balsa frog

[salty fly 0]

Heres a balsa frog I have been working on,I made the legs articulted,I am haveing a hard time with the legs.This is my third try at the legs,I don't like them,I dont know.Any ideas for legs would be cool.

 

Thanks,

Bryan'salty fly'

[perchjerker 0]

Why not mount the body on the hook, and add deer hair legs instead of putting the hooks in the legs? The two-hook arrangement spells 'trouble' to me.

[Harold Ray 0]

Personally, I think that dude looks pretty darned sharp!!!!!!!!!!!! Good carving and good work.

 

Ray

[MowestFlyfisher 0]

This frog looks great the way it is I too think the double hook will cause problems getting caught on one another or something else. the legs look good as they are but if you want to change them I would suggest deer hair or congo hair, ep fiber etc... something that will add movement and look somewhat like real legs.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Man, that carving job is great! However, I too think the loose double hook may cause problems in either tangling and/or the hookset. Not sure how long the body is but if a long shank hook doesn't work, you can always extend the hook by putting a piece of SS spinnerbait wire through the hook eye and twisting the tag end around the shank and mounting it in the bottom of the body like Perch suggested. Also, depending on how the body floats, you may have to glue a lead bb in to the underside of the body on each side of the shank to make it float right side up. You can then either mount bent hair or other material legs in the back of the body or tie loops off the back of the hook or out of the rear of the body.

You've certainly got some mean carving and painting skills!

 

Kirk

[bigfoot 0]

Great looking frog.

[salty fly 0]

Thanks for all the ideas and kind words.My idea was to have articulated legs,you guys have a good point about the two hook set up,I really want the hook to ride hook point up,so I can put up into the weeds and strip into open water.I am just messing around with diffrent stuff,it keeps me out of trouble.

 

Kirk-

Thanks a lot,I dont get to show off my work very much.This frog has a glass rattle with bb's in it.All of my tests had the body land on the water right side up.

 

I will keep working on this one,and try some more stuff.I hope top have fishable one's by spring,when the bass are on there beds.

 

Thanks

Bryan 'salty fly'

[deeky 0]

I would suggest a combination of the above suggestions. You can keep your articulated legs with the hooks in them. Use a hook you can bend without breaking and bend a short section of the shank behind the eye upwards (Bendback style). Tie your deerhair to the length right behind the eye so that the hook point is 'burried' in the hair where it carries out over the back. The hair will give you movement and having the point buried in the hair will keep it a little more weedless as well as help prevent the hooks from tangling. Traditionally, a bendback style fly will flip and ride point up. But I'm not sure this setup will allow enough freedom for them to flip. The bucktail will have to do the work instead.

 

Deeky

[perchjerker 0]

I have a question about the rattles in these 'bugs'. Can you actually "hear" the rattle when shaking the finished bug? I would think the balsa would "sound proof" it; but, maybe not.

 

You could use the deep bend hooks made specifically for bass bugs and use only one hook, with the point mounted up. If the back end of the body is either: a) sloped down sufficiently; or, is set far enough forward on the hook shank (by use of a longer shanked, or a 'larger sized' hook; to provide ample gape clearance, you should get the desired results. In this case, I would add deer hair legs "a la Messinger Frog" style. That should produce a wicked 'bug'.

[deeky 0]

Perch - that's a good idea - smaller worm hooks would work well. Tie the bucktail on the flat section right behind the hook eye (where it would thread through the plastic worm) and you won't have to worry about bending the hook yourself.

 

Deeky

[salty fly 0]

Perch-The sound gets amplified with in the wood,like how a guitar works.

 

I think I will make some more bodys and try the buck tail with bent back hooks.If I make the body a little smaller and a little more sloped back,I could mount the hook point up.Then drill holes in the body and epoxy in deer hair legs.I could end up with two or more diffrent frogs.

[deeky 0]

I think you are going to want to tie the bucktail directly to the hook. If the bucktail is attached to the body, the hook will never stay in the bucktail, negating any effect as a weedguard. Plus, being attached to the hook, the hinging of the hook/body joint will give the bucktail much more motion in the water.

 

Either way, I'm curious to see how it turns out.

 

Deeky

[perchjerker 0]

I am familiar with how stringed instruments work; however, in their cases, there is an opening to the 'resonating' chamber to facilitate the sound getting out, and hardwoods are used for their bodies, based on their resonating capacities; not something as open and porous as balsa. The very soft, open-grained nature of balsa causes me to suspect that it would actually muffle the sound, rather than amplify it. However, I definitely take your word for it.

 

I had a major "Senior Moment" during my last post, and could not think of 'Stinger Hook', when I suggested a "deep bend" hook. Hope this clarifies what I was trying to convey.

 

With respect to the legs, you could use chamois to make legs in the manner of the 'pork rind' legs, or make and attach legs on stiff, but flexible wire, as for the legs on "Messinger Frogs", and attach to the body in a 'loop-to-loop' fashion. The wire insert would enable you to bend the legs near the distal end to simulate the feet.

 

In fact, there are any number of ways you can simulate the legs and feet that should make a very effective frog.

 

I anxiously await seeing your final design(s), and report on their effectiveness.

 

GOOD LUCK!

[onceahoosier 0]

Wow, great job carving, sanding, and painting that body! Did you have a pattern, picture, or something you were modeling it after, or did you just wing it? Nice work.

 

Tom

[salty fly 0]

Deeky-I think what I am getting from your post,is that I can still articulate the legs useing a bent back,bucktail for legs.That sounds like it would work.Doing two types,one with the moveing hooks,bentback,and one fixed hook mounted in the body,with hair legs.I am still gona work on the craft foam legs also.

 

Perch-I need to look in to what you are talking about as far as the "chamois"I dont know what that is.with the wire legs if I do it like a extended body,tying the deer hair around a some fexable wire,then with some beading wire I can do the loop to loop,fixing it to my body.And haveing a fixed hook with the moveing legs,That is a good idea.

 

Hoosier-That is right,I just wing it.Took a hunk of basla,my knife and some sandpaper and went to town.

 

Thanks guys for all the help,inspiration,and kind words.This week I will make some more frog bodys,try some diffrent things and hope to have something to show at the end of next week.

 

Thanks,

Bryan'Salty fly'