These days, frogs and toads aren’t just mimicking frogs and toads. They’re designed to be perfect imitations of rats, bream and various oddball creatures. New models at ICAST this season offer anglers some of these “alternative” species, as well as new sizes, colors, action types and degrees of realism. Here are 10 new models that we feel are of greatest interest.
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River2Sea Bully Wa II
River2Sea improved upon the original Bully Wa design with its Bully Wa II. It sports new hooks with bigger gaps and longer shanks. The nose is hand-tied so it won’t slip. And an “inner tube” slot through the body separates the hooks from the main internal chamber, to keep water from leaking into the body. It’ll sell for about $11. River2SeaUSA.com
Castaic BD Frog
Two things about the BD Frog impressed us: its incredibly soft and collapsible plastic body and the price. This thing’ll sell for about $7, but it’s definitely a premium frog worth a few dollars more. A hole in the butt allows you to drain water easily with a quick squeeze. The 65 size was released earlier in the season, and a new 75 size was unveiled this week. CastaicSwimbait.com
Renosky Super Shad
This unique shad-shaped “frog” bait is put together with the hooks wrapping across the flat faces of the bait and pointing up toward the skinny edge, rather than the other way around like most weedless hollow topwaters. It comes in three sizes, and some add-on accessories are available to turn it into a hybrid frog/vibrating jig. Renosky.com
Luck-E-Strike Live Motion Frantic Frog
The Frantic Frog is a buzz frog or toad, depending who you ask, with wide paddle legs and a thin, broad body. From belly to back, the bait is thin enough that hook penetration should be accomplished easily. It comes five to a pack.
Koppers LIVETARGET Sunfish
Voted best soft bait at ICAST 2015, the new Sunfish is an ultra-realistic take on a hollow weedless topwater. It’s a smart idea, considering that most of the time frogs are used to mimic bream anyway, or at least to target bass that are feeding on bream. The company says it took three years to get the bait just right. A slightly curved underside with an upturned tail help it to glide as it walks – the company has a video of the bait sashaying side-to-side almost a foot. It comes in two sizes and in seven pumpkinseed shades and five bluegill shades. MSRP is $13.49 LIVETARGETLures.com
Culprit Incredi-Frog
Here again is a solid buzz frog option – the Incredi-Frog. Its body is soft and squishy and features a hook channel on the belly, broad “thighs” for durability and ultra-thin “ankles” that let the feet pitter-patter along unhindered. Rig it with a 3/0 or 4/0 wide-gap hook or a double hook. Culprit.com
Lunkerhunt Popping Frog
The Popping Frog features the same realistic legs as Lunkerhunt’s Combat Frog, but with a cupped popping mouth. This isn’t much of a walking frog, says pro-staffer Matt Arey, but it benefits from the combination of spitting, chugging action and extra displacement created by the legs. It’s a very unique, very subtle option for when bass are set up around shallow targets such as laydowns, scattered grass and the like. Upturned hooks enhance hookup ratios. It comes in two sizes: 1/2 and 1/4 ounce. Cost is about $7 for the small one and $8 for the bigger model. Lunkerhunt.com
Molix Supernato Beetle
So this bait definitely falls into the “hollow floating weedless bait” category, but it definitely ain’t a frog. The Supernato Beetle is an odd-looking creature with wide-open mouth pincers and a humped butt. The pincers cause the bait to wobble and walk on a straight retrieve, while the butt hump protects the hooks. A pair of small hook depressions further shield the hook points from snags. It comes in six colors and sells for about $15. Molix.com/en
Kahara Rat’n Rats II
Kahara redesigned the original Rat’n Rats to have a slimmer body. Plus, the original rattail was removed, and dual Colorado blades were replaced with dual willow-leaf blades that hang off the rear. It’s a bit of a faster, more slight option for when you want some flash but a little less surface disturbance. At rest, the Rat’n Rats II floats with its butt down in the water. Kahara-Japan.com
Kahara Baby Diving Frog
Yeah, it’s a floating frog, but it’s also a subsurface diver – sort of. The Baby Diving Frog from Kahara has a sloped nose that forces it under the surface a hair when it’s twitched. The design – coupled with realistic frog legs – gives it the look of a real frog swimming in short bursts beneath the surface. Kahara-Japan.com