Frogs & toads

Soft plastics fished on top of grass and mats — hollow-body frogs walked over the canopy, and buzz toads reeled so their legs kick.

Soft plastics are the biggest family in bass fishing: 36 shapes, each designed for a rig, a depth and a mood.

• Shape = design purpose: fish, worm, craw, creature, tube, frog
• Finesse tier vs power tier: the same shape at 3.5 in and 7 in is two different techniques
• Tail type decides the action; body decides the fall
• Rig it the way it was designed to be rigged

Two very different baits share the frog name. A hollow-body frog is a floating shell on a double hook, walked and paused over cover a hard topwater cannot touch. A buzz toad is a solid soft plastic on a wide-gap Texas hook, reeled fast enough that its legs churn the surface — it sinks when you stop, which is exactly when the follow-up bite comes.