Frog Review: Yum Money Frog

As you can see from reading some of my other blog posts I have been on a bit of a  YUM money series kick. I recently gave the Money Craw and the Money Hound a try with success, so thought it was time to break out the YUM Money Frog.

I gave the bait a thorough work-out this past weekend while spending 3 days on a heavily padded lake. It was put to the test against a favorite frog of mine.. the Gene Larew 3 legged frog.. although it did not fair as well as my old faithful, there still may be a place in my bag to give this one another shot down the road. here are some pro's and con's

Pros:

the Money frog has a thick fairly durable body, the kicking legs have more bulk to them then most soft plastic frogs and will not easily tear after a few hits. The leg design is similar to the Money craw arm design and gives off good motion in the water when buzzed from pad to pad.

This bait easily stays on top of the water when pulled from the pads into the open. It does have a slow sink, so long pauses will cause the bait to fall beneath the pads.

I really like to color options available. they have a great mix of natural colors with high vis accents that allow you to see the frog even when casting long distances in heavy cover.


Cons:

I had a few issues when using this bait for the first time. First and foremost unlike many other soft plastic frogs this bait does not have a top slit or notch to help keep the hook point weedless. The plastic on the bait is firm and the hook point has a hard time staying buried. this causes snag issues when in thicker weeds and pads.

When pulling the frog in open water between the cover, you need to keep up a high rate of speed, the bait has a tendency to helicopter when not supported by pads/weeds or a high speed retrieve. I tried various hook placements to ensure the hook was centered but I was unable to rectify the issue.

I also had a hard time finding the perfect hook size for this bait. The length of the frog is conducive to a 3/0 hook. When using the EWG hooks the lack of hook keeper allowed the hook to much room to move and it constantly popped up. I moved to a standard offset worm hook and remedied this issue for the most part, but this also provides less hook, when setting the hook.

Not a fan of the packaging from this product. As an angler who likes to make quick changes on the water, this bait takes time to remove and place back in the package. The Money Craw and Money hounds had similar issues when launched, the packaging of the Money Craw has since been rectified

Pricing:

the Yum money frog comes in at a whopping $8 a pack and only contains 4 frogs.. yep thats $2 a bait. I easily used up 3 of the frogs in a 5 hour days. The nose of the bait is the least durable part, and was the cause of most of my "dead bait" issues.


When all is said and done the Money Frog ranks in last place when it comes to the YUM Money series of baits. I had high hopes since I fell in love with the money craw earlier this season. But the issues listed above on top of a very high price point, make this a bait that I wont be replenishing any time soon. I have not given up yet, but there are many more frogs in the pond if ya know what I mean.

Weapons:

I was throwing the YUM money from with my Dobyns 735c, one of if not the best frog rods on the market today (believe me, i have tried many). My reel of Choice was a Shimano Curado with 50lb PowerPro line. The Hooks used were both Gamakatsu in the thicker gauge for heavy cover.