Monday, June 9, 2014

Baby Kahara Frog Review



Baby Kahara  : Colors: 8   Length: 1 3/4"  inch Weight: 1/4oz  Pack Count: 1

Intro:

The Baby Kahara frog is yet another Japanese import that is high on quality, but thankfully not high on price. This is a tiny little froglet that may frustrate you in the wind, but surprise you on the water 


Overall Rating: 6.5/10
Each frog is rated on the following criteria: Quality, Castability, Presentation, Hook-up Ratio Available Options, Product Availability & Price


Quality & Durability: 3.5/5

 Almost everything about this frog is high quality. The body is nice and tough yet still flexible, the hooks are strong and sharp. The silicone legs are short, so they stay out of your way but still flare on the pause.. The one issue you will find is that whatever they use to glue the eyes in place is just not working.. you can see in my above image that my frog is eyeless and and I have read many other reviews from anglers who also complain about the same issue


Castability: 2.5/5

I found this frog very hard to cast for any distance..it's tiny and very light weight, so in order to cast it well, you will need to fiddle with your breaks and downside you normal frog rod gear.. maybe even go spinning?

There is a zinc plate on the bottom of this frog, so landing is never an issue. You may want to take advantage of the eyelet on the weigh that allows you to add a blade to the Baby Kahara, this will give you some added weight and the ability to get some extra flash on your retrieve 

Presentation: 3.0/5

The Kahara Baby frog walks really well, and can even be twitched in place. Given it's small size it still has a big profile and drives bass crazy

As mentioned above there is a small eyelet on the bottom that will allow you to add a blade (or treble hook) for some added flash (or sting). This normally is not my thing, but the extra weight would be nice



Hook-up Ratio: 3.5/5

This frog has some things going for it, and going against it when it comes to the hook-up ratio. First off on the pro-side this bite-sized frog can and will be eaten whole giving you a great chance of landing the hooks in the fishes upper jaw.. that said for those fish that do just get a piece you will find the body slightly denser and short in stature making it harder to get that nice gap between the hooks and body.

I also noticed that hooks were slightly turned in on this frog as well as many other pocket sized frogs, I'm not a huge fan of this and had to doc some points there.


Availability: 3.5/5

For an import this frog is surprising easy to find. Not only is it available through larger on-line retailers but can also be found at shops specializing in imports (this is getting more and more common)

Options & Price: 3.5/5

coming in at around $8 a frog many anglers may call it expensive.. but I wonder if it they would still complain if this frog was full sized and not "baby". To me any frog under the $9 mark pretty good, and the closer you get to $5 the happier I am. Colour options are also pretty good on the Kahara Baby, not only is it available in 8 colours, but they are pretty cool colours at that




Where to Find:
In case you are having a hard time finding these locally, here are some reliable options for you.

Optimum Baits ($8.00)


Land Big Fish ($7.49)


Equipment:

This is one Frog you are going to want to downsize your gear for. I prefer to fish it on the Dobyns 734c paired with a Daiwa Tatula Reel. for line I drop down to 20lb Daiwa Samurai braid

If your struggling for distance be sure to try and fish the baby Kahara on a spinning rod like the Dobyns 703Sf, this is a beefier spinning rod that hold up well to medium to sparse cover




Field Test Report Card:

Open Water (Sparse Pads): A
Pads (Medium Cover): B
Slop & Grass (Heavy Cover): E

Walk the Dog: A
Popping Action: N/A
Sit/Pause: B-



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