If you are able to get up early it’s a good time to throw a frog right now. There’s a lot of different frog lures on the market, but the Berkley Swamp Lord has been my personal favorite for a while now. There are definitely some other good options available, and I’ll touch on a couple of those towards the end of this article but if you are able to find these then I’d definitely suggest picking a couple of them up.
There are a lot of people that like the Swamp Lord and there a variety of different reasons why they like it, but the hookup ratio is the main reason I like this lure. I’ve tried a few different frogs at this point and one thing about frog fishing is you want to make sure that you pick a frog that gives you a good chance of landing the fish after they decide to bite the lure. Not all frog lures are equal when it comes to this, and I believe this is one of the best options out there when it comes down to how many bites you get vs. how many bass you actually end up catching.
I also really like the size and weight of this thing. They actually just released a smaller version, but I’ve personally found that even small bass will hit the regular size Swamp Lord and so that’s all I really feel like I need at this point. The weight of the lure is also perfect for me since I tend to prefer lures that weigh over a half an ounce when I’m using a casting setup, and I would definitely recommend using a casting setup if you are going to throw a frog.
They also have a lot of great colors available, but in my case I only usually buy two. It turns out colors are a bit of a hot topic when it comes to frog fishing and lots of people have argued that lots of different colors can do well. I imagine most of them are actually right and suspect the bass aren’t as picky when it comes to this lure and your color selection, but in my case I’ve landed on two colors that I like:
- Maverick
- MF Bluegill
Maverick is basically equivalent to a black colored frog, but happens to have a little purple in it. I don’t think the purple really matters but it looks cool and purple happens to be one of my favorite worm colors. But it’s mostly black anyway and so I like this color when the visibility is lower so if I’m out right before the sun is up or if it’s cloudy or the water is dirty this is probably the color I’m going to go with.
The other color I really like is MF Bluegill. Natural colors can do well when there’s actually frogs where you are fishing but even if there isn’t there’s probably a bluegill population and this color basically covers both. If the sun is already up and the visibility is higher then this is probably what I’m going to end up using.
The Swamp Lord also comes in a popping version as well as a standard version. As it turns out I like to use both and imagine either one would work pretty well anyway, but there are a couple of situations when I’ll usually go with one over the other. To begin with, if I’m on a larger body of water and need to cover more water I’ll probably go with a standard frog since I tend to reel it back to me a little faster than a popping frog. The amount of vegetation on the water is the other thing that I usually take into consideration and if there’s less vegetation then I’ll usually go with a popping frog and I’ll usually go with a regular frog if there’s more vegetation since a standard frog tends to come through a little better even though they are both weedless lures.
If they don’t happen to carry the Swamp Lord at your local tackle shop then the other two I’d suggest are the Spro Bronzeye and the Booyah Pad Crasher. Having said that most stores that I’ve seen carry Berkley products and you can even find them on sale every once in a while. If you do and they are in stock then I’d strongly suggest picking some of these up. They do great and a good frog bite is one of the best ways there is to catch some bass.
Tackle Summary
Product: Berkley Swamp Lord
Category: Hollow Body Frog
Length: 2.6″
Weight: 2/3oz
Suggested Colors: Maverick, MF Bluegill
