Topwater frog lures are some of the most popular and most fun to fish lures there are. You can throw most of them in any nasty and shallow weed cover and pop them along with ease, and big bass in shallow water love to annihilate them.
In this post, we will take a look at some of the best frog lures for bass, so you can go out and get some explosive strikes with them when you are out on the water.
Our Best Frog Bass Lures: Quick Picks
The hop walker is just an all-around great frog design, and it is coming from a company that has made some serious waves in the fishing industry over the last decade with its innovative and unique designs.
As a plus, the color patterns on these things make for a downright sexy frog.
It's hard to argue with nearly 75 years of fishing success. And while it may seem outdated with the inability to fish the slop like soft body frogs, the hula popper still crushes giant bass when used.
There is something about the "bloop" sounds and water-spitting action that will attract bass and cause some of the most vicious strikes ever.
Take one look at these topwater frog lures, and you will know why it wins this category. The Lunker topwater frog has great natural colors and lifelike legs that spring in the water like a real frog, and the unique way it sits in the water is sure to attract bass.
The action of this lure is also great and mimics a frog swimming to perfection.
The Best 10 Frog Lures: Full Reviews
The savage gear hop walker looks amazing thanks to its hand-painted detailing, glitter base, and overall killer color patterns.
The major key feature of the hop walker is the hook design. The hook faces straight ahead and slightly upwards, whereas many other brands have hooks that point inwards to prevent fouling in heavy weeds.
This hook setup allows for an increased hooking percentage, which is a big deal when fishing topwater lures, as many fish fail to get hooked.
There are six awesome color patterns to choose from and two sizes ranging from 2.25 and 2.75 inches.
- Awesome color pattern
- Increased hooking percentage
- Quality materials
In 2013 the Lunkerhunt lunker frog was the best won the best soft plastic lure category at ICAST, which is a testament to the lifelike action and appearance of the lunker frog.
When in a resting position, the lunkerhunt lunker frog sits a little lower in the water compared to other frog lures which float on the surface, this mimics the actual sitting position of bullfrogs and leopard frogs.
The lunker hunter is made using quality materials and components, with a super soft hollow body design that is weedless.
- ICAST winner
- Incredibly lifelike
- Weedless design
The hula popper is one of the most famous topwater frog lures ever made. It has been around since the 1940s and was a revolutionary lure for the time, and is still just as effective today.
The cupped nose of the bait makes a great plopping sound and spits out water to the sides to call in bass from far and wide, and the skirt entices them to strike once they get close.
Hula poppers come in both a one-treble hook design with a smaller body or a two-treble hook design. While not weedless like many soft frog lures, the hula popper is devastating when worked around the edges of slop and weed beds.
There is a wide variety of color patterns to choose from, and they also have new feather tail designs as well.
- Cupped nose
- Time-tested classic
- multiple sizes and colors
The booyah poppin' pad crasher is a soft plastic, hollow-bodied, and weedless frog design, and It features a silicone skirt leg design that many anglers are familiar with.
The hook on the poppin' pad crasher is a high-quality, super strong double hook design. This bait can be worked just about anywhere with water, including the thickest slop and gnarliest brush out there.
The pad crasher comes in a ton of color patterns as well, so you will find something that trips your trigger from natural patterns to gaudy bright patterns.
- Great Hook
- Soft body
- Tons of colors
The prop frog is a unique topwater frog design with construction and features that you won't find in other frog lures for bass.
The legs on the prop frog rotate just above the webbed feet, so instead of a skirted presentation, the lure has a prop bait style of action while still having a soft hollow body.
The prop frog has an interesting hooking arrangement as well, with the double hook commonly found on frog lures for bass, but the prop frog takes it a step further by adding a single hook behind the main body, and between the legs, this hook allows for a higher hooking percentage and is great for short strikes.
The prop frog also comes in a variety of colors that are perfect for frog imitations.
- Prop feet
- soft hollow body
- Stinger hook
Different Types of Frog Lures
There are a few popular topwater frog designs that work very well for bass fishing. Let’s break down the most common type of topwater frog lures.
Hollow Body Frog lures
Hollow body frog lures are a type of soft body frog lure. These are typically very light, sit high on the surface, and can easily be skipped over lily pads and slop.
Most have a seedless design making it a great option to reach these areas that other lures can’t.
Soft Body Frogs lures
Soft body frog lures can be hollow frog lures, but there are also some soft body frog designs that are made from a full foam-like material.
Soft body frog lures are the most common type used today, either hollow or full-bodied.
Frog Poppers
Frog poppers have been around for decades, like the hula popper, for instance. They originally came into being for fly fishermen, but as conventional fishing gained more traction after world war two, hard body popper lures became popular for bass fishing.
Popper-style frog lures work exceptionally well to attract bass from long distances. They throw a lot of water around and have a very distinct and loud noise as they cavitate water. The best way to describe the sound would be “BLOOP.”
Best Bass Frog Lure Colors
A good color option for topwater frogs is to use one that looks like a frog with natural coloration. While this is always a safe bet, sometimes odd colors will work great too, depending on the clarity of the water and sky conditions.
But being that it is a topwater lure, color is less of a concern as the motion and noise created on the surface is what will attract bass to strike.
A good rule to abide by when you are in doubt is to go for natural and dark color patterns.
How to Fish a Frog Bait
Fishing topwater frogs can be very easy. For soft body frogs, you can simply reel them at a moderate speed over the slop or lily pads, or you can add pauses, and popping frogs is great for getting big bass to react.
For popping frogs like the hula popper, you will want to add a cadence popping action to the lure accompanied with pauses, sharp pops get the noises, and water spitting action needed to catch big bass.
Sometimes a fast retrieve straight to the boat will trigger bass to strike, and some anglers get a surprise when a giant bass eats the frog next to the boat after retrieving quickly to make another cast to a lily pad bed or tree.
Where to cast a Topwater Frog Lures
Frog fishing is done where the frogs and bass both live. This means shallow water in many cases, right up to the banks and in and amongst dense aquatic vegetation.
They can actually work well in more open water situations as well, and fishing weed edges far from shore with lures like hula poppers will catch bass. Bass are opportunistic feeders and don’t really question why a frog is a mile off of shore when they are hungry. (See here for our favorite frog fishing rods).
Final Thoughts on the Best Frogs for Bass
Frog fishing is some of the most fun fishing a person can have. The strikes are explosive and powerful when frog fishing and make for an exciting time. Every bass angler should have a selection of different frog lure designs in their boat or tackle box to adapt to what the fish are keen on eating.
