[dagger dog]

Still a little to cold in my neck of the woods right now but , around the middle of June, the bullfrogs will be a croakin'!

Man there ain't nothin' better than about 6 pair frog legs dusted in corn meal and spices then tossed into hot grease, maybe with a dozen or so bluegill, or crappie about the size of your hand, then top that off with some hushpuppies, and a couple green onions and your favorite beverage, yum , yum can't wait!

How do y'all hunt those big bullfrogs? All we can use here is birdshot in a .22 rimfire, they won't let us use solid bullets, but we can gig 'em , with not over 3 tines on the gig, or we can stick 'em with an arrow. Ive even seen guys use a cane pole, 18" of line and a treble hook with a peice of red cloth for "bait", dangle that in front of ole Bugeyes and SLURP ya goth him hooked!

Heck where I grew up in Kentucky, down along the Salt River in Bullit County,the frogs were so big they'd pull off a 3 tine gig, you'd loose more than you could sack! We used to shoot 'em but that was way to easy.

It was a lot more fun, to slip into the water just a little more than knee deep , you would take turns holdin' the light, and try to stick that 5 tine fish gig into the middle of Kermits back, shove him all the way to the bottom then run yer hand down the pole and pull him up. Some of them had legs the size of a small frying chicken!

But the fun really started when some one would gig a:what: SNAKE! , middle of the night standing knee deep in the water cattails all around and yer buddy stuffs that :what:SNAKE in your face!

Let hear y'alls froggin' stories

[Pumpkinheaver]

I have never gigged frogs but I have caught them with fishing rods and a red piece of yarn before. Most of the time we'duse our .22sand shoot near them and the shock would stun them till you could get to them. Some of the best memories I have of my late grandfather where when we where froggin'.

[Savage Shooter]

My buddy(not mentioning names as this is illegal in my state) uses a .22 I how ever find it much more fun to use my fishing pole they put up one heck of a fight my dad had a big fishing pole one time while we were fishing and saw this frog must have been frogzilla or something must have been 3lbs no kidding and though hed try to catch it long story short frog swam away he stood there wet with a broke in half fishing pole:cuss: I laughed. like i said i use a fishing pole #2 hook with worm a strong pole and at least 14# line we have huge frogs works great on steam bank ponds and ponds with deep water they eat up the hook and I unhook em and put them in a 5gallon bucket. If they won't bite i've got something for that to i use a bare hook and drag it just under there face and jerk the rod up hook em in the chin works great. then fry em up.
MMMMM..... tastes just like chicken:D:D

[Clipper]

Michigan law is kinda twisty...No shooting. No spearing with artificial lights.
So what I do in daylight is hang a fishing fly on a cane pole and let 'em slurp 'em down.
For night hunts, my dad got a couple of redwood 2X2s, and rounded the edges, and split one end to accept a rectangular piece of sheet stainless, through-bolted to the handle. We could then use spotlights at night and hit 'em with the swatter. It would knock 'em silly long enough to get 'em into the gunny sack...

[frogomatic]

We always go frogging by hand. A little john boat and a spotlight. Put the light in the frogs eyes, and he he'll just sit there till you slide up and pluck him out of the water.

[308win]

We used to gig 'em in a cooling lake that had a horsepower limit and was really just a bowl. The wave action had hollowed out the banks so that there was a shelf with a dirt roof over it that was about 8-10 inches deep in the bank. The frogs liked to sit on that shelf under the overhang so the only way you could see/gig them was from the water side. We wore a light on a head band and eased into the bays in a john boat; ease close to the bank and get out and gig them as the water was too shallow to gig them from the boat in most places. We kept them on fish stringers as the gig usually didn't kill them. Frog's eyes are on the sides of his head, snake's eyes are on the front of his head and they will both sit still in the light worn on the front of your head- ask me how I know that! One definition of an oops moment is bending down to look under the bank and finding eyes but no frog.

[koja48]

Many years ago during a stint in Louisiana, a Cajun (tho he insisted I refer to him as Coonass), took me froggin' at night. 2 moccasins in a row convinced me that I'd never develop a passion for this sport & and that I was capable of screaming like a little girl . . . frogs DO eat good, however. I did learn how to effectively sharpen a knife, and thoroughly enjoyed the swamps & bayous . . . a dramatic change of scenery for an old mile-high Montanan . . .

[dagger dog]

koja48 ,
Coonass or mudbug, mudbug the name a coonass calls a crawfish, or another coonass.

[koja48]

Whichever was his preference . . . great guy & he could REALLY sharpen a knife!

[Jason_G]

We gig them.
Man there ain't nothin' better than about 6 pair frog legs dusted in corn meal and spices then tossed into hot grease
Save the corn meal for the fish and fried green tomatoes. Alligator and frog legs get flour ;).
That being said, I might try some meal next time.

Jason

[308win]

I wish we could get alligator up here. Occasionally, crayfish are available as are farm raised froglegs but I have never seen gator. The groceries now have many feet of shelf space for foods with spanish labels but if you want the fixings for gumbo forget it. Sorry to get off topic.

Back to frogs, I get one or two in my water garden every year. They don't stay long - maybe the raccoons get them - and there are never two as they are territorial. I have seen bull frogs a long way from water as they move to different territory.

[dagger dog]

308,

Get you a seine and go to a creek with limestone bottom or one with a lot of rocks, and seine those mudbugs!
I didn't realize they raised bullfrogs fof profit.

[308win]

When I was growing up we used to seine sloughs for crayfish to use as bait; we didn't eat them in the part of Illinois I grew up in - didn't know what we were missing. That is also a good way to get a lot of snappers with little effort. A guy I worked with 30 years ago retired and started a frog operation in western Tennessee. He was raising them commercially for sale to restaurants, labs, and processing outfits that sell them to schools for dissection. The last time I heard, he was doing well; but he did tell me that there was a lot of loss to predators and they get out and hop away. He used netting over the ponds and at one time he was experimenting with plastic barriers that were high enough to keep them in. Experimental fresh water shrimp (prawns) are getting a lot of attention in parts of southern Ohio as an aquaculture experiment as the growing season is just long enough.

[qajaq59]

Ive even seen guys use a cane pole, 18" of line and a treble hook with a peice of red cloth for "bait", dangle that in front of ole Bugeyes and SLURP ya goth him hooked! As kids we did that or we used our BB guns to get them. Dad loved them for breakfast and so did I.

Also..... for those looking for aligator, try Poches market. He'll ship you all the gator you want. http://www.pochesmarket.com/ We eat at his restaurant whenever we get near Breau Bridge, LA. Great food.

[Bailey Boat]

Grab 'em, gig 'em or gun 'em, no matter how they come into your possession they are some goooood grub..... Try some olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh garlic in a sautee pan, drop them babies in for about 2 or 3 minutes per side and then stand back !!!!!!! 'Cause the bones will be a flying........ Pass me another beer Buddy........

[stevereno1]

I like frog legs! I also like to scoot a fake frog across a bass pond in this time of year. They EXPLODE on them!