This contributed post by Rod Yoder of RedShad Tackle also appears "permanently" in the 'Articles' list on the left sidebar of the site for future reference.
I don't know why I am compelled to promote that which I wish not to compete against, but...
Open your mind, forget that frogs are for fishing over matted grass and pads. My best frog fish have come in "open" water. I use the Bronze Eye, 50-65# Power Pro on a 7' medium action rod for this type of presentation. A few of my favorite situations:
1. Short skips into the unseen darkness way back beneath overhanging trees, docks or piers. The biggest advantage in this situation is it's weedlessness out of the water. You are forcing your bait into unseen territory. Who knows what it will encounter back there. A frog generally does well in these circumstances.
2. Super long casts across shallow flats to that wee bit of shade created by a collection of scum and debris in a little indentation of the bank. This is my favorite when fishing as a co-angler. With these long casts you can reach up on the flat areas your angler isn't. No worries about hooksets on the long casts due to no-stretch braid. Here again, the frog's ability to come clean on misplaced casts is a plus. My depth perception is often poor on these types of casts so it is nice to not worry about the fact that I landed 10 feet inland. The real key to this one, and to all of these, is to work the bait ALL the way back to the boat - at least until you can determine a pattern to the bass' location.
I like to work the frog in a fairly rapid motion. Rapid in motion, not necessarily rapid retrieve. I point the rod tip down and make use of the medium tip action to bounce the frog in a steady, two-beats per reel turn motion. Maybe mix in a pause or two along the way - if for no other reason than to give my wrist a rest. The bait stays active but may progress slowly across the open flat. I have had little problem with hook-ups in this situation. When they want it, they eat it!
3. Super HIGH casts. Casts so high you don't even try to keep eye contact with the bait. You simply look in the general area of where you think it will land, and wait. This is also a favorite of mine as a co-angler. As much as they probably try to not focus on their co-angler partners, boaters tend to keep them in their peripheral vision just to keep awareness of the situation. A series of super high casts with maybe 5 to 10 seconds passing before touchdown seems to kind of un-nerve partners for some reason. When you are used to the sound of the reel ending with the bloop of the lure, a few second delay can seem like an eternity. I used to do this just for fun but found that the highly organic PLOP! made by a intergalactic frog seems to be a great attention getter for the bass too. Especially if left to sit nearly motionless for as long as you can stand it after the initial landing.
4. Casts that fall over small branches. These should never be passed up as a bad cast. Use the branch or small twig as a vertical pulley point to dip the tails into the water multiple times - as though the creature is struggling to climb out of the water up to safety. IT WORKS! And scares the crap out of you when it does!
5. Anytime that you'd like to use a Spook but there is just enough misc. cover to make it hard to get a full retrieve without entanglements. I usually leave the legs full length because I like the straight ahead plop-plop action. But the more you trim the skirt, the more walk-the-dog action you will get.
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