Frogs

FROGS

by Kuba Chruszczewski

         We are in the early spring. The first signs of nature awakening to life after winter hibernation can already be seen in the woods and meadows. Only the rivers still give the impression of being dormant. But this is only an appearance. In the dark, seemingly dead water, something is already happening, although you can't see it at first glance. It would be futile to look out for feeding trout, after all, it is still far too early for insect hatches. Small fish that are food for salmonids have disappeared somewhere, still staying well hidden in their wintering places. But certain situations, just typical of the pre-spring period, provide the fish with quite valuable food....

  Many years ago, I often visited a nearby trout river sometimes as early as February. The river was not very suitable for fly fishing, so I fished then mainly with spinning. Since in those days I took most of the fish I caught, so I had the opportunity to carefully analyze the stomach contents of the trout I caught. And it was in the pre-spring period that the most common food I found in the stomachs of fish were frogs. More or less digested, often just bones already. Sometimes there was no need for gutting - it happened that a caught trout had the paws of a devoured frog sticking out of its mouth. Ba, it happened to me that a small pike caught on the occasion of a trout run, during the release from the hook spit out a frog, which swished nimbly into the water.

   In the described period, the principle makes itself emphatically known: the best food is the one that is most readily available at the time and found in sufficient quantity. Getting a sizable morsel such as a frog does not require a large expenditure of energy - one successful attack brings a big profit. Probably, in the cold pre-spring water, when life processes are still strongly slowed down, such a large prey will satisfy the food needs for a few days - a good way to make up for losses after the efforts of spawning.

  The conditions conducive to the emergence of frogs as available and easy to obtain food in the water are related to their biology. Without going into details, we can assume in a simplistic way that the lion's share of frogs devoured by salmonids are brown frogs - grass frogs and moor frogs. They overwinter buried in silt in riverbeds, from where they are often washed out by winter and pre-spring high tides. Such a numb and motionless frog is carried by the current straight into the mouth of a predator. Imitation of the frog should therefore be carried out deep, in the so-called ”dead drift”, allowing it to float to the vicinity of the presumed position of the fish.

   Later, when the water reaches the right temperature, the amphibians become active - the breeding period begins. This is also when they seem to become more numerous, but they are already moving more independently. At this time, the recommended method may be more aggressive guiding of imitations, similar to streamer fishing. The third noteworthy moment is when, at the dawn of winter, frogs return to the water in search of wintering grounds. If in our fishery there are species of fish that can be caught in autumn,( and you should know that no predator will disdain this food) this is also a good time to try our imitations.

    Of course, throughout the season you can try frog imitation fishing in reservoirs where they occur in sufficient numbers. In summer, in shallow pike reservoirs it is worth trying the surface method, using floating imitations. In lowland rivers, such a small floating frog can prompt a chub, asp, ide and virtually any other river predator to attack.

I highly encourage you to supplement our box with imitation frogs.

The chef recommends: frog legs!

Frog made of deer hair

I thread a piece of silicone tubing onto the marabou pen

In this way, I prepare a pair of frogs' feet.

On the hook I place a little dubbing. It will serve to set the pawpaws properly.

I tie the paws, secure the binding site with glue.

On the hook shank I tie bunches of deer hair, yellow underneath, brown and olive from above.

Firmly pushing the tied coat to the left, I fill the entire shaft.

Haircut.

After gluing the eyes, the frog is ready.

Floating frog.

Paws made of strips of leather with fur, torso made of dubbing covered with buoyant foam.

Drowning frogs.

He ties two pairs of saddle feathers of a rooster to the hook so that they stand off to the sides.

On the shaft I tie dubbing - ash from the top, olive from the bottom.

I fix the loop of fishing line so that it stands off from the hook shank at right angles.

I dubbing arrange all over the shaft, tie eyes.

After sharpening the ash dubbing, I thread 3-4 brass beads on the line.

I bend the line forward and tie at the eye of the hook.

The brass beads are a kind of ballast that will position the fly with the arrowhead up.

       After sharpening the olive part of the dubbing, the frog imitation is ready.

I made the paws from strips of leather with fur, stretched silicone tubes over them similarly to the marabou feather paws.

I tie a wider strip of leather ( zonker) from the top where the paws are attached

I make the torso by winding the hair twisted with the leading thread, tie heavy eyelets and cover everything with the previously tied zonker.