Wake Bait frog patterns

[James Smith]

I spent a little time at my tying desk today stocking up on some spring patterns. These are simple Balsa wood wake-bait frog patterns. I use 1/2" x 1/2" square Balsa Wood dowel for the pattern. I find that it is easier to cut the hook slot and lip slot into the baits before I start carving and shaping them. The top center shot is some "polliwogs" waiting to turn into frogs. Cutting the slots first helps ensure that they are cut straight which is necessary for this pattern to track properly. I make the lip out of 0.30-thick Polycarbonate material. It cuts well with scissors and is very strong. I carve and sand the body to shape, add color mount it to the hook, and add the lip. Before I add the hook, I tie in the leg material since it is easier to do that with a bare hook. I add the eyes and give it a coat of sparkly nail polish to spiff it up a bit. I use two-part epoxy to glue in the hook and lip and mount it on the drying wheel to dry. I put an orange tail on the green pattern because orange seems to be a trigger color with this LM bass in the lake I live on. The black pattern is killer on a low-light day or in the early morning or evening. This pattern can be deadly when fished on a dead-calm day and it is stripped along a weed line or brush. It draws in fish from a good distance and it's exciting to see a swirl and then a v-line of water moving towards your bait before they smash it. Again, not a difficult pattern to tie and effective enough that it should be in every fly fisherman that targets LM bass or other predatory fish that love to eat frogs. https://gifyu.com/image/Siom9