We’re going take a little trip across the pond, way across, to show you a product that debuted at ICAST. Produced by Japanese lure maker Raid, the Scatter Frog caught our eye for a number of reasons.
The fact that the convention is always held in July, which is prime top water time in lots of parts of the country, means that our radar is particularly tuned for new top water offerings that have the potential to fill some void in our tackle box.
What got our attention
The Scatter Frog got our attention because of the prop blade attached to the rear end, the fact that the hook shank opening in the bottom of the bait is sealed, the color schemes and the evident build quality.
We were able to obtain only one of these frogs as they didn’t bring an over abundance of them to the show. Hey, that’s okay, it only takes one to see what these lures have to offer.
The bait itself is a hollow body frog with a Gamakatsu double hook. We don’t have the exact measurements ‘cause we don’t speak or read Japanese but it is about 2 1/2 inches long and weighs about 1/2 ounce. Pretty standard stuff for this type of lure.
There is no tail as this space is taken by the prop on the back of the frog. When we first looked at it, our initial concern was that the prop could get in the way of setting the hook. That was the only negative feature that we could find on our pre-testing inspection. Of course the only way to prove or disprove that theory was to get it on the water to see what would happen.
We fished this on a 7’ medium heavy rod mated with a casting reel spooled with 40# Power Pro braid. We’ve caught lots of fish on this rig using frogs in and over grass and prefer it to a heavy action rod because it gives the fish that extra fraction of a second to really get the bait in its mouth before we put the wood to it.
Our Usual MO
As usual, our first cast was in shallow water about thirty feet from us to see what we could get out of the bait action wise.
The Scatter Frog took a few casts to really reveal its strengths as well as its versatility.
Throw it out, let it sit for a minute and give it a good rip. The prop comes to life making a gurgling sound at the same time it leaves a nifty bubble trail. Short pop, pop, pop will have the bait walking the dog with a solid side to side action. Keeping your rod tip low while popping the frog gives you all of the above as well as having the added benefit of the nose spitting water in front of it.
These are the main retrieves that we employed but subtle changes in the angle of the rod as you’re working the bait will change the resulting retrieve.
The other unusual feature that we mentioned is the grommet around the hook shaft where it goes through the body. It appears to seal the bottom of the frog but you never really know ‘till you get it in the water.
You know, in this case it does. This thing doesn’t fill with water at all. It doesn’t require squeezing it out every few casts or worse, every cast. It just stays on the surface, allowing you to do what you are there for in the first place, fish.
Where You Can Throw It
When it comes to frogs, we have a couple that we use in open water to sparse vegetation as well as those that we use for heavy mats, through lilly pads or other snaggy conditions. So where do we put the Scatter Frog?
The hooks are placed in such a way on this bait that they don’t pick up grass. However, if you’re using it on top of snot grass, much like a traditional prop bait, it can foul the blade. The cool part is that doesn’t mean that the Raid frog quits being effective. Its ability to walk the frog, spit and generally cause a commotion isn’t entirely based on the prop turning.
As a matter of fact, when you look at the picture of a fish that we caught using the Scatter Frog, you’ll notice there is grass on the line. In our never ending quest to discover the limits of the products that we test, we do some pretty risky things with those baits including but not limited to, throwing them where we really shouldn’t. Hey, how else are you gonna see what would happen?
What Time Has Told Us
We’ve now had a couple of months worth of fishing to test the Scatter Frog. So not only have we gotten to know this bait in terms of how it fishes but also how well it’s held up to our sort of intentional abuse.
The conclusion that we’ve come to is that we don’t hesitate to toss this bait into the nastiest stuff we can find if we think there is a fish under it, it does offer a unique action with all the ways that it calls to the fish.
The compactness of the bait has been a definite plus, at least as far as the fish are concerned and it has earned a spot in our tackle box in the starting rotation for those times when a frog is the best choice.
We’re unclear, as of this writing, about the availability of the Raid Scatter Frog. It isn’t a lure that we’ve seen hanging on our local tackle stores shelves nor have we found a convenient way to get it on-line.
If we do run across a source, we’ll let everyone know in the future, that is, after we get a few more of them for ourselves!
| Raid Scatter Frog | |
|---|---|
| Overall Rating |   |
| A wonderful, prop equipped frog | |
See ya’ on the water …
