When water temperature is cool, fish the frog slowly. When it warms, speed up your retrieve.

Everyone seems to have a slightly different way to fish a frog. When I fished with Galen Jensen -- who caught the largest bass ever recorded from the California Delta -- we cast frogs into the tules. We looked for lanes in the tules where the frog would be in open water for part of the time. Jensen walked his frog in the typical side-to-side motion through these lanes.

In mid-afternoon, we started fishing with spinners, but changed back to frogs as the sun began to sink low on the horizon. We caught a few bass on frogs, although we also caught them on spinnerbaits, too.

Don't think mornings or evenings are the only time to catch fish with frogs. Bass tournament anglers catch fish with frogs all day. During the warmer part of the day, bass will seek out shade. Look for those shady spots to use frogs or other surface lures during the day.

Pitching A Frog
With frogs, pitching is a particularly good technique. The lure lands on the water with a minimum amount of surface disturbance. The low-swinging cast of pitching drops the lure gently on the water.

A 15-yard cast will cover most of the spots you want to fish, and a 20- to 30-yard cast covers almost every situation.

"Throw the frog back into heavy cover, weeds, overhanging branches, behind downed trees," said Barrack.

You could also walk it along the edge of hydrilla. Pitching it under docks or into tules is also a good place to put it.

"Be ready for an explosion," said Barrack. He picks up the rod with a frog tied on whenever he wants to catch big bass.

TACKLE
Frogs are virtually weedless, so you can fish them in heavy cover. You may need to pull a big fish out of a brushpile, so use very heavy tackle and strong line. Use a heavy or medium-heavy 7- to 8-foot long rod and a reliable conventional revolving-spool reel.

The reel must have a good drag, and it must be set tight. Most spinning reels don't have the oomph needed to pull a big bass out of heavy cover.