Notice the back has a killer design. Dang! That’s SWEET! And as you work it over the muck and the pads… the bass are going to see… the white belly (if anything)…
That’s not bad, but it’s something to be mindful of when you are selecting your topwater. And sure, bass that see the frog at an angle might notice part of the top. If it rolls (not ideal) on the retrieve, they might be able to catch a glimpse… but for the most part if you go with a bait like this you’re simply throwing a white frog.
This Terminator Frog has some accent colors on top, but the entire body is black. Hence, you’re throwing a black frog.
This means you can probably minimize your frog box and focus on quality, not quantity.
2. In mucky water, the bass don’t care what your topwater looks like.
Say again?
If bass are set up below thick mucky algae, they don’t care what your bait looks like, because they can’t see it anyway. This is true when the water below the algae is clear, and even more true if the water is stained, tannic, or straight up pea soup.
They are reacting to the commotion – the movement – the easy meal.
Because of this, one of my favorite ways to target these bass is with a 4″ or 5″ Yum Dinger rigged weedless and weightless on a 3/0 or 4/0 EWG.
New honey hole with muck near shore, pea soup for water, and healthy bass.
Here is the gear I use when I’m rigging a Dinger on an EWG, including my mainline (braid floats) and my leader material (fluorocarbon line gets snagged up less than braid and is abrasion resistant).
As you can see, this is different than the gear that comes into play for throwing straight wacky worms around weeds or sparse cover. When I’m not fishing around muck, I’ll completely skip a weed guard on the hook to stay as invisible as possible, crisscross 2 o-rings to rig perpendicular to the bait which increases hookups, and go with a thinner fluoro with less memory:
When you throw a Dinger topwater, it’s essentially a weightless Texas rig. Slow-sinking, yes, but not heavy enough to punch through the mats. However, when you reach the edge of the mat, pull it off and let it slowly sink for a second or two. Often times bass that are watching the movement above will gladly shoot out and smoke the slow-sinking stickbait as it drifts right in front of their face.
That is… if they haven’t already SMACKED it right through the thick of it!
Largemouth Bass Strikes a Topwater Stickbait thru Muck
Quick Trip: Topwater Dingers in the Muck
I keep a selection of both floating and sinking stickbaits in my Base Box for Fishing Muck, but it’s also important to remember as a Minimalist Fisherman our goal is to travel as light as possible. On kayak trips when we can only select a handful of baits, frogs take up a lot more room that stickbaits.
They’re also less versatile.
FACT.
You can hit every depth with a stickbait, provided you have a few sinker & hook options.
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First and foremost, I want to hit the most important point:
It’s pronounced SUH-BEEL… as in Patrick SUH-BEEL…
… you uncultured swine!
(This picture may or may not be Patrick Sébile…)
To tell you the truth, I had never heard of Patrick Sébile and his company before I scored a Sébile Pivot Frog in either a Mystery Tackle Box or a Lucky Tackle Box… I couldn’t tell you which one…
In fact… the first one that I had was orange, and the only reason I even thought to get it out, was because I had missed a few fish on my Strike King KVD Sexy Frog when I started using it for topwater pond fishing. I knew that the Pivot Frog incorporated a sizable weight on the bottom, and I started to wonder what some of the other differences were between this odd looking frog and the more traditional Strike King… which also had a few tricks up its sleeve…
Let’s talk frog fishin’!Click the banner to jump to The Minimalist Fisherman on YouTube.
The Pivot Frog delivers clean, powerful hook sets through the use of Sébile’s Gravity Hook System. This allows the stout hook (with exposed external weight) to freely move up and down, while also adding a “keel” for easier “walking” over open water. The bait incorporates thicker, more durable plastic than a traditional frog, but the body is still collapsible. This, combined with the wide gap of the hook gives you more than enough room to stick those greedy pigs.
External weight makes “walking” this bait a breeze
Large gap between body and hook for increased hookup ratio
Harder plastic body for added durability
Multiple color options
Very buoyant
Only $8 (at this time)
Up until recently, I haven’t been much of a frog fisherman. Now I take this technique seriously. The Pivot Frog caught my attention years ago even though I wasn’t ready to use it – and while hanging onto a bait that you aren’t going to use is not what a minimalist fisherman ought to do… I was glad that I hung on to this one!
That said, this year it will replace my Strike King KVD Sexy Frog. Let’s go over some of the features on this second bait and then we’ll jump into why I’m making the switch.
The KVD (Kevin VanDam) Sexy Frog is currently the top-dog-frog in the Strike King lineup. It works well in heavy cover and comes with a super-sharp Gamakatsu frog hook, a completely sealed nose section to reduce water intake and a semi-soft plastic body that will collapse under pressure. The bait currently comes in a wide range of colors.
Uh… comes with… with a butthole for squirting water
No gap between hollow body and hook points
Internal rattle (discontinued…)
Multiple color options
Very buoyant
Very weedless
Only $8 (at this time)
Quick note: $8 is an extremely reasonable price tag for baits like these that you could potentially get a ton of use out of. Not to mention, even if you only catch one fish on the bait… fish that hit topwater are usually the kind of fish you want. They are well worth a few bucks.
(Seriously. Go mow your neighbor’s lawn or collect cans. Getcha’ some a that spendin’ cash! I believe in you! Make it happen!)
We’ve all been on the water before, having horrible luck, thinking to ourselves “I would pay $100 for a quality fish right now”…
Good ‘ol rock bass… always willing to get your hopes up when the bite is terrible…
Don’t spend carelessly, but find good quality baits and invest in quality tackle, and quality companies. (When you are a minimalist fisherman this becomes easier, because you only purchase baits that work, that you believe in, that give you confidence – you ultimately spend less!)
Both of these baits are worth the cost of admission. They helped me catch my first frog fish:
No joke – my first frog fish – I’m hooked!
It was on the Strike King – and again – this is a really good frog. It even has a butthole so you can easily squirt out any water that the bait takes on. Classy!
Should I have censored that?
However, there are some things that I think the Pivot Frog does better. (Even though it doesn’t have a butthole.) I’m not making the switch because there is something wrong with the Strike King, so please keep that in mind – both are great baits – but consider this:
The Pivot Frog has a single hook point, and when you set the hook through sludge (which is what I have the pleasure of fishing a lot in Illinois) you are able to apply more force to a single location. All of the energy you impart is concentrated in that one spot. With the traditional frog hook, if both hook points are making contact with something inside the mouth of the fish, your energy is getting distributed.
I also had an issue with a few fish smacking the KVD Sexy Frog up in the air. Now… I know that this is a common occurrence for all you hardcore frog fisherman out there… but dammit man, there must be something we can do to at least reduce this a bit!
So, this desire for more weight, and more focus on the hookset was what led me to the Pivot Frog.
But… I was Concerned for 2 Reasons
There were two things that really made me take a pause for the cause before I made the switch. First, the weight on the back of the Pivot Frog was something that I wanted to add to the equation, but I was worried that this would make the bait pick up more of that topwater sludge.
After using the bait, I found this wasn’t an issue. The Sexy Frog is slightly more weedless, but not to the point that it is worth trading the other benefits.
Sweet. Check concern #1 off the list.
Second, my Sexy Frog has a rattle… which I didn’t notice until I was tying on the Pivot Frog! Now interestingly, this isn’t an issue currently because the KVD frog is no longer manufactured with rattles. However, if I am using the Pivot Frog this year and strikes are noticeably reduced… I will be adding a rattle to the bait and testing it for several hours.
Check concern #2 off the list… for now…
The Big Question to Ponder
One last thing I’d like to leave you with is this – have you ever thought about what causes a fish to strike a topwater frog? What can they see? What can they hear? Are they hunting or reacting?
When you are considering the color of the next frog that you plan to buy, take extra care when looking at the belly.
The difference between a white belly and a black belly will have much more impact on your fishing than a bright pink frog and a dark green frog – if for example the latter two options both have white bellies.
The same thing goes for appendages. Those little molded plastic arms look sweet! But… do they catch fish… or fishermen?
Look at both the belly and the overall profile.Rub belly for bonus points. You’ve got some hardware sticking out, sir…
Out of the package, most skirt-type frog legs are really too long. After opening a new one, I like to trim his biscuits! You can see the difference between these two baits:
This allows you to present a more compact package, which reduces the amount of missed strikes. Just like adding weight to my topwater presentation, anything that can even slightly increase the chance of a solid hookup is worth doing.
Need a bit more action?
Some guys will actually trim just 1 of the legs down to make the frog lopsided, which they believe helps the bait come through the water in a slightly more erratic manner, and also adds to that side-to-side motion.
If it’s early, late or overcast – it’s time to try a frog – and if you land some fish, make sure to tag me on social media and let me know – I’d love to hear from you.
Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.
EDIT: on August 14th, 2023 this post was updated to link to the new frog I am currently using, as the Sebile Pivot Frog (and all Sebile products) seem to be discontinued.
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Pond fishing is one of the most accessible ways to get into – or back into – fishing. Chances are there’s a pond nearby that is thriving, full of low-pressure fish that are eager to bite the right presentation.
Whether you’re new to fishing or a veteran that has skipped these small bodies of water for some time… consider giving them a look. Here’s how I got back into the game…
In the past I’ve fished tournaments, high-pressure lakes, creeks, water with absolutely no shoreline access that requires a small boat and rivers all over Illinois. Instead of approaching these adventures as a minimalist, I went at them as… well, maybe what you would call a maximalist. You might even say that I was profligate with my preparations.
In English? I took too much crap with me!
When I returned to Illinois from a Wisconsin vacation in 2019, I bought my fishing license really late in the year, but I wanted to find a place to fish with my sons. Somewhere that didn’t require a boat, because at the time we would be lucky to have 30 or 45 minutes to get out. I didn’t want 20 of those minutes to be me swearing at the trailer.
So I started looking for something that was easy to access, and not extremely popular or loaded with other bank & boat fishermen.
Good News: I found a place! Bad News: I had no idea how to fish it!
“Uh… where do I even begin?”
Let’s look at the first two trips that I took to this new pond so that I can show you what went right, what went wrong, and how you can take what I’ve learned and apply it to your own situation so you can catch more fish in the ponds near you!
A Summary: Getting Back Into Pond FishingClick the banner to jump to The Minimalist Fisherman on YouTube.
First Day at The Pond
Allow me to set the stage. Remember I mentioned I started keeping that journal in 2014? Well… I actually started keeping TWO. One for business, and one for fishing. This has been an extremely useful practice and I strongly suggest you start a journal of your own.
I wrote these notes in that journal after we returned on day 1…
September 14th Pond Fishing in IL “Weather: around 60 degrees – got a start at 6:00 a.m. and left the house at 6:45. The big man was fishing from shore using a Ned Rig with an exposed hook, I had a crankbait that I wanted to practice with, and also a weightless wacky rigged 4? Ocho like we had been using in Wisconsin. Well, fun fact – the pond is super sludgy, and has all sorts of muck on it – and in it. I tried the crankbait about twice, and found out it was impossible to use. Then we both fished the plastics we had tied on – and nothing. I think I’d like to go back and try 1 pass with a straight topwater frog, 1 pass with a weightless jerkbait like a fluke and a big hook that will be able to move about medium speed, and finally 1 pass with either a weightless Senko or wacky worm (maybe an Ocho again, or a trick worm). I do not think that the bass will hit our bait if it is buried in the muck, or even inhale it off of the bottom – so how can we maximize our time in the strike zone? Gotta be up somehow, and not hung up (super weedless). I’d also consider a drop-shot maybe but that sounds like kind of a pain to manage… let’s try these other ones first.”
What I Learned: Day 1
The bottom content of the pond was disgusting. Typical Illinois MUCK BOTTOM, I assume it’s all dead algae or vegetation and decomposing build-up. In Wisconsin we were fishing lakes with clear water and really nice rocky shorelines or weed to sand & rock transitions… so I had been conditioned to fish a jig with an exposed hook, and the fish in Wisconsin were not afraid to hit those jigs right on the bottom… but that wasn’t going to work in the muck-bottom Land of Lincoln.
The water was reasonably clear, and the bottom was dark green. In fact, everything seemed to be some shade of green.
The pond had many large floating algae pads. Some were thick. Some were thin. All had visible space underneath where fish could cruise. That doesn’t mean they werecruising – but they could.
I had no idea what the max depth of the pond or preferred local forage was.
As a result, I took too many presentations that were the wrong color with exposed hooks that got caught up on everything… and it was just a nightmare. We spent more time cleaning off our hooks than fishing!
But it also made me very curious… what was living in here? What werethey eating?
The most frustrating thing about the whole day, was that I had let my son down. All he caught was a weed fish, some pond scum and I believe some old fishing line attached to a bobber. I had failed to put him on fish, and that could potentially leave a horrible taste in his mouth and make him less likely to go fishing again.
He’s smiling but… but not really all that happy… shoot.
We salvaged the morning with a trip to a nearby playground… but I knew that I had to go back to explore the pond again.
Alone.
Second Day at the Pond
I took a few days to think about what I had learned. Remember, time on the water is important, and even if we get skunked, we should be able to learn something about the location, ourselves or the environment. I knew that I needed to take a presentation that was going to stay up out of the muck on the bottom, and also free of debris. The logical choice was a topwater… but I had literally zero confidence in topwater presentations…
So what did I do instead?
I made a complicated plan to make myself feel better. Fish a topwater for just 15 minutes, then switch to a toad for 10 minutes, a fluke for 5, then a wacky rig for 20… all in the course of an hour.
Not gonna happen. Complicated fishing plans never work!
September 18th Pond Fishing in IL “Weather: around 60 degrees – skies were clear and stable yesterday and last night. I was out the door about 6:30, made it to the pond right after 7:00 a.m. and was immediately able to start throwing a frog. The PLAN… was to fish a frog for 1 lap, a toad for 1 lap, a fluke for 1 lap (weightless) and a wacky rigged Ocho for 1 lap… but I never switched away from the frog. I caught a 2.5lb largemouth back in the “corner” by the bridge under that algae that looks like tiny little green pieces. It’s not super dense, and it was only about a 20 foot wide by 10 foot deep patch of cover, tucked back in the corner of the lake by calmer water. I was just looking for life, saw a heron and some small fish, and the cool thing was as the fish started to move in that shallow water I could literally see the water bulge up on top, so I threw it two more times in the general area and he smacked it and pulled it under. I think I got a good hook set because the algae was so thin. Then about 30 minutes later I missed this guy’s big sister but she was on the opposite side in a little bay kind of across from the parking lot. I turned her after she took the frog, but the bait popped right out, and it was LOADED with thick sludge. So I think what happened was when this bass hit, she took on a bunch of muck as well, and I didn’t get a good hook set through that crap. Absolute heartbreak. Missed another nearby in the same stuff as well, smaller though. Then that was it, I wrapped up and there was never any reason to switch to the other baits – but it was cool to find life here and catch my first legitimate frog fish.“
What I Learned: Day 2
I used one bait but had planned to use 4 (minimalist fishing approach for the win). Note: since I had no confidence in a topwater but wanted to use one, I should have ONLY taken a topwater – nothing else – which would force me to dedicate time to it, building confidence faster.
I knew that even if I did use 4 presentations, they all needed to stay out of the muck… BUT… I was really unsure of what I would do… my complicated plan was just a safety net, a false sense of security… or possibly an excuse.
I was looking for LIFE anywhere, even above the water. Since I had never caught a fish here and I was still exploring, I decided to go where the heron was which turned out to be a good decision. He was eating small fish (maybe even frogs?), and so was the largemouth bass.
I didn’t even see the bass strike, I heardit, looked, couldn’t find my frog and decided to reel down and set the hook. Before this I had seen the water bulging in the area I was fishing, underneath and around the thin overhead cover. Duckweed, in this area – and this area alone.
I missed two other fish in an area with really thick muck on top of the water, using a Strike King frog with a traditional frog hook (2 prongs). This was due to a combination of things. With the first fish my hookset was weak, I had the two prongs (which means the force of the hookset was distributed), and she took in a bunch of algae with the bait. I don’t think my hook penetrated the algae, or it may have caused a “blow out” when I set the hook. The second fish that I missed actually smacked the bait up in the air when he tried to strike it.
Just for reference, there was a small feeder creek near where the heron had set up shop. This could probably adjust the water temperature and also provide a replenishing source of food as bugs and critters and minnows washed into the pond.
Look at that sign of life over there!
Give Pond Fishing a Chance!
The second day was a success… accidentally!
No matter – the simple act of catching a fish – a good fish – got me even more fired up about fishing ponds. Not only was I making time to fish with an extremely hectic schedule, I was learning new techniques (topwater) and bringing big ‘ol bass up onto the shore with me.
… but… If I’m being honest…
I wish my son had caught it 🙂
AJ Hauser with a nice 2.5 pound pond bass (largemouth)
Next time.
So How Can You Catch More Fish Out of Ponds?
If possible, explore the body of water ahead of time and look for things like cover, bottom composition, bottom color and forage. This will help you pick your presentations and bait colors.
Don’t make a complicated plan. Tie on baits that you have confidence in, or if you want to gain confidence in a new bait – just take that one bait and dedicate some time to it.
Upon arrival if you don’t know where to start fishing, look for life above and below the water. Birds, turtles, frogs, deer, minnows, bugs, tadpoles, frogs or anything else.
Pay attention to your surroundings and look for cues, like the water bulging up above the surface giving away the position of active bass in shallow water, or topwater strikes nearby as bass chase and attack frogs or other fish.
Stick with it – and no matter what happens – learn something new about the location or your skills every time you are out on the water.
Most importantly… have fun, and enjoy God’s creation. Enjoy the fresh air, the wind, the sun, the rain, the hot, the cold – soak it all up. Remind yourself that there are a lot of people that will never experience the simple act of pond fishing – and just as many want to fish but are stuck at work… if you know someone like that, you might want to tell them about Minimalist Fishing.
Every trip is a blessing, no matter the outcome.
Now get out and explore some ponds of your own! Tell a friend, simplify your approach – and if this has helped you in any way, make sure to let me know. I’d love to hear from you.
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Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.
P.S. – I’m still finding new ponds and small bodies of water to fish, like Snapping Turtle Pond… check it out, and let me know what YOU find!
Get Articles & Videos First
Catch More Fish Than Your Friends. Laugh At Their Tears.
Your support directly funds the creation of weekly articles and videos that promote the development of better anglers and better men. Our country (and our kids) need both. Please share this site, and consider a monthly, weekly, or one-time donation. You are helping us make a difference!
