Frog patterns for Barra

[NAGG]

OK .... Its fairly common knowledge that frog type plastics are reasonably effective on Billabong barra .... Scum frogs in particular
From what I have been told ..... Their hook up rates can be a issue due to the lay of the special frog hook along each side of the body ...... Though there are a couple of US made types that are much better in design ( do we know of them ???)

Is anyone using these types of surface lures successfully on impoundment barra ? ...
Any particular stand outs ?

Cheers all

Nagg

[Magella]

Nagg,
The two stand outs at Monduran are the river2sea bullywa 65 and the zoom horny toad

Cheers Foxie

[NAGG]

Nagg,
The two stand outs at Monduran are the river2sea bullywa 65 and the zoom horny toad

Cheers Foxie

Thanks Foxie

The Zoom horny toad I'm familiar with ...... The river2sea ???

Nagg

[Magella]

Nagg,
hope the photo helps
Cheers Foxie

[birko]

Nagg
Try the Jackall Giant Mask Frog.
Very hard to get in Aus, the smaller version is available from a few p[laces but to small for impoundment barra. Think Matrix may have done a bit of work in this area of frog plastics for Barra given a few hints in previous posts. Also believe he fished this style in last ABT at Awoonga. Sorry if that info is wrong Jas
Birko

[NAGG]

Nagg
Try the Jackall Giant Mask Frog.
Very hard to get in Aus, the smaller version is available from a few p[laces but to small for impoundment barra. Think Matrix may have done a bit of work in this area of frog plastics for Barra given a few hints in previous posts. Also believe he fished this style in last ABT at Awoonga. Sorry if that info is wrong Jas
Birko

looks good Birko!

Thanks

Nagg

[idumarrab]

sizmic magnum toad, sizmic propwash toad.
Similar to horny toad but a tad larger.

[NAGG]

sizmic magnum toad, sizmic propwash toad.
Similar to horny toad but a tad larger.

Ok ..... more a traditional soft plastic rather than the scum frog or spro types

Thanks

Nagg

[the_matrix]

Yep frogs, toads, scumfrogs etc etc have been around for a long time.
Nothing new about any of them.
If you look at the hook setup of a scumfrog, you will see that to make them weedless they have had to comprimise hook exposure.

I went about finding a frog that could be fished in an unconventional manner and with a bit of help from Craig Simmons and US Bass Pro Phil Strader, came up with the Zoom horny toad.

I needed to fish the frog in heavy weed and in shallow area's, but didnt want to use compromised hook set ups. It also had to have certain "swim" characteristics.

In the end the perfect hook was the TT 6/0h 1/8th worm hook swum on a zoom horny toad. Nothing new there but the tecnique is unconventional utilising speed as a trigger to catch these mammoth fish.

During the ABT Awoonga two day event, the word got out on how many fish we caught on session 1 using this method however they didnt know how to swim them and didnt know they were horny toads.
Funnily, after the first afternoon event, Pats t a c kleworld in Gladstone sold out of scumfrogs, thats what everyone thought we were using.

This techinque is new, funnily enough since ABT Awoonga (where I shared the method with everyone during the presentation and the press release on ABT BARRA website) there are people coming out of the woodwork saying that they have been ripping plastic frogs/zoom horny toads over the surface for ages. I beg to differ.

Chris if you want to see the techique in action, and learn how to do it so that it works not catches catfish or gets boofed and not hook up, FDVD #11 has the segment. Should be out in a month or so, and is truley an eye opener.
If you think Dam barra are lazy or slow (like I did early on in my learnings) than this will surely change your mind!

This technique will work an absolute cracker on billabong fish and I reckon on big salties on the flats.
Cheers
Jas

[Little grey men]

My old mans got an ancient old cod lure in his tackle box out west. It's his pride and joy....homemade ironbark painted frog with a paddle on the back in the shape of frogs legs. Whenever I take new fishing tackle out to him he always opens his tackle box and shows me this thing, like I've never seen it before.
He tosses that thing out across the river and it swims slow and clunky back to him. Plop Plop Plop Always makes me laugh. But no matter how much I hint, he won't part with it. I don't know if it would catch barra, but it sure would entertain them.

[SeekingBarradise]

Hi this is a great thread and we want to keep it going to get more helpful information out of it for everyone on Ausfish. Out of respect we’ve sent a personal message to ask Nagg (Chris) if we could expand the questions in his thread to include fast retrievals and he said
“Absolutely go for it”. This is a great forum to learn, & this thread has already got people thinking & learning…. For us that’s what the net is all about.

Fast Retrieving Lures/Plastics/Frogs/Bait/Surface or Subsurface.

We have been busy like everyone I guess, but whenever we start talking about Barra down here in SEQ or in the tackle shops the topic seems to end up with this new fan-dangled approach to fishing….Fast retrieves catch barramundi. Followed by comments like. “Have you heard about them mate? Apparently the Barra are going off when you fast retrieve plastics or frogs etc.etc”. Hard bodies, plastics or frogs etc.
“You need to buy a packet of these” etc etc. As if the packet will automatically make you catch fish on every trip.

We have heard this a few too many times from people that don’t know the technique is not new and wasn’t invented in 2008. What was amazing was the lack of knowledge & respect for the pioneers of fishing/tactics in Australia. The technique dates back decades if not more…It just goes to show that History is forgotten easily. Old timers must shake their heads at times…

For Example: I’ve seen aboriginals in Arnhem Land & the Daly River region using flat out retrieves on handlines. If you have ever seen flat out handline speed? You will quickly find out that it’s a bloody quick retrieve. Presentations such as, hooks with feathers stuck to them, live bait, dead bait, Styrofoam used to keep presentations on surface, surface & sub-surface lures were all used, even the good old meat on a hook trick!!! Funny stuff. All of this was being used decades ago. Can we lay claim to inventing anything, when most new findings are often stumbled upon by mistake. E.g. Fish for half a day for no result…then back out in the arvo & while burning a bad cast/weeded lure/plastic back to the boat only to see an excited Barra chasing your presentation. With the Trigger found, you then go on to catch lots of fish & have a fun afternoon.

Because of the risk of getting snagged in weeds, lilies, pandanus roots, logs etc etc the retrieve rate had to be very quick – at times as quick as possible. Many Territorians & North Queenslanders have already been using a fast retrieve as a fish catching technique; it’s just not printed in the mainstream media. Sometimes retrieving just ended up being fast because it had to be.

Tournament: In the case of Jason, Craig & Phil they figured out what lure they could fish in an area of thick weed. It was a great effort from the guys to do well in that event. Congratulations. Hats off to them they thought out a successful approach on the day and I didn’t. To see fish caught first hand rather than hearing about it was awesome fun. . I’ll never forget it. It was also interesting to see people catch Barra on the same day using different tactics to those mentioned above.

The Taylor brothers have also been burning plastics for a couple of years, I remember the 120cm Swimming Garbage Bin they caught at Faust burning plastics...Geese that must have been fun… It was the biggest fish of the event.

I did hear Mathew Mott has been burning presentations for years on Bass and Barra….Including faster trolling….Maybe a few of his mates could confirm this & give us a few tips on the techniques Motty used?

General Everyday Fisho: Even with several million fishing men & women around Australia, we don’t get to hear about the quiet achievers….Then they & their methods are forgotten over time. Lots of good oil is then lost, and then re marketed as a new idea. At times we feel sorry for those who work in tackle shops…The stories must drive you crazy at times….

Another Example: I’ve even seen tinnies on the plane trolling 303 shells, spoons, and the alfoil out of powdered milk tins ala Malcolm Douglas style in his movies 30+ years ago. This speed trolling resulted in Monumental hook-ups with speeding Barra launching into the air at great speed, which was amazing to see. Gear really got tested in this arena. All the above examples give off different sounds, vibrations, splash & swim actions in the water.

Plastics in the U.S have been good for decades. Billions of casts each year from hundreds of thousands of fishermen/women has resulted in many fish catching techniques. I’m sure old footage of quickly retrieved presentations that caught fish could be tracked down as well, which might give everyone on Ausfish a few more ideas!!!

Our point is that Fast retrieves of any type have been around for decades; however it hasn’t been talked about a lot. Speed retrieves attract in numerous ways…. from forcing interest because of intensity of rattles or vibration levels right down to straight out yobbo winding…. where just the speed of the object makes the fish strike.
Out of respect for those that pioneered these methods we thought we just had to have a say in this thread so please don’t anyone take offence ok. Let’s be cool and keep it creative & if we agree to disagree that’s great…at least we are thinking about fishing….How good is life if the biggest hassle in our week is a debate about fishing!!!


Maybe Harro (Rod Harrison) could shed more light on a few Savvy NT & NQ guides techniques? Or maybe some of your own experiences? Or the 30 year old frog soft plastic in your book etc...

Another Example: When interviewing Johnny Mitchell last year he mentioned some of his earliest memories of speed retrieves hooking Barramundi while he was actually fast spinning for school mackerel on coastal headlands.

Just to clarify things… Speed retrieving is a spectacular method… It doesn’t always work… But its great fun when it does…And it’s great that we have the net to share ideas and hopefully get us all to catch more fish. Maybe you could share your experiences with us so we can all learn?

Cheers Lyndon & Kelli

[NAGG]

Jas .... I am looking forward to it ..... specially how they are fished!

..... a recent chat with another Ausfish member ignited my interest in frogs! ....... Though it was several years ago that I met a guy who was travelling from Lakefield NP ( He described how he used frogs with great success ...... with a walk the dog action) ...... I cant remember the frog ( though it was a US bass frog)

Cheers

Nagg

[the_matrix]

Yeh Nagg, as stated mate that sort of things been around for a long time, walk the dog, medium retreives.
I fished Lakefield and Coroboree when I was ten, blokes were using frogs and stuff up there with great success.

This stuff is a little different.
I got laughed at by plenty when I explained the retrieve, you'll know what I mean when you see the footage.
Cheers
Jas

[NAGG]

Hi this is a great thread and we want to keep it going to get more helpful information out of it for everyone on Ausfish. Out of respect we’ve sent a personal message to ask Nagg (Chris) if we could expand the questions in his thread to include fast retrievals and he said
“Absolutely go for it”. This is a great forum to learn, & this thread has already got people thinking & learning…. For us that’s what the net is all about.

Kel & Lyndon .... Thanks for that!
As I mentioned to you .... This is the type of thread that was meant to be thought provoking ....... I for one want to know more on what could be a exciting way to catch barra.
I know now ( in hindsight) I would have loved to have frogs up at Teemburra last Oct .... lilly pads that held barra ..... we landed & missed some! .. but a frog could have been sensational

Keep it going

Nagg

[Whitto]

I was born and bred in Innisfail and remember years ago when I was a kid (now 60yo) my father use to fish the Johnstone River for Jacks and Barra these were the days before lures, He use to make a rubber frog cut out of the sole of an old sand shoe (black sole) it's shape was of an out stretched frog on the move, he threaded a substantial hook with the eye of the hook near the head of the frog threaded a sinker on and tied on the Mono cast to a likely spot and thats how he caught his Barra and Jacks, so simple but very effective, Cheers Whitto PS as soon as I can get hold of a piece of 1/8" or 1/4" rubber incersion Ill give it a shot