How to Catch Barra on Frogs

By Jack Mitchell

When it comes to chasing barra on topwater there are a few different styles of lures and techniques to use.

Frogging is by far one of the most enjoyable out of the topwater techniques. It can be used in all applications because of its weedless presentation.

It’s also a great way to cover ground and search for fish. In this blog I’ll cover how I fish these lures in impoundments as well as saltwater creeks.  

Impoundments

When chasing impoundment barra there’s a few select areas to look for. I personally like to fish a bay that has had a consistent wind direction blown into it, this will push good numbers of bait into the bay which the barra will follow in to feed. When I’m in the bay I would start at one end and make my way around the bay. Once I find an area in that bay that holds fish I’ll start to focus on that area. The fish might hold there because of a few things like concentrated bait schools, water temperature or even be pushed there because of a wind-blown current. The second area I like to fish in an impoundment is wind-blown points, for the same reason as the bays I like to fish them as it pushes bait to that area and also creates current. These areas are preferably one that you would sit on for a good duration of time as the fish will move around the point as they please.    

The Retrieves

When chasing these fish using topwater frogs I like to make long casts along hard weed edges that fish are gonna cruise along. It’s important to watch your frog at all times, you want to be able to see when a fish has seen it and starts to follow, you’ll notice this as you’ll see a bow wave or boil on your lure. If you’ve received multiple refusals it’s good to change up your retrieve and go from a continuous slow roll to a stop start retrieve. That’s all it may take to get the fish to commit. 

Saltwater Creeks

When looking for spots to chase barra on frogs there’s quite a few different areas you can look at in an estuary and even along the coast. I like to start by jumping on Google Earth before I even hit the water. I start by looking for structure like shallow rock bars and structured banks in the creek. When fishing areas like rock bars I like to fish them on a run out tide. I’ll move along the edges at a steady pace and pitch my frog into areas where you may see a still pocket of water that eddy’s around in the current, or even pressure points on rock bars are also a good place to look at when throwing topwater. Structured banks that are filled with heavy timber and mangroves are also a great place to look for barra on a run out tide. When moving along the bank I’ll cruise into the current, this gives me more control of the boat with the electric motor. Something to keep in mind is the barra will always sit with their nose into the current so it’s good to place your casts trying to picture how they’ll be sitting in the water.

Like when fishing rock bars I’ll skip my frogs into the cover looking to land it in back eddies and pressure points.  When I’m looking at the mouth of a creek I look for rocky mangrove lined edges that fish move up onto with the incoming tides and the start of the outgoing while they’ve pushed up looking for a feed. Once the water level drops past these points the fish will drain out onto the flats or into their holes. After I’ve mapped out the creeks and places I want to fish, I’ll try to line up another trip with small tides. I like to fish small tides as it gives you more time to fish spots when it’s at the appropriate water level rather than big tides making you rush around trying to fish everything before it’s either too low or too high. Ideally, I like to fish a low tide early morning, this gives me low light hours up the creek to fish rock bars and structured banks. And then as the tide comes in you can fish the headlands at the mouth of the creek. By this time the sun will be up, and you can do a lot of visual fishing in these areas. It pays to constantly be looking along the bank trying to spot these fish to sight cast which will provide some of the best fun you can have.  

The Retrieves

Fishing for barra in the estuaries is much the same as chasing them in the impoundments when it comes to the retrieve, you’ve just got to make those small decisions on the day to dial into what they’re reacting to and how they like their lures presented to them. When it comes to casting a lot of them will be targeted at heavy structure, this is where it gets challenging. Teaching yourself to skip cast is almost a must when fishing heavy structured banks. However, when fishing rock bars and headlands it’s more so about lure placement and making sure you’re putting your lures in all the nooks and crannies you can see. 

If use have any questions or just want to talk about getting started feel free to reach out to me on my socials and I’d be happy to assist in any way I can.