FROGG TOGG KIND OF WEATHER

I certainly hope that in the event that you had an opportunity to fish the day after Christmas that Santa left a Frogg Togg rain suit under your tree.

It was already cold enough, but a drizzling rain and stiff northeast wind tested one’s dedication to fooling a fish! Once you are more concerned with how cold you are than what your lure is doing…..

it’s time to go home.Very seldom are the fish suicidal and that would have to be their mindset for you to catch them at that point.And, while it may come as a surprise to those that simply say ”No” to cold weather fishing, the mercury does not have to be hovering around the 32 degree mark for you to feel as though you are freezing.

While the quality of rods, reels and guns continues to improve, however, winter outdoor clothing may well have made the greatest strides.Not only can you dress in layers to the point of sweating while standing still, but those layers of insulation are now thin enough to be comfortable as well.There was a time when wadded up rolls of thick insulation often either cut off circulation or left you looking like the Michelin tire man! The secret to making the insulated clothing perform at its best, however, is staying dry and eliminating the chill factor produced by northerly gusts.For those two reasons alone, I rely on my Frogg Togg suit not only on the coldest of days, but that initial boat ride in the spring and fall as well.I have long touted the value of the lighter All Sport suits for Moms and Dads at high school sporting events not only because they are dry and break the wind, but because they pack up so small.When they are not needed they make a pretty good cushion as well.

My grandson now includes a pair in his Disc Golf tournament arsenal.He swears by his because they are not only light, but don’t interfere with the throwing motion as well.

From their “year round” All Sport suits to their top of the line Pilot II suits, there is a style and color combination to suit every need.

I put my Frogg Toggs on before I left the house the past two mornings and didn’t take them off until I was back in the house that afternoon.You really had to be mad at the fish to even consider loading up the boat.The low water helped the redfish bite, but solid trout were hard to come by for us.We may have been able to catch better numbers had we fished tails, but we were focusing on big trout with suspended baits and fooled only four specks in the four to five pound class.It has been a long time since I have offered a trout a shallow diving minnow style lure like a Long A or even a Rogue, but Johnny caught our three largest trout on a gold-black back Yozuri Crystal Minnow.All of the fish hit it after he pulled it beneath the surface, but it is still considered to be a topwater lure.

I hate throwing a Hoginar in shallow water with the exception of chasing schooling reds in the open lake, but they wanted it more than anything else we offered them.We still caught a few as deep as fifteen feet, but they hit it in the shallow drains as well.

I seldom have a chance to talk with anyone that spends much time on Rayburn, but I ran into Jonathan Simon last week and he said that he and his Dad recently enjoyed one of “those days” on the lake.

“I think we caught bass on every technique and at every depth we fished,” said Simon.Not only did they catch great numbers, but Jonathan caught and released one in the ten pound class as well! I also talked with Adam Curry on Christmas Eve and he said they were still catching some really nice white perch on his brush piles on Toledo Bend.Curry fishes the mid lake area from Boone’s Crossover to Negreet Creek.He added that this may yet be a banner year in the Chicken Coop area, but the fish still weren’t there as late as last Monday.The water is low and in great condition so it should just be a matter of time.