Monday, June 23, 2014

Poor Boy Baits Wooden Frog Review


Wooden Frog:   Colors: 4        Size: 2.25"        Weight: N/A     Pack Count:  1
      


Intro:

It seems like it has been a long while since I have written a review on a hard body frog and I feel kinda bad that the return of the hard body coincides with this review on a recently retired bait. I purchased my Poor Boy Wooden frog last season, and was surprised that as of today it is impossible to find almost anywhere.. but after reading the below review, you'll know why


Overall Rating:  6/10
Each frog is rated on the following criteria: Quality, Castability, Presentation, Hook-up Ratio Available Options, Product Availability & Price

Quality: 3.0/5


The PBB Wooden frog is a 2-price bait that consists of a bass wood body with a swing hook and a screw. The legs of the bait are soft plastic and are interchangeable. The look of the bait leaves much to be desired, its a very basic paint job but the colours are nice.

The wooden body will take a beating and holds up really well. The legs not so much as the small spring does little to hold them in place. Luckily this frog comes with 3 pairs of legs


Castability: 3.0/5


Like with many of this baits characteristics its overall castability is not great nor is it horrible. As mentioned above the PBB Wooden frog is made of light weight BassWood, this makes casting for distance a problem, not to mention casting into wind. The rubber legs do help but not enough to give the Wooden frog a score above 3

Because of the baits shape and material it does land well and is always in position for a fish to strike. The hook itself often pops off its peg, but thats an issue we will discuss in the hook-up portion of the review  


Presentation: 3.0/5


If you are not use to using wooden baits then this frog can and will take some getting use to. It slides very easily in a walk the dog style cadence,  with the legs acting as a drag system that slows it down.

This bait is best suited for open water or sparse cover. The rubber legs don't slide well over pads and the exposed hooks get caught up if the bait flips on the retrieve 

Hook-Up Ratio: 3.0/5

The hook system on the PBB Wooden frog is kind of  unusual for a frog bait. It uses a standard double frog hook that is pinned to the back of the bait with a peg. The peg holds the hook in place during the cast and retrieve but allows it to swing freely when fishing a fish.

The exposed hooks make for a great hook-up ratio but can also be a deterrent as they collect up debris and catch on pads during the retrieve. Im also not to sure how durable this system will be as the fish will be putting a lot of pressure on the hook which is held on by a light screw





Availability: N/A


Last season when I purchased this frog I did so through LandBigFish. When preparing for the review I noticed it it no longer listed on their site, nor the PoorBoy Baits site.. this tells me it is not officially retired.. so no score was given

Options & Price: N/A


Again now that this bait is retired it is hard to give it a score for options and price. When purchased last season this bait cost me $14.95 which is on par with other wooden hand carved baits I own. With that said the bait does not perform all that well and in hindsight I would have not spent this kind of cash on it (you know I could have bought 3x Booyah Pad crashers for that)



Where to Find:

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


Retired.. if you find it and it's cheap, give it a shot



Equipment:


When using the Poor Boy Baits wooden frog I would opt to throw it on either a 735c for power or a 734c for action. The choice comes down to how and where you will be fishing. If your battling cover go with the 735C if you are fishing mostly open water the 734c will provide great action and still get the job done.

As for reels I used a Daiwa Lexa in the smaller 100 series size spooled up with Toray Finesse braid, again I focus on presentation over power when using this frog





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