With the Mimix-Pactac Hop Frog Challenge a few days away, (starts Feb 1 up to Feb 28) I thought of posting some tips on how to use these great lures to help more people catchy and submit entries. Hard Bodied Thai Hop Frogs (like the Mimix Hopper Lite) are best used for open water or very light cover conditions. Their design requires that they be retrieved with a certain amount of speed to achieve the hop/splash action that attracts the dalag. You can cover a lot of water when using these hop frogs, so they are great for quickly fishing large shallow areas of water. You can vary the retrieve speed when you cover an area so you can determine the speed the fish like for the day. I usually like to use slow retrieves when the temperature is low and the fish are sluggish. I usually retrieve the hop frogs faster with Toman, but that is not a hard and fast rule. Unlike soft bodied frogs, once you get a strike, you can set the hooks right away. Another trick is the position of your rod tip on the retrieve. The closer your hop frog gets to you, the less it splashes. Holding the tip higher helps keep the splashing and hopping. You can twitch the tip too to pop the frogs. Holding the rod tip low to the water causes some hop frogs to wiggle and can help entice a strike. Try different ways to retrieve this lure and the results may surprise you. After all, hop frogs have been used to catch more than just snakeheads. If you are up to it, please crimp the barbs on your hop frogs. Often, dalag are hooked in or around the eye tissue due to The way the hooks are positioned on these lures. Pulling out barbed hooks in these situations often further damages the eye of the fish. Barbless hooks slip out easily. If you are worried about losing a fish, using barbless hooks is a great way to practice your fish fighting techniques because you train yourself to keep constant tension on the line. I like to connect my dalag lures direct to my braid (no leader) using a swivel and split ring. You can tie them on or use a snap/swivel. But for more toothy targets (like toman), a good leader is good practice. I like to use a short 6 Flouro Carbon Leader, but that is just me, it isnt a hard and fast rule. Do what makes you sleep better at night. Use the next few days to practice and reward yourself with a win! If you have other tips, pls. post them. Practice Catch And Release! Tight Lines - always!
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 11:27:50 +0000
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