Froggers, bass, and articulated bull frog

[mike_richardson]

I got my materials last night and decided on tying up my own bull frog imitations.

I used the Cohen frog legs, and did some artwork on them, and decided on trying a big bull frog first. I also decided to use the body on a shank. I tied in dumbbell eyes and hope it will ensure that the frog rides hook point up at all times. I have yet to try and mono-weed guard but it is on the list. Hoping to get away with the weight.

ON the big bull frog, I wanted the legs to kind of suspend down ward when it is sitting idle. I believe it should do this. I picked up some extra large sowing needles and the make for nice leg pullers.

The bodies on these are the "Foam kneeling pads" I picked up from Dollar general.

The hackle is some chartrues green schlappen.

I love how these turned out and are a blast to tie. Not that hard of a tie, but very time consuming. I don't think you really need to go into that much detail on them, but I really enjoy trying to recreate nature as close as I can. They eyes aren't realistic but I wanted them because they should help make some added noise.

Thanks for the look.

If any one wants a tutorial on these I will gladly put one up as I am going to make a few more for my bass and musky box.

I am getting a 10wt custom made for me, and will be running an Allen Kracken reel in the dorado colors on it. I am not a flashy guy but the rod builder is out of this world and does it as a hobby. So he told me he will hook me up. I was just expecting the eye wraps to match but he told me he is going to do some of the crazy designs you see down by the handle. This will be my musky rod, and I will also be looking for an 8 wt for bass.

I am really glad I got into warm water tying as it really sparked my love for tying flies again.

 

[Fredrick]

Very nice I hope they fish as good as they look

 

[mike_richardson]

Recipe:

Big Bull Frog:
(Rear Section)
Hook: 4/0 Gamakastu
thread: green 1/40
legs: cohen creature xl frog legs (colored with sharpies)
hackle: schlappen (chartruse
weight: small dumbbell eyes

Front Section:
shank: blane CHocklettes big game shank 1-5/8"
dubbing: insect green
body: hand carved foam (colored with sharpie)
eyes: craft eyes

Small bull frog recipe:
Hook: 4/0 Gamakastu
thread: green 1/40
legs: cohen creature large frog legs (colored with sharpies)
hackle: schlappen (chartruse
weight: small dumbbell eyes
dubbing: insect green
body: hand carved foam (colored with sharpie)
eyes: craft eyes

 

[mike_richardson]

Thanks Frederick. Its killing me not to get out there and test these things LOL

I think they would skip good across the ice right now though. LOL

 

[mike_richardson]

Tying instructions: For the smaller frog just skip the shank section.

Step 1:

color your cohen creature legs, Don't push down hard as it will be more likely to bleed through. I did a yellow around the edges of the legs with a sharpie, and put in the brown accents.

Next I colored the top after letting the under side dry. I set the legs on top of my radiator to increase the speed. I was doing 4 at once so as it worked out nice, and allowed me to just roll with them.

I then moved on to cutting out the body. The foam was a little thick so I first cut the shape desired. Be sure to check it against you hook. you want to cut a notch out of the rear section for the barbell weights. on the articulated version also cut the notch to allow more movement on the legs.

cut the body to the shape that you want. I took some depth out of the foam. I just used kitchen scissors to get the mock shape, and then fine tuned it with my tying scisors. I rounded all of the edges.

once you are happy with your shape, go ahead and take you large sewing needle and put a hole down through the body. I kept mine higher maybe 1/3rd down to allow me room to pull the crazy legs through.

once you have your legs and body prepped it is time to start the tie.

Now take your hook and set it hook point up in the vise. Tie in your cohen legs on top of the shank. It doesn't hurt to put a little super glue on the shank, and then tie the legs on. helps make them a little more durable.

at the front of the cohen legs, I put dumbbell eyes under the hook shank to keep the hook riding hook point up.

Once I have the legs and weight in place, I wrap back to the beginning of the legs and tie in one schlappen hackle feather. I wrap up to the eyes and tie in.

On the articulated version you whip finish and are done.

The next steps will work for both versions so for the articulated verison you just need to put your shank on, set It in the vise, wrap the thread around the shanks open sections and super glue them to ensure a good fit. Now we can continue.

I then take some insect green dubbing and put it on the hook the whole way up. I wanted to have a better surface for the glue to adhear too. Just be careful as some of the dye or something reacts to krazy glue. LOL

once you have the hook dubbed all the way to the eye whip finish.

Get your body read and run a generous amount of glue over the dubbed section. Slide your body on. Squeeze the body tight on the shank of the hook.

Let it settle a little.

No you are ready to insert your front legs. I put them right at the taper for the head.

I uses barred crazy legs in the frog color scheme. I cut 4 legs off of the skirt. Full length. Insert the four legs to the hole of your large sewing needle. I am cheap but the have a leg puller tool out there you can use as well.

Only pull a little bit of the leg through the eye of the needle. Next insert the needle into the foam. Be sure you have it where it is not gong to hit the shank of the hook.

Pull your legs through until the come out of the other side. I only pulled them out so both sections were exposed. Be careful on this as they can break.

Once you pull the them through and even them up I put a dab or two of superglue where they enter the foam to lock them in place.

Next take your craft eyes and glue them on.

Your last steps are just the finishing touches.

I colored the barred pattern on the top of the body, I also took yellow and colored the whole bottom.

Again IMO the top of the body is only for personal preference as its not going to make any real difference to the fish.

Hope these fish as good as I hope they do. Any questions on tying these feel free to ask.

Was a fun project!

 

[nomad_archer]

Those look excellent

 

[mike_richardson]

Looks can only get you so far. If they don't fish how I plan, I think ill put a mono weed guard on them.

 

[FlyGuyGlen]

Nice frogs Mike!! They oughta catch!

 

[Solitariolupo]

Looks great. You could also use corks for a body. That's how I do my bass poppers. The only thing is I wonder how well the foam will hold up against their teeth.

 

[dc410]

Nice job, Mike!

 

[mike_richardson]

I also thought about the foam issue. This is not really an expensive pattern to tie, just time consuming. I actually thought about tying it as a tube fly where you can just replace the head section, or legs if they get tore up.