Fishing a frog and flipping are two heavy-duty techniques that certainly qualify as power-fishing. These two fishing styles generally require heavy line and beefy gear to tackle the thickest cover efficiently and land what bites. But, you can also downsize some when fishing these two methods, as California pro Brent Ehrler has learned through his years as a top-level professional bass angler.
Ehrler recently wrapped up his tournament fishing season in Michigan on Saginaw Bay, and his Top 10 finish was partially due to a finesse flipping and open water frogging approach. He always leans on it when the situation arises, and it’s helped him catch bass across the country. He shared more details on when and where he uses these techniques and how to get the most out of them.
Downsized Flipping for Pressured Bass
When bass become less aggressive after repeatedly seeing baits come and go around them, Ehrler likes to downsize and go with a Yamamoto Senko on a flipping setup. It’s something he’s done for years, and it’s still very effective. Instead of using the typical jig or big, bulky soft plastic, a simple Senko is ideal for getting extra bites.
“Anytime you are fishing for educated fish, downsizing to a 5-inch Senko instead of a bulkier creature bait or jig is going to catch more fish when there is a lot of fishing pressure,” he said. “It’s still a fast fall when you add a weight, but the slimmer profile without any kicking appendages will get them to bite when they are seeing a lot of baits. I fish it with a ¼-ounce ARK Tungsten weight and a 3/O Gamakatsu SuperLine Extra Wide Gap hook. It’s the perfect setup with enough power to get those fish in from reeds and other isolated vegetation.”
One plus for fishing this way is that Ehrler can still be efficient and make multiple pitches in short order. It’s also not too heavy, and he can utilize lighter gear than he would with standard flipping and pitching. His rod of choice is one he designed, a 7-foot, 3-inch medium-heavy Daiwa Tatula Elite “Multi-Purpose” rod with an 8.1:1 Daiwa Tatula Elite Reel.
“The rod was designed for many different techniques and works great for pitching a Senko, because you don’t need a big stout rod for that size of bait,” he said. “But the rod still has plenty of backbone for fighting fish, but it’s not a big beefy rod, and I’m still using 50-pound braid, so I’ve got all the power I need. I prefer the faster reel so you can get it back quicker every time you make a flip and be much more efficient over a day.”
Open Water Frogging
Fishing with a frog is often seen as something that’s done over matted vegetation. It’s one of the best ways to catch a bass in this thick vegetation, producing some awesome blowups through the grass, but they also excel in more open water situations.
On Saginaw Bay, Ehrler was working his frog around scattered reeds and caught countless fish this way as he skipped his frog to isolated clumps or pitched the frog to small openings between the standing vegetation.
Since he wasn’t working the frog over mats, he downsized his gear and says it works well with his flipping approach. “The flipping and frogging complement each other, and when fishing in a more open water area, I like to use the 7-foot, 1-inch Daiwa Tatula Elite ‘Skipping’ Rod,” he said. “The Ish Monroe frog rods are good, but they’re much stiffer and meant for pulling fish through mats. The skipping model still has plenty of power, but I always throw a frog on it when casting to isolated targets since it is so much easier to make precise casts.”
He prefers a Daiwa Tatula SV TW150 reel in the 8.4:1 gear ratio for his open water frogging reel. “I really like the SV spool for making precision casts,” he said. “For bombing a frog over matted grass, I like the Tatula Elite because that reel was made for distance casting. When making short casts and skipping around a frog, a reel with the SV spool works much better, plus you don’t backlash with that reel.”
Flipping and frogging are two staples for bass anglers fishing around grass, but utilizing them with a slightly downsized approach can make all the difference sometimes. California pro Brent Ehrler saw this and made it work for him at his final event of the season as he earned yet another Top 10 finish on the Bass Pro Tour.
Advertising