Hollow-body frogs are some of the best big-bite getters on the market. But it’s easy to forget that frogs are only one segment of this bait genre.
Today’s lure manufacturers are combining modern technology with the tried-and-true concept of a hollow-body bait to make some really interesting stuff. From bluegill baits laid on their sides to spiders and more, there are some wild baits out there now. I decided to grab a few and try them out — and, in the process, found five weird lures that get big blowups.
Flip in the Bird
Of what I tested, I was most excited to try this bait. I couldn’t help but think about Aaron Martens winning the Elite on Lake Havasu years ago, targeting fish around birds like this that were nesting in reeds and falling into the water. He would have loved the idea of Flip in the Bird. Its concept is basic: Use skirting material to add wings to a large hollow-body frame with a double frog hook. The result? A pretty realistic representation when you toss it in the water.
The only two downsides I noticed are that this bait takes on a lot of water so you have to squeeze it out often, and its overall profile is a lot for a fish to get its mouth around. That being said, I did get a solid catch on it but this is not a bait you’ll hook a lot of keepers with. It’s going to take at least a three-pounder to eat the bait well enough to secure the hook — but that hook is pretty stout when it does snag a fish.
Fishlab Rattle Toad
At first glance, the Fishlab Rattle Toad looks like your average hollow-body frog. But the addition of an external rattle between the legs makes this bait pretty unique, especially considering the long-held belief that adding rattles to frogs can make a big difference, particularly in dense vegetation. But you have to be careful in doing so. You can push a jig rattle or two up in the body of the bait through the hook hole, but these can get turned to where the frog can’t compress on the bite, negatively affecting your hook-up ratio.
Moving the rattle outside the bait eliminates this issue altogether. In its own right, this is a pretty sweet little frog with a solid hook that walks easily. Add to that the innovation of the rear-mounted rattle, and I like this one a lot.
3D Savage Fruck
The Savage Fruck is a quirky bait, with a design that obviously mimics a small duckling in four patterns and two sizes. The three-inch version I tested was way more manageable for fish to eat than the bigger bird — but it is harder to cast, since the smaller bait is pretty light in comparison. Small bass will bite big baits, though, as glidebaits and the like have certainly proven. But those baits have dangling trebles. These hollow-body baits need to be eaten nearly entirely to get a hook in the fish. So, the smaller the better, but it still needs to be big enough to cast.
This one doesn’t really walk very easily like a traditional hollow-body frog would. But, ducks don’t walk side to side either. They scoot along in more of a straight line. And that’s the best way to work this bait. With quick twitches of the rod tip, this one is really easy to work straight back to the boat.
SPRO Bronzeye King Daddy Frog
The King Daddy is massive at 3.5 nches. When it comes to hollow-body baits, I’ve never fished with one bigger. That means you’ll run into the same issues here that we saw with the Flip In the Bird bait: Fish are going to have a hard time getting this bait good. I had a few blow up on it during testing but nothing really got it.
Despite weighing one full ounce, this is one of the most buoyant frogs I’ve ever fished with. It sits up high on the water and keeps water out really well. The added weight means you can absolutely bomb this bait. Practically, though, I have a hard time thinking of a situation in which I would use this frog instead of a more traditionally sized one. But it was fun to fish with and I did catch one chunk on it.
Snag Proof Zoo Prop
The Zoo Prop is definitely one unique bait. With a small double frog hook and a plastic prop at the back, you essentially have a prop bait — like a Devil’s Horse — that you can fish both over and through dense vegetation. Prop baits are fantastic around grass, especially in Florida. But their treble hooks are notorious for hanging on vegetation, making them frustrating to fish. You want to get the bait as close as possible to the grass without landing in it. And even then, it will often hang on floating bits of vegetation during the retrieve.
Not so with the Zoo Prop: This bait is extremely weedless. The small double hook at the back is curled to be more reminiscent of a circle hook than a frog hook. Since this is a long bait with a small turned-in hook, I did miss my first bite or two on it. But, after bending the hook up a good bit, it stuck a good one. The bait remained plenty weedless for fishing around wood, and I think it would have still come through grass pretty well. As far as working the bait, this is another one that doesn’t really walk side to side. It’s designed more to twitch and pause, but it does have a little side-to-side movement as it’s twitched back.
Final Thoughts
I love fishing with topwaters, hollow-body frogs in particular. These baits all felt right at home in hand. I was impressed by the realism of baits like the Fruck and Flip in the Bird. The innovation of the Rattle Toad was pretty cool, as was the problem-solving aspect of the Zoo Prop’s design.
There was one common issue among several of these baits, though: They are either long or large, making them hard for bass to eat, affecting the hook-up ratio negatively. Still, I have caught at least one good-sized fish on all these baits at this point, so they are fish catchers for sure. And, crucially, I really enjoyed this test because these baits were just a lot of fun to fish with.
