"Chris Rennert" wrote in message
.. .
alwaysfishking wrote:
Was out fishing early this morning. Grass was coming up all over the
place so time to fish some topwaters, and what better than a horny toad.

I wanted to cover a bunch of water and did so casting the heavy toad. A
huge explosion near the pads and a hook set, resulted in no fish. The
fish had the frog but it was way out there and the fish came off.

I was fishing 8lb mono but again distance was the reason I couldn't
connect with this fish. Any advice for hooksets at greater distances, or
should I just not be casting as far? Braid would not have made a
difference, or at least that's what I want to believe






Actually Randy, I believe Braid would have made a huge difference. With
zero stretch you would have made the connection. Also a longer rod would
have helped. Maybe you were already using a 7'+ rod. But with long casts
and loooonnnnnggg hooksets Braids really shine.

Of course that has been my experience. The stretch of mono with the long
distances usually puts you at a disadvantage.

Chris


I agree. I have fished 10lb mono for topwater for a long time. This last
weekend I fished braid for the first time in a tournament. I nailed three
out of three topwater hits on braid. I used a 7' medium action rod to do
it. (Actually a Lamiglass 3 power) I was using 30lb Stren Super Briad
which is approximately the same size as 8lb mono. It worked well. The one
thing I did was to back my drag way... way... way... off. The biggest I
caught topwatering was about 14" I also used the same rig for crank baits a
little later in the day and had very good luck with hooking and landing
fish.

Still for most people for most applications I'ld probably stay with mono for
topwater. I went to braid because so often I am throwing to or into pockets
in weedlines with my topwaters. I still land more fish with mono I think,
but I hook more with braid. I also don't have to run my boat over an area I
planned to fish to retrieve my baits nearly as often.

The other thing to remember is that frogs are notorious for missed strikes.
I have never fished a Zoom horny toad, but I have fished other frogs. I
quit fishing them because I missed close to 75% of my strikes. A local pro
guide and good friend Dave Willhide told me that if you hook more than 50%
of frog strikes you are pretty darned good.


--
Bob La Londe
http://www.YumaBassMan.com