Use hollow body plastic frogs for big bass
Froggin’ and droppin’ are the best ways to put bass in the boat this October at Toledo Bend.
After all, October falls within one of the two most popular bass fishing seasons on the lake — spring and fall. The first day of fall, Sept. 22, marks the next premier season of bassin’ at a time many outdoorsmen start hunting. I’d say there’s 85 percent or so less traffic on the water than in the spring, when bass can be in a spawning frenzy. In the fall, bass are gorging themselves, putting on the feedbag for the upcoming winter months of December and January.
It’s a fun time, a special time, and I’ll be there with hollow body plastic frogs and punchin’ rods to take advantage of much, much cooler water temperatures than we’ve been experiencing in July through late August. The baitfish — shad and bream — will be higher in the water column and bass will be right there with them, many of them suspended in the grass beds that now cover much of the lake.
How to trigger bites
I’ll mostly feed the bass Stanley Poppin’ Toads, like I did Aug. 22 on a trip from sunrise to 1 p.m. I had five punchin’ rods at the ready but never picked up any because I was ready for topwater action of exciting proportions. I wasn’t disappointed. They blasted a white Poppin’ Toad seven times (every single one crushed it) and all of those bitin’ bass came into the red Skeeter. A couple were 3-pounders and the others averaged 2 ½ pounds.
That’s what will play out in October as hollow body plastic frogs trigger more and more bites with water temps in the 70s and, perhaps, even in the 60s. Use your favorite hollow body plastic frog. If you don’t have one, try the top two sellers at Toledo Town & Tackle — an albino Spro Popper and a nasty shad Spro Popper. Stanley, Strike King and Booyah poppers rank right up there with them for triggering heart-stopping bites. Those hollow body plastic frogs are effective because they are versatile, virtually snagproof, and will be deadly this month in hydrilla beds along cracks, pockets, breaklines and, even, isolated grass clumps in drains in 5- to 12-foot depths. That, my friends, is the deal.
Of course, other topwaters, such as your favorite buzz bait, can produce, too.
Techniques to use
You can fish for the explosion atop the water or, if you’d rather, the underwater tug because another tried and true approach to putting bass in the boat this time of year is punchin’ June bug/red soft plastics worms under a ½-ounce weight (downsize the weight to ¼- or 1/16-ounce if they are closer to the surface than the bottom) or by droppin’ ½-ounce jigs through grass beds in 9- to 12-foot depths.
Twelve double-digit bass have been recorded since May in the Toledo Bend Lunker Bass Program. I’m expecting many more to start joining the list in October as the window of opportunity increases to land one over 10. Remember, a plastic frog is a potential big bass bait.
I’ve been guiding on this lake most of my life and you’re welcome in my boat. Give me a call at (936) 404-2688.
