There are few things on this earth as exciting as a big bass blowing up on a frog. Any angler who has ever caught a bucketmouth on a frog knows the thrill of their bait getting crushed by an exploding bass. That's why frogs are one of my favorite baits to throw, especially during the summer. When that time finally rolls around, I reach for my trusty frog boxes and don’t let them out of sight until the frost is on the ground in the fall.
Over the last 25 years, I've had the opportunity to test an endless number of frog baits, from hollow-body frogs to soft plastic toads. From that trial-and-error process, a few baits rose to the top of the pile and stayed there, even after years of lure innovation. But I still like to put the latest frog baits to the test. You’ll find 10 baits—old and new—on this list of the greatest frogs and toads of all time.
Best Hallow-Body Frogs
Best Overall: SPRO Dean Rojas Bronzeye Frog 65
Best Popping Frog: SPRO Dean Rojas Bronzeye Poppin' Frog 60
Best Skipping Frog: Strike King KVD Sexy Frog
Best Newcomer: Gambler Walking Frog
Best Soft Plastic Toads
Best All-Around: Zoom Horny Toad
Best Slow Toad: Frog Factory Ribbit Frog
Best Loud Toad: Strike King Rage Tail Toad
Best Newcomer: NetBait BaitFuel BF Toad
How We Picked the Best Frogs
I referenced my two decades of frog fishing experience and catches in order to rank the best frogs and toads of all time. Some of these baits, like the Dean Rojas Poppin Frog and Strike King Sexy Frog, are responsible for dozens of my biggest topwater catches. There are other newer baits that have also proven their worth on the water recently. I conducted a best new bass baits test this spring, and one of the frogs from that list (Gambler Walking Frog) made it into this lineup. Lastly, we categorized these baits into two main groups: frogs and toads. The frogs are all hollow-body baits and the toads are all soft plastic baits designed to be reeled continuously.
Best Hollow-Body Frogs
Hollow-body frogs are designed to float and be worked along the surface in a side-to-side or popping manner. These baits typically have skirted legs and a two-prong, pre-rigged hook in the bait. This is what we’re looking for when evaluating these baits:
Hook strength and construction
Action
Walk-ability
Skip-ability
Color choices
Durability
Ability to keep water out
Best Overall: SPRO Dean Rojas Bronzeye Frog 65
What makes the SPRO Dean Rojas Bronzeye Frog 65 so great? It has everything you want in a hollow-body frog. The material is durable but soft, able to hold up to heavy abuse but will also collapse when a bass smacks down on it for a stellar hook-up ratio. The hook itself is a two-prong gaff, well suited for hauling big ones out of the thickest cover. There is a ridiculous selection of 52 colors to choose from. And the bait is one of the easiest to walk on the market. At 2 ½ inches and 5/8 ounce, this one can be cast far while still being a good size to catch big bass and little ones alike.
Best Popping Frog: SPRO Dean Rojas Bronzeye Poppin' Frog 60
There’s no doubt that the SPRO Dean Rojas Bronzeye Poppin' Frog 60 is the greatest of all time when looking at popping frogs. I’ve caught more big bass on this frog than any other hollow-body frog I’ve ever thrown. The cup of the mouth catches just enough water to create a nice gurgle and spitting action. This bait can be popped straight back to the boat or walked left and right, nearly in place, when it comes up to a piece of cover. The hooks are stout and sharp—always up to the task. And the flat belly makes this frog extremely easy to skip. If I had to take a guess, I’d say almost half of the big bass (over 4 pounds) that I’ve caught on a frog have come on the Dean Rojas BronZeye Poppin' frog in midnight walker (black).
Best Skipping Frog: Strike King KVD Sexy Frog
The Strike King KVD Sexy Frog is the easiest to skip of all the frogs I’ve fished with. This is solely due to the flat belly. Rolling this bait over on its back, you’ll find the absence of the deeper V hull that you see on other frogs. The Sexy Frog has more of a gradual curve to the belly. The deeper V-hull on the SPRO Bronzeye Frog makes it a little easier to walk, but harder to skip. I can skip the Sexy Frog two or three times as far, and much more consistently. Depending on how a V-hull frog hits the water, it may dig in or ricochet straight up in the air. At best, it skips a few feet every few casts. But with the Strike King Sexy Frog, I can skip the bait 10-plus feet back into and under cover, cast after cast after cast.
Best Newcomer: Gambler Walking Frog
The Gambler Walking Frog is not only my favorite new frog bait for this year, but my favorite new bait of any category in 2025. While this bait has a lot going for it, like its skip-ability, soft body, and bold hook, there are two features in particular that stand out to me. First, the iridescent strands of tensile in the legs. When the legs get wet, they perfectly mimic the veins of color on a bream’s body. But what really sets this frog apart is the dab of silicone used to plug the hook hole below the belly. This is a simple but genius way to fix an age-old problem. Since the first hollow body frog hit the water, fishermen have been squeezing water out of it. Not anymore. In the 20 or so hours that I’ve spent fishing with this frog, I might have had to squeeze water out of it a half dozen times.
Berkley Swamp Lord Frog
The Berkley Swamp Lord is just a touch heavier and longer than the SPRO Bronzeye 65. While the difference would seem minuscule on paper, the Swamp Lord has a noticeably larger profile and presence in the water. This bait has a fantastic Berkley Fusion 19 double frog hook, a great color selection, and an innovative method of keeping water out of the body. With a flatter belly, the Swamp Lord skips really well, too. On top of all that, this bait also has the backing of a major international brand, ensuring these frogs are readily available around the country. There’s also a popping version of this frog that’s worth checking out—the Berkley Swamp Lord Popping Frog. I like both styles of this bait.
Booyah Pad Crasher
The Booyah Pad Crasher is another popular hollow-body frog, and a great deal for the price. Introduced in 2012, this bait has become a favorite among anglers and pond hoppers alike. With seven colors, there’s something for any situation. It's a no-frills frog that walks well, gets bit, and has a good hook.
Best Soft Plastic Toads
Soft plastic toads are designed to be reeled continuously. A toad does not typically come pre-rigged with a hook, but instead is paired with either a screw-lock frog hook or an EWG (Extra Wide Gap) hook. Here's what we look for in a great soft plastic toad:
Durability
Color selection
Action
Scent
Sound
Best All-Around: Zoom Horny Toad
The Zoom Horny Toad is the best all-around toad on the market. The fast flapping and spitting action created by its flat, V-cut feet makes it perfect for buzzing across the water. I find this action works particularly well from the time bass come off of beds and start guarding fry through the summer. This is also one of the best, if not the best, toads for putting on the back of a buzzbait. The shape and bulk of the body make it ideal for slipping onto the buzzbait hook and skipping under cover. I’ve fished the Horny Toad the longest out of any of the baits I tested—my most distant memory with it involved a 4-pound fish catch I filmed on a VHS camera in the early 2000s. This is an old-school favorite of many anglers that has yet to be unseated by any other toad.
Best Slow Toad: Frog Factory Ribbit Frog
The Frog Factory Ribbit Frog (formerly known as the Stanley Ribbit) is the best bait out there for situations where you want a slow-moving, low-gurgling toad. These are the effective baits to use around the spawn when the water is just warming up enough for a topwater and the bass prefer something a little slower and less aggressive. The vertical orientation of the feet is responsible for the bait's ability to be fished more slowly. Resistance is created as the Ribbit’s feet are dragged across the water, generating a nice gurgling sound and a slow movement. Believe it or not, I actually caught a 6.49-pound largemouth on this bait in a club tournament on West Point Lake in 49-degree water. I wouldn’t recommend fishing a toad in water that cold, but I did because I had caught a couple of good ones on it a few days prior when the water was warmer in practice. The point of the story—this is the best slow-moving toad on the market.
Best Loud Toad: Strike King Rage Tail Toad
If you want a chaos-creating, loud-slapping, big-bite-inducing toad, the Strike King Rage Tail Toad is your guy. This is the loudest toad I’ve ever fished, which is due to the large legs. Although these legs lay flat on the water, they incorporate the Rage Tail design element many Strike King soft plastics are known for. There are two small flanges on each leg, one on the bottom and one on the top. These flanges catch water and send the legs kicking and flapping, creating all sorts of noise. When bass are in a foul and malicious mood, this toad can generate ornery and aggressive strikes. It is especially effective when fishing through sparse to relatively dense cover, like lily pad fields. You’ll want the pads to be far enough apart that you can keep your bait in the water and moving most of the time so it can generate noise and action. That noise is enough to pull fish from long distances and it does this far better than any other frog can.
NetBait BaitFuel BF Toad
Only a couple of years old, the NetBait BaitFuel BF Toad is a relative newcomer in the toad market. During my first outing testing this lure for a product review, I caught a bass between 5 and 6 pounds on Lake Seminole and instantly fell in love. The shape of the feet is similar to that of those on the Zoom Horny Toad, so there’s naturally a similar spitting action. But the legs are a little larger and the material is a little tougher. So the bait doesn’t move as fast or have as crisp of a sound. This equates to the BF Toad landing in between the Zoom Horny Toad and the Stanley Ribbit.
Add to that the larger profile of the BF Toad, and you basically have a mix of the Rage Toad, Zoom Horny Toad, and Stanley Ribbit, with a larger profile bait that can be fished through dense cover without moving too fast, too slow or making too much noise. It’s the Goldilocks of toads, if you will, and the best newcomer I’ve seen in the last 5 years.
Go Catch Giant Bass on Frogs
In case you couldn't tell, I love a good frog. Whether we’re talking hollow-body frogs or toads, my ears perk up and my blood pumps whenever I hear the term. Wonderful days on the water and memorable bites come to mind. And just the thought of a big one slurping down a frog is enough to get me excited on the coldest winter day. Good news? Winter is a distant memory now, and the bass are in the perfect mood to knock the dust off our frogs nationwide. The above list includes the best of the best that I’ve been able to find in over two decades of frog fishing. So pick one up and go catch a lunker.
