Published: August 19, 2009 10:35 pm      

Doing the ‘Double Take’

New toad hook helps puts the catch back into frog fishing

YANTIS — Lonnie Stanley promised he was going to build a better frog hook, and he delivered. When a bass eats a Ribbit Frog matched with the Double Take, it’s game over.

Stanley is a veteran lure maker from Huntington who played a lead role in popularizing jig fishing in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He eventually expanded his business — Stanley Jigs — to include spinnerbaits, crawworms and a wide variety of other soft plastics.

The Ribbit Frog joined the company catalog during the Summer of 2005 after it was purchased from Reaction Lures designer, John Dean of Louisiana. Bass anglers have been crowing about it ever since.

Chances are they’ll be crowing even louder about the Double Take once it hits the market early next month. That’s because the innovative hook goes a long way towards solving a vexing problem that has been haunting bass anglers ever since Zoom started the buzz frog revolution with introduction of the Horny Toad in 2004.

Buzz frogs like the Ribbit, Horny Toad and a host of spinoffs are designed to be reeled across the surface, through lily pads and over weedbeds. As the bait skims the surface, the legs and feet stir up commotion as they kick back and forth.

The tantalizing dance is sometimes more than the territorial largemouth can stand. Bass rarely hold anything back when they slam a frog. Most hits are so violent they will shock you if you are not mentally prepared.

Exciting as the buzz frog is to fish with, however, anglers historically have encountered problems when it comes to catching fish on it with any consistency. I have heard some anglers say they are unable to convert on more than 50 percent of the strikes they get on a buzz frog.

No doubt, a big part of the blame rests with the fishermen themselves. Many anglers are prone to overreact when a fish explodes on the topwater. The natural inclination is to jerk prematurely, thus taking the bait away from the fish before it has the opportunity to eat it.

Hook design is a problem that even nerves of steel can do nothing about. Early on, the only hooks available for frog fishing were wide-gap single hooks with some sort of keeper to hold the frog snugly against the eye. Rigged properly, these hooks penetrate through the belly of the frog and ride exposed on its back.

An inherent problem with the single hook is a fish really has to engulf the bait in order to catch it. But even then there are no guarantees. Oftentimes, the thick plastic frog will ball up on the point of the hook and prevent it from finding bone.

Several companies have helped alleviate the problem with different versions of a double frog hook. The hook is designed so it cradles the body of the frog with the points left exposed or skin hooked on both sides.

I have field tested several double hooks and noticed a definite increase in hook-ups as opposed to using a single hook. One of the best is the Double Trouble by Gambler. It comes with a spring keeper to hold the bait secure to the eye and a bridged weight to promote better castability and help the bait run true without rolling.

Stanley and master lure builder John Hale took the double hook concept and expanded on it to create what is sure to be one of the most deadly frog hooks the market. Perhaps the most noticeable differences between the “Double Take” and other double frog hooks are its extra long shank, 5/0 wide-gap size, narrow positioning of the hook points and a rigging technique that is altogether different than anything else out there.

Rather than cradling the frog on both sides of its body, the Double Take holds the toad secure at the rear by hooking through the base of each leg. The hooks are bent to a degree that they ride flat against the rump of the Ribbit without restricting the enticing action of the legs and boot-shaped feet. It has a spring keeper that holds the nose of the frog snug against the eye of the hook.

“When a bass explodes on a frog, it usually strikes at the feet and legs, which is where all the action is at,” explained Stanley. “One of the main advantages to our design is it places the hooks toward the rear of the frog. This helps turn a lot of those short strikes into hook-ups. If a bass eats this bait, you’ve got it.”

Stanley recently brought me a couple of prototypes to try out. I took them to Lake Fork, where fishing guide Gary Paris and I spent the morning fishing a grass-filled pocket that was loaded with shad and hungry bass.

Not only did the hook run true, it caught bass after bass. Together Paris and I landed 17 fish up to four pounds in about 2 1/2 hours. Each bass was hooked securely with both hooks, many of them through the roof of the mouth.

We only missed a handful of fish, most as the result of setting the hook prematurely.

It is also worth noting that we caught multiple fish on the same bait. I used two frogs all morning long, while Paris never changed baits the first time.

Stanley has contracted Mustad to build the Double Take and predicts the first production run to arrive sometime this month. He expects the first shipments to arrive at retail tackle outlets sometime in September, just about the time frog bite really heats up on lakes across Texas.

 

Matt Williams is a freelance writer based in Nacogdoches. He can be reached by e-mail, mattwilliams@netdot.com.