ICAST 2022: Northland's New Frogs!

Northland’s new Reed-Runner Walking and Popping Frogs

BEMIDJI, Minn. (June 20, 2022) – If it walks like a duck, it’s a duck…or maybe a frog, loon, lab rat, blackbird, or baby turtle. At least that’s what the bass say. These dedicated surface smashers don’t discriminate against much of anything struggling or stroking on the surface that represents a square meal.

With topwater mayhem on the mind, Northland Fishing Tackle brings forth the Reed-Runner Walking and Popping Frogs, now available at your favorite tackle outlet or direct from the horse’s mouth. Frequent frogger and member of the fishy Peterson family, Travis Peterson extols the upsides of the new Reed-Runner Walking and Popping Frogs, and what makes this action-packed bait class so special.

“First off, the hookup ratio is incredible,” said Peterson of the Walking and Popping Frog’s high catch-versus-miss rates. “The bodies are both extremely collapsible and durable, which is a perfect combination.” Peterson goes on to tout the quality of the hooks. And, unique to only the finest frogs, the Walking and Popping Frog’s hooks couch tight to the body for supreme weedless operation. “They have the ultimate hook and body combo for weedless fishing,” professes Peterson. Moreover, he says the frogs maintain peak performance regardless of retrieval speed.

In Peterson Country – northern Minnesota – lakes vary from moderately fertile mesotrophic to more lived-in, weedier eutrophic varieties. In both cases, emergent vegetation is infused with largemouth bass. He fishes frogs in conventional lily pad fields, as well as wild rice, bullrushes and reeds. Frogs elicit explosions in shallower coontail and milfoil as well. All told, Peterson frogs vegetated realms in four feet of water and under. 

Within these jungles, he focuses energy on “anything different.” In pads, that means pockets and places where submerged vegetation comingles with the surface weeds. He never passes on clumps of mixed weed types. Denser clusters of pads often produce, too.

The Popping version has specific applications, too. Peterson admires the plugging action in sparser weeds to call bass from afar. He prefers the popper in reeds and rushes as well. And, when bass are walled-up in impenetrable cattails, Peterson throws tight to the edge and creates a scene they simply must swim out and investigate.

Northland offers the Reed-Runner Walking and Popping Frogs in an array of patterns, each emulating critters that bass are known to consume. Peterson pairs this information with his personal preferences. “I like the more solid colors like Lab Rat and Loon. They’re the most visible on the top of long casts. I can see the baits disappear when a fish inhales. The glittered bottoms of the Perch and Bluegill flash like a struggling fish and do well in areas where bass are foraging on fish.” And, of course, you can match-the-hatch with Northland’s more traditional, realistic frog patterns.