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)

Tackle Warehouse ($7.99)

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-

LunkerHunt Pocket Frog Review

Pocket Frog:      Colours: 5   Size: 4"    Weight: N/A      Pack Count: 1     

                        

Intro:

Many of you may have only recently heard the name "LunkerHunt" (winning a best in show award at ICAST will do that for ya) but in Ontario they have been around for a few years now and they are slowily building a very impressive line of baits.. including the Pocket Frog, a bait that can be found as part of their EDU-kits series.

Overall Rating: 6.7/10

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

Quality: 4.0/5

for a new guy on the market, and one that is smaller then most of its competition, you will quickly see that LunkerHunt (if they are not already) will become known for the quality of bait they produce. The Pocket frog is one of those baits. A durable body, great colours and what appears to be a quality hook round out a frog that has the overall package (only smaller)

Castability: 3.0/5

It is very hard to score the Pocket frog or any Froglet for that matter on its casting. These tiny baits are super light and can be harder to throw on bait-casting rigs. Once you get the hang of it you should have no problem placing this little guy where ever you want

Presentation: 3.5/5

again, it could just be me, but I have a hard time working smaller frogs the same way I would work a larger model. I dont find they walk as easy and for the most part I would prefer to drag, or hop them along. I like the look and profile of the Pocket frog in the water and fish really eat it up

Hook-Up Ratio: 4.0/5

If there is one thing that froglets have going for them over their bigger brothers, it is the hook-up ratio. You could pretty much catch fish on this bait even if it did not have a hook. The Pocket frog does have a hook (thankfully) but on close inspection you will noticed it is a barbless hook. Some guys will balk at this, but the team at LunkerHunt assured me that when field tested the barbless hook performed extremely well, fish inhale this bait, and hold on.

Availability: 2.5

Sorry guys, but currently there is no where you can buy this frog on line. LunkerHunt lists all the available retailers on it's site, and although respectable it only includes the likes of Canadian Tire, Wal-Mart, Sail and a few more. Two notable webbased companies are listed wich include Amazon.com and Sportsmans Warehouse, I could not find this frog on either of these sites

Options & Price: 3.0

Currently there are not a tone of options for this frog. From what I can see we are looking a 2-3 colour choices and a price point around $7.49. I do believe it is worth the cash, but as an introductory product I was hoping to see it come in at $5 or $6

Where to Find:

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

Home Hardware ($7.49)

Equipment:

These babies are small and could use a lite touch. I like to throw them on a Dobyns 744C or even on spinning gear such as a 703sf. The lighter rods will held ensure distance and accuracy when casting and and still build tough enough to muscle fish from cover. When downsizing your rod, I would also look at lighter line choices. On Spinning gear you can get away with 10-20lb braid and on a bait caster you can use as low as 20lb but may still want to run 30lb.. it is a frog!

Pictured with other Froglets.. VOK (top) and Live Target (bottom)

Spro Bronzeye Baby Popper Review

Spro Baby Popper 60mm:      Colours: 16   Size: 2 3/8"    Weight: 1/2oz      Pack Count:  1     

Spro Baby Popper 50mm:      Colours: 16   Size: 2 3/8"    Weight: 1/4oz      Pack Count:  1 

Intro:

If you have been reading this blog for any period of time you will know that Im not a huge fan of Spro frogs, it is a preference thing, not a personal thing, so when I saw the Spro Baby Popper introduced at ICAST back in 2011 it really peaked my interest and I just had to have one, and I have to say, although it is not without its faults, Im a fan.

Overall Rating: 7.3/10

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

Quality: 4.0/5

No matter your personal preference in frogs that is one thing that can't be argued here, and that is that Spro makes a mean frog, and not only in looks! this are quality frogs built tuff.

With a high grade plastic body these frogs take abuse well and hold up fish after fish. The Baby Poppers are equiped with a 1/0 Gammakatsu frog hook, a hook I personally consider to be one of the best currently available

Castability: 3.0/5

I came across some casting issues with this tiny frog. The 1/4oz more so then the 1/2oz but either way it took some break adjustment and a rod change (or two) before I found a comfortable set up for throwing  the Baby Popper.  It's small size and weight make it hard to throw on a standard hollow body rod, so you may need to downsize a bit if you want to get distance and accuracy.

Presentation: 3.5/5

When it comes to presentation this frog really excels in open water or sparse cover situations, it walks, pops, and gurgles with the best of them. I did have some issues when fishing heavier cover and I believe that comes down to weight more then design. It sits very lightly on cover and won't pound the roof as much as larger/heavier frogs. I felt like I was accomplishing very little when fishing think slop and would tend to stick to sparse pads, timber and other other water situations

Hook-Up Ratio: 4.0/5

This snack sized bait (also know as a froglet) will give you a great hook-up ratio, like a 2-bite brownie hawg bass will inhale it and all you have to do is set the hook. I also find the body material more supple then traditional Spro frogs, with was also a concern for me in their previous models

Availability: 3.5/5

It's Spro, if you can find there product in your local shops you really need to move. They are one of the best selling brands on the market and can be easily found. That being said the baby popper is not also so easily found and many of the retailers I deal with don't carry it, or if they do, carry only one colour 

Options & Price: 4.0/5

This is Spro we are a talking about, so you know there will be a tone of options and you know kinda where the price will land. This frog comes in 2 sizes and 16 color options, wich is why it is rated so high. On average these frogs come in at just under $9 a piece which is not bad, like mentioned before I really dont want to pay more then $10 for a frog (but I will!)

When Spro first hit the market they were responsible for the now standard price range of $10-$13 a frog, I think I still hold a grudge against them for that, even though currently many other frogs well out price the current Spro line-up.

Where to Find:

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

Spro ($10.40)

Tackle Warehouse ($8.79)

Land Big Fish  ($7.99 - $8.49)

Videos: 

2011 ICast with John Crews

Wired 2 Fish w/ Dean Rojas 

Equipment:

Rod selection is tuff with this frog as it took me some time to get use to throwing the 1/4oz model on my standard go to Hollow belly rod. I originally tied it on to my 736c but then changed over to the 735 and probably could drop down to a 734. 

Poppers in my opinion are more of an open water (or sparse cover) presentation, so you can get away with using lighter line then when fishing heavy cover. that being said I would not drop below the 30-40lb mark. Lighter line will help the casting distance of this tiny frog