Better Hook-ups with a Horny Toad

Ever since Zoom introduced the Horny Toad – a soft-plastic weedless buzzing frog that tickles the water’s surface with its unique paddle feet – bass have not been able to resist it.

Reeling a Horny Toad across the surface produces a soft sputtering sound that raises the ire of even the most lackadaisical lunker. And the best part is this Toad ventures into vegetation much too dense for a buzzbait.

One of the first places pros employed the lure with great success was in the weedy waters of Lake Okeechobee. From there the Horny Toad’s popularity exploded as thousands of anglers began using the topwater buzzer on lakes and ponds across the country.

Anglers soon discovered the Horny Toad’s allure was not just limited to vegetation; it also caught bass around flooded timber, docks, seawalls, bare banks and even over open water.

But as more and more anglers began using the Horny Toad, a common situation came to light: The surface blow-ups on a Horny Toad were thrilling to watch, but actually hooking the fish was tough.

After all, the pure physics of a bass sucking in a fast-moving hunk of plastic off the surface stacks the odds against the angler. Add to that the challenge of driving a hook through the plastic and into the fish’s jaw.

In an effort to get an expert opinion on Horny Toad rigging, Zoom pro Chris Baumgardner was consulted for advice.

Baumgardner has won more tournament money on a Horny Toad than anyone else on the FLW Tour. No matter where the Tour takes him, Baumgardner always has a Toad rigged and ready to go.

After hundreds of hours of reeling a Toad across the waters of America in competition, Baumgardner has come up with what he feels is the best way to rig a Zoom Horny Toad for optimum hook up percentages.

“First of all, it’s important to understand that you’re not going to hook every fish that bites a Toad,” Baumgardner advised. “But at the same time the Toad is a one-of-a-kind lure – it gets bites that no other lure can get because of its unique action and noise. So it’s a trade off: you get bites that others don’t, but you’re not going to get all of them in the boat.”

The second thing Baumgardner makes clear is that the Horny Toad is a power technique. This is not a lure for a 6-foot medium action rod with 12-pound test line. You’ve got to have tackle that produces power.

For that reason, Baumgardner relies on a 7-1/2-foot heavy-action rod teamed with a 7.1:1 high-speed reel. His rod of choice is an American Rodsmiths Magnum Casting Rod and his reel is a Revo STX high-speed.

As for line, Baumgardner is not a big fan of braided line and instead opts for 17- and 20-pound test Trilene 100% fluorocarbon.

“Braided line is fine for a Toad,” he noted, “I know a lot of guys who use like a 30- to 50-pound braid on a Toad and it works fine. I’ve just always liked fluorocarbon. The important part is the rod and reel; you’ve got to have a long rod that can take up a lot of line on a hook set and then have the power to drive the hook home. A high-speed reel helps keep the toad up and buzzing without wearing yourself out on the reel handle.”

From there, Baumgardner swears by a big heavy-gauge straight shank hook. His personal choice is a Bass Pro Shops 5/0 XPS hook. But the trick behind his rig is a unique item called a Screwed-up Bullet. The Screwed-up Bullet is essentially a screw-in bullet weight, minus the weight. It’s a clear plastic screw-in device that simultaneously serves as both a nose cone and a keeper for the Toad.

Baumgardner first threads the big hook through the Toad’s nose (like a standard Texas rig) coming out about where the plastic begins to split on the belly of the Toad. Then he screws in the plastic bullet into the nose. Finally, he buries the hook in the back of the Toad, creating a slight arch in the Toad to help it run right-side up. The hook point comes to rest, exposed, on the back of the Toad.

A couple of other tips Baumgardner offers for better hook ups on the Toad is to keep reeling until the fish gets it.

“The hardest part of Toad fishing is not to snatch it away when the fish blow-up on it,” Baumgardner said. “Sometimes they’ll blow-up on it two or three times before they actually eat it. It takes nerves of steel, but you have to keep reeling the Toad until you actually feel the fish grab it.”

Also Baumgardner says he keeps a Texas-rigged worm or a jig at the ready to follow-up on missed strikes. Sometimes pitching right back to the hole where a short strike occurred on a Toad gets rewarded with a bite.