Test Drive: Jackall Lures Iobee Frog

Please dont mistake this for a full blown review of the Jackall Iobee frog (all full reviews will be posted on the Frog Pond),  I have been asked about it a few times recently so these are just some initial comments I have after giving the Iobee a test drive last night.

I had some time to kill after work and thought I would head over to a local froggin' hot spot to break in my Iobee frog. I have been very excited to get it a test drive since buying it in the off season, and so far I have to say it has lived up to expectations. Here is a little pro/con list after 2 hours of throwing it exclusively.

Conditions: Thick slop and sparse pads

Fishing Time: 2hrs 05mins

Blow-Ups: 6

Fish Hooked: 3

Fish Landed: 2

Hook-up Ratio: 33%

Pros: 

Man, I will start of by saying, this frogs moves better then any frog I have used to date, it walks extremely well, and can almost be given a seizure if twitched fast. It moves well in super thick slop and can be pulled or dragged of pads with ease. Although I did not get a chance to use it much in open water, when I did I was impressed by the fluid movement and the erratic action.

It casts well, and seems to land belly down religiously and the odd time that it did land hooks down, I was able to roll it back over fairly quickly. I really like the way the Iobee sits when paused, and feel it was designed well for all aspects of frog fishing

Cons:

there were a couple things that at this time I will say are "minor annoyances". I will start off with the legs, the rubber strands are very thin, and continuously get bunched up around the hooks. Often they looked like a birds-nest at the back of the frog which in turn means they were not doing their job in the water. I had to fix them after every couple casts

the barb on the hooks is also fairly large, and will not fit in the hook keeper on my Dobyns rod. I dont know if this will be an issue with many other rods as it will depend on how they design their hook keeper. If you are a Dobyns user, beware that this is a pain

the Breakdown

I had a blast throwing the Iobee frog and I cant wait to give it some further testing this coming weekend. After just a couple hours on the water I was very impressed with the action of the frog and it seemed to have the fishes attention as well.  Above I listed the blow-ups as 6, these are direct hits and do not include the 4 blow ups that happened 2ft or more in front or behind the frog. 

As you can see above, my initial hook-up ratio was not great, but Im going to chalk that up to the angler and lay the blame on the frog itself. I will mention that that I did have a couple fish come off, one fish I lost as I was pulling him out the slop and one fish that I landed came unstuck as soon as I had him on shore. Again I will continue to monitor this, but as of right now Im not confident in stating that the frog has a "hook" issue.

Equipment:

Rod: Dobyns 736c

Reel: Daiwa Advantage

Line: SunLine FX2 Frog Line