the bigger bass all the way into the kayak more often.
Super Finesse Fishing with 10 and even 6 lb test braid can be extremely effective, but it can also be quite a challenge and very risky at times. Micro FROGs are surprisingly effective at luring the biggest bass, and you can regret your decision to go that light, but the extreme finesse and longer casting distances sometimes actually give you a better chance, even for the biggest bass. The 20 lb. braid line does give you good distance though, and if you are in heavier vegetation shorter casts will mean less of the heavier stuff to deal with during the battle. Using lighter tackle with Micro FROGs in less challenging cover is a lot more fun. I like to use a longer (7.5 ft.), lighter, medium action spinning rod for Micro FROGs where the cover is not so challenging, but the spook factor is higher. The spook factor is always higher in clearer, shallower or calmer water, especially with less weeds. The longer rod will help you to make longer casts, and the extra height will help change the angle of the line entering the water over the longer distance. So there will be less line in the water to collect weeds, especially if you hold the rod higher over your head. Holding the longer rod higher will also allow you to hold the hook on the front of the FROG completely out of the water where it will not be able to hang up on surface vegetation or dry, rough edge, lily pads.
As the Finesse Level goes up, the Tackle gets lighter, and the Kayak Advantage Factors of "Back UP Drag" and the "Hands Free in Heavy Cover Factors" increase to even greater importance.
If you want to learn more about Capt Ken's Designer Bass FROGs or buy some 
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Micro FROGs, Micro Plugs, FingerLings, Dragonflies, Cicadas, Mayfly Nymphs 
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