general information
Frog
Frogs belong to amphibians, or amphibians. They are poikilothermic (cold-blooded) animals with an unstable internal body temperature that changes depending on the environment. The frog family is numerous. It includes more than 500 species. It is believed that the homeland of frogs is the eastern hemisphere, and more specifically, Africa. The most species of frogs are found there. Representatives of this family are found almost anywhere on the globe, excluding the Arctic snows, Australia and some areas of South America. The sizes of frogs vary greatly - from 1 to 32 cm. Their color can also be different - from brown, inconspicuous to extremely bright.
Frogs feed on small insects, but sometimes they can eat their own relatives. For hunting, they have a long sticky tongue, with which they knock down dragonflies, midges and other flying creatures in flight.
Frogs are close relatives of toads and toads. All of them form a detachment of tailless amphibians, which is opposed by a second large detachment - tailed amphibians (newts and salamanders).
Peculiarities
These baits have the following advantages of their use:
- Live frogs live in the same environment as predatory fish, so they often become their food in the natural environment, which increases the chance of the fish biting on bait that is already familiar to it.
- Frogs have a fleshy body that holds well on a hook, unlike bloodworms or maggots.
- Frogs are an excellent bait for attracting large species of fish, in particular catfish and pike perch, which will never refuse such a delicacy.
- Bait consisting of a frog can significantly revive a weak fish bite.
The disadvantages of using live frogs as bait include the following:
- The frog must often be killed before being hooked, which is sometimes difficult for compassionate fishermen.
- Catching a frog in the natural environment can be quite difficult for anglers who have never done it before.
- Live frogs cannot be stored for long, so this bait is considered disposable.
How to catch
In order to catch a frog in Genshin, we go to their habitat. As soon as you see a jumping creature at the edge of fresh water, then:
- Run across her and/or catch up with a dash.
- As soon as you are close, press action (on PC - “F”).
- After this, the ingredient will be added automatically to your inventory.
Now all that remains is to collect the required amount, but be careful, if you don’t have time - the freshwater will simply dissolve in the air in a few seconds.
Finding frogs for fishing
Frogs are found in almost any freshwater body of water - the only difference is in the number and size of individuals. If you are not lucky enough to stock up on bait in advance, you can easily catch it on the shore. The frog prefers to be in thick grass, hide in sedge, reed thickets, thicker coastal vegetation, under stones or tree branches that have fallen into the water. Most often, you don’t really need to look for it - the baby frogs either jump out at your feet when you walk along the shore, or report their location with a loud “kwa-kwa”. You can catch frogs with a net, your hands, or any rag you can find, simply throwing it over potential bait.
Tips for catching frogs
- During the summer season, the easiest time to catch a frog is early in the morning or after sunset. During the daytime, all types of frogs usually hide in thick grass or water.
- In cold weather, frogs move to shallow water, where they lie down under stones or sheltered holes.
- To use frogs as bait, you should take small young frogs with a green color, since fish like them most.
- Frogs should be caught using a net. They should be placed in a damp cloth bag, into which the herbs must be applied in advance.
- If you can’t catch a frog with a net, you can use a regular fishing rod. To do this, attach a piece of grass or a fly to the hook. The frog will attack such bait and be caught like a fish.
- There are cases when fishermen bred frogs on their own in their own garden. To do this, you just need to collect its eggs and place them in a container of water. After two months you will be able to hatch live bait.
How to catch a frog for catfish bait on a hook quickly and easily?
The question is how to catch this excellent bait for catching catfish without running with a net along the river bank or the edge of a swamp.
The answer is very simple: you need a good flashlight and preferably a partner, in my case it was my son-in-law Andrey.
It happened at the end of July, in the Astrakhan region, near the village of Samosdelka. As soon as it got completely dark, we went to a sand spit on the Old Volga River. The water is warm, the bottom is clear, I walked with a flashlight, knee-deep in water, ahead of Andrey.
He walked a little behind along the shore so as not to frighten the frogs sitting on the sand. There were a lot of frogs in the aquatic vegetation and along the shore. We didn’t expect this, nor did we expect the fact that you can take anything with your hands. I chose the medium-sized ones, gave them to Andrey, and he folded them into a metal fish tank.
Instantly we collected about thirty medium-sized frogs, and the night river kept calling us to move on. There was something attractive, even gambling, about this process. When we caught the first crayfish, then the second, we thought that we would treat ourselves too. But no more crayfish were found.
We didn’t take very large frogs at first, but there were enough of them. It’s strange, but even large catfish, for some reason, prefer medium-sized frogs.
I told my son-in-law that in the early nineties, there was a company in Astrakhan that prepared large frogs for shipment to France.
And we decided to recruit giants for ourselves. Someday you should try what the French frogmen like so much. Andryukha barely dragged the cage with frogs to the house.
That’s the whole secret of successfully, quickly and pleasantly harvesting frogs as bait for catching catfish.
Catching a frog
There are many recommendations for preparing bait. Many fishmongers generally recommend not only killing the amphibian, but also letting it deteriorate a little or frying it over a fire - this way, supposedly, it attracts catfish more. In fact, everything is learned in practice, but two methods of catching can be considered the main ones: with a live or dead frog.
Tackle for frog fishing
Regardless of whether your bait is alive, a steel leash with a double hook (double) attached to it is used to catch it. The leash should not be very short, the optimal length is 30-40cm. It is attached to the main fishing line with a carabiner or, if you want to avoid twisting the tackle, with a swivel. Since a bite from a very large predator is possible, the main line you need to use is a fishing line with a diameter of at least 0.3 mm - this will give you peace of mind. The fishing rod, accordingly, must be strong and elastic, equipped with a high-quality inertia-free (although this is not critical) reel and capable of withstanding the resistance of a powerful opponent.
Methods for mounting a frog
Putting a frog on a hook
Pond, lake, garden and swamp frogs are mainly used as bait. Toads are not suitable for fishing. It is better to fish using a spinning rod, placing bait on a hook. When fishing for a small frog, choose hook No. 5-6, and for large frogs, accordingly, take larger hooks, up to No. 16 in size. Catfish, for example, are more likely to bite on a large frog (weighing at least 100g).
There are two options for fishing with this bait: the first is with a live frog, the second is with a dead frog.
- When choosing a live frog
, you should hook it on the skin of the back or on the paw (its soft part) with the tip of the hook coming out. This method of baiting allows you to keep the frog alive. There is also a method of baiting using a double hook, when one hook is hooked onto the skin of the back, and the second hook onto the hind leg near the fin. - In the version with a dead frog,
they do it differently - they use a double hook, which is inserted through its mouth, then brought out under the front legs from the back. Next, one of the legs is thrown over the hook and the forearm of the leg is pinned onto the sting. The hook tips should come out. When retrieved, a frog mounted in this way will “play” and spin around its axis, thereby attracting the attention of the predator.
But it’s even better to put a small frog on three medium-sized hooks. The two bottom hooks are tied on short leashes under the top hook. The upper hook hooks from below to both lips or through the mouth to the lower lip of the frog, and the lower two hooks to the legs.
Features of frog fishing
With a dead frog at the end of the fishing line, do the same as with any other stationary bait: throw it in, let it lie on the bottom, and then start retrieving it. You can use the familiar step-by-step retrieve, but with the exception that the bait is moved with the tip of the rod, and not with the reel.
A live frog is also easy to use - you need to do everything as you would when fishing with live bait. We chose a place, cast it, and made sure that the bait did not crawl under a snag, hide in the grass, or settle under a stone. Since the frog will tug on the tackle much more actively than live bait, the load must be taken heavier than when fishing with live bait so that it does not move it from its place.
A bite is usually accompanied by a strong blow, but you should not immediately grab the rod and start reeling out the line. Wait a few seconds for the predator to better swallow the bait, and only then hook it. How to fish, you need to look at the place. If everything is clear and level on the bottom and in the surrounding area, you can give the fish a little slack, thereby tiring it and increasing your chances of success. If you know that there are a lot of snags here, there are dense thickets or other shelters nearby, you can force the reeling so that the trophy does not have time to hide in such a shelter from where you will never get it, but will simply break off the tackle.
How to hook a frog
How to put a frog on a hook so that it remains mobile for a long time, and when a predator bites, you can reliably hook the prey? The most common option for attaching a frog is to attach it to the back leg. The bait is attached to the thigh of one of the hind limbs, which allows it to move freely under water. This fastening is quite reliable and does not allow the bait to free itself.
In the case where a live frog is additionally stimulated to move underwater in small jerks, it should be secured by the mouth part. In this case, sharp doubles are used, which pierce the lower jaw of the amphibian. The frog secured in this way will swim in the direction where the angler directs the tackle with small twitches of the fishing line. Only dead frogs are impaled this way - a living one will not tolerate a double passed through the mouth. Also, if catching predatory fish is carried out on a dead frog, you can use a large single hook, which is inserted into the frog's mouth and out in the abdomen.
Artificial frogs
Today there are a wide variety of silicone frogs classified as artificial baits. Their range and supplies are quite large. So-called frog fishing rods are also produced, which, unlike others, have greater power.
The main purpose of frogs extends to three types of predators: snakehead, bass and pike. Moreover, catching pike with a frog will be less successful in relation to the other two species.
As a rule, the plastic itself for this class of baits is chosen to be more durable than for worms or twisters. Here we are talking about frogs, most of which are supplied already equipped with hooks and each bait is in a separate blister.
The cost of such a frog exceeds the cost of simple rubber ones. Do not forget that frogs should not be stored together with other baits. Otherwise, the possibility of a chemical reaction between them is very high, which will negatively affect the frog.
Chub and frog
Frogs and especially juvenile frogs are a common food for many fish species. We can safely say that fish recognized the taste of frog legs much earlier than the French. Catfish, burbot, pike and large perch take the frog, but the chub shows a special predilection for young frogfish.
In central Russia, young frogs appear in May and lead an active lifestyle until late autumn, when the first frosts force them to migrate to reservoirs and go underwater for the winter. Several species of frogs are found here, but the most suitable for catching chub are meadow and forest frogs, light brown in color and the size of a small walnut. Oddly enough, green frogs, constantly frolicking in the water, do not arouse much interest in the chub.
Frogs are active in the dark: this is the time of their own hunt. Therefore, collecting frogs, or rather catching them, should be done in the late afternoon or in the morning when there is dew. During the daytime, young frogs can only be found in the shade of coastal vegetation, under old snags, and in holes. In the evening they come out onto open grassy meadows and clearings. When catching frogs, you need to move slowly and carefully look at your feet. The path of the frog is visible by the trembling of the blades of grass. Having predicted the direction of its movement, you can cover it with your palm. If the frog suddenly disappears, try quietly moving the bush of grass with your foot.
Caught frogs should be stored in a cloth bag with strong ties. It is also useful to put some damp grass there. When stored this way, the frogs remain alive for at least 24 hours.
Baby frogs are nimble creatures, and as soon as you open the bag, they will all try to jump out of it. Therefore, having taken out one frog for mounting, immediately tie the bag. The characteristics of the life of young frogs also determine the nature of catching chub with a frog. This is night fishing, practiced from May to October inclusive. It should be noted that the general increase in fish activity by the beginning of autumn is also true for chub. The best catches can be obtained in August-September, but I had to catch chub with a frog on the Ugra and Moscow Rivers in May. Once in the water, the frogs immediately strive to get to the shore, and only occasionally embark on a “long voyage” towards the opposite bank of the river. This behavior makes it possible to determine where chubs are hunting for frogs. These are primarily sand and pebble shallows near river holes or in the depths of riffles. The chub loves to go to such shallows, and on moonlit nights you can often see how the upper fin of the fish cuts through the water near the shore.
The chub's bite on the frog does not last all night. Bites can be expected until midnight, followed by some lull until the early morning hours and even dawn. This chub biting schedule is valid for stable weather conditions: the weather always makes its own adjustments to it.
Night fishing for chub with a frog from the bottom is often carried out using baits. The design of these supplies must meet the following requirements: compactness, ease of handling, a certain margin of safety and, most importantly, easy removal of the fishing line. When it comes to any fishing gear, there can be many opinions about its effectiveness. Some people think one design is optimal, others prefer another. After testing several devices, I myself settled on an elementary flyer, which is the famous Russian summer zherlitsa in a reduced form (Fig. 1). By the way, with all the indisputability of technical progress in fishing, which has significantly expanded the capabilities of the modern fisherman, we should not forget our old Russian fishing school, which, in my opinion, at one time made a serious contribution to the theory and practice of fishing, gave a lot original gear, devices and methods of fishing. The flier is one of these types of gear.
The flyer is cut from the branches of any deciduous shrub, sanded, dried and painted in a discreet color with waterproof paint. Its length is 10-15 centimeters. A hole is made in the upper part for a loop made of cord or thick fishing line, which is necessary for hanging the perch on a coastal bush or on a special peg. The fishing line (0.30-0.35mm) is wound in a figure eight. At the end of one of the horns, a shallow split is made for the fishing line, which is carefully processed so that when biting, the fishing line can be easily released from it. At the end of the fishing line, a medium-sized hook is tied, which must be sharp. I am quite satisfied with a single hook, but a rig of single hooks or one double is also possible. The tees, in my opinion, will be out of place in this device. The weight must be heavy enough to hold the bait in the current, and must be sliding, with a stopper shot about fifteen centimeters above the hook.
The tactics for catching chub at night with a frog are determined, first of all, by the fishing location. There are three options: set up the supplies in the evening and check them in the morning, periodically check the supplies during the night; Constantly monitor deliveries (which is most effective).
On those rivers near Moscow in which there are quite a lot of chub, it is difficult to find places for active night fishing. Typically, the banks of these rivers are heavily overgrown, with flat sections giving way to steep ones. Only a few times I managed to organize active fishing.
Fishing on the river was indicative. Eel. The location was simply ideal: a long sandbank along the left bank of the river adjacent to a rocky rift on which individual kugi bushes grew. All supplies were clearly visible. It is with this kind of fishing that you can determine the hours of active biting and trace the entire process of chub biting. In these conditions, it is advisable to have some kind of bite alarms on the supplies. But most often you have to use the second option: periodic inspection of supplies during the night.
So, we chose a place for night fishing for chub with a frog. It is good if it is studied in advance. At convenient points, the stands are secured with loops to the branches of coastal bushes or pegs are placed along the edge of the shore. Several meters of fishing line are unwound from each delivery; Usually two or three are enough. A frog is taken out of the bag and placed on a hook.
I hook the frogs in the following way: I pierce both lips with a hook, drag the entire hook through and stick it into one of the hind legs. Thus, the frog is fixed at two points, and the likelihood of the chub dragging it off with impunity is significantly reduced. If you use a tackle of two single hooks, then one of them clings to the lips, and the other to the hind leg. The tackle is cast 2-3 meters from the shore, always in a clean place, otherwise the frog will reach some algae or stone, and the set will stand idle all night. You should never throw at random: you will definitely end up in grass, stones, and snags. To avoid mistakes, everything must be done carefully, slowly and, of course, before dark.
Having placed the supplies, start preparing the fire and your camp site. Determine the intervals at which you will break away from your thoughts or half-asleep by the fire and go into the darkness of the night to check the deliveries: usually this is half an hour or an hour. When going around, you need to take with you a flashlight, a small landing net (although it is difficult to operate in the dark), a bag for the fish and a bag with baby frogs.
When you approach the stand, you will immediately see whether there was a bite. If the line is unwound, pick up the slack and make a control hook, although the chub, as a rule, swallows the frog. If the bite is empty, replace the crumpled frog and throw it in the same place. It is useful to check the baits without a bite and re-cast them.
The caught chub resists stubbornly, but the flat, clean bank makes fishing easier. In the morning, you should not rush to remove the supplies, since bites, as already mentioned, often occur in the early morning hours.
In all the time I have been interested in this method of fishing, I have never come across chubs weighing more than a kilogram; specimens weighing 500-600 grams are common. For ten sets (I don’t use a large number), under normal conditions there are 5-6 bites per night. A few good chub are quite a convincing catch.
Flyer supplies, like any other gear, must always be in working order. After fishing, they should be dried, be sure to rewind the line, check the binding of the hooks and their sharpness.
Other methods of catching chub using a frog are also possible. First of all, night fishing from a boat should be mentioned. Its peculiarity is that you can choose any place you like without being constrained by coastal conditions. From a boat you can fish shallows in the middle of the river, exits from river holes, and any part of the riffle. Fishing occurs from the bottom, but you have a rod and reel in your hands and you control the bite from start to finish.
When I first tried to catch chub at night from a boat, I failed at the first bites. Holding the rod in my hand, I felt the initial powerful jerk of the chub and instinctively hooked. Only a crumpled frog returned to me. Everything worked out when, after the first jerk, I gave up the line and hooked some time later.
Since holding the rod in your hand all the time is tiring, I came up with the following: the line was passed through a large ring with a weight, which was located between the two lower guide rings of the rod. This ring pulled back a certain supply of fishing line and lay on the bottom of the boat, and the rod lay on board. When biting, the line pulled out and the ring began to move. After hooking, it did not interfere at all with winding the line onto the reel.
The frog can be used as a bait both when fishing with a 'constriction' and with a retrieve. When fishing at night for frogs, small pikes are occasionally caught. One fisherman told me that he caught a large bream on a frog. If bream sometimes takes a lure, why not swallow a frog?
I would like to share one observation related to the fishing described, which may cause some mistrust among some readers. The chub even frays fishing line with a cross-section of 0.50 mm! At first, when the leads broke, I blamed the pike. But once about ten years ago I was fishing on the river. Karay in the Tambov region. While collecting supplies in the morning, I saw that two leashes were torn off. I noticed that they were somehow chewed, and the pike cut the line cleanly, like a razor. I replaced the leashes with new ones, and the next morning, while removing the chub I found, I discovered that the leash was all chewed up and there was very little time left before it broke.
Everything is explained simply: the chub has very powerful pharyngeal teeth, and having swallowed the frog, it willy-nilly grinds the fishing line with them. This is one of the disadvantages of passive chub fishing with a frog, when the bait stands unattended all night.
One cannot fail to mention the culinary use of chub. Although a desirable sporting prize, gastronomically it leaves much to be desired. Its meat is somewhat liquid and has a somewhat neutral taste. I used chub in different ways: fried, smoked, salted. And none of these cooking methods produces a quality product. But chub soup is very aromatic, and boiled chub is delicious.
