Watson’s Toad Tricks

How to fish a buzz frog in the spring and summer

I like to throw toad-style baits such as a Luck E Strike Frantic Frog, a Zoom Horny Toad or a Reaction Innovations Trixie Shark because they’re really subtle-sounding baits when a buzzbait is too much. When the water is clear, that’s when this style is the best. During the spawn and just after in the postspawn are the best times, and then again in the late summer and fall when the fish are around bluegill beds.

In the summer, on those hot, slick days, you just have to fish until you run into bass that are up shallow cruising for big shad or bluegills. You have to cover a lot of water. You might go all day and only get four or five bites on it, but generally they are going to be good-quality fish. In the spring, I throw it all around bedding areas, around fry and anywhere a shallow bass might be.

Most of the time I like to retrieve it just under the surface, just to make a riffle. It’s like a subtle wake bait.

I use the same tackle for a toad as I do for a Whopper Plopper. I use 50- to 65-pound-test braid, a 7-6, heavy-action Waft Iron Feather Bass flipping stick, and a 7:1 gear ratio Bass Pro Shops CarbonLite or Pro Qualifier reel. That 5/0 Zoom Horny Toad Hook is all a man needs for the hook.

You want to always leave that hook exposed a little bit if you can, but I’ll just barely skin-hook it if I’m fishing around a lot of grass.

White, black and grey ghost are the only three colors I throw, unless I’m on Lake Okeechobee, and then I throw junebug. On overcast days or in the morning I start out with black, and if it stays cloudy I’ll stick with black or throw grey ghost. When it gets sunny and bright I stick with white.