Rigging Horny Toads

[Steve Kane]

Went to Baltimore BPS yesterday and purchased four packs of Horny Toads of various colors. Based on some recent posts here, they sound like a productive lure. My question for the board, what is the recommended way to rig Horney Toads for LM bass fishing?? Thanks in advance for your replys.

 

[Jim Carlson]

I used them for the first time 2 weeks ago and have only used them 2-3 times so far, so my advice might be suspect - but I had great success.



I rigged them Texas worm style so I could used them in heavy cover. All the bass I caught were from lily pads.



Good luck.

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

Steve, I found this just yesterday while searching for information..

Hope this helps, Bill



Hooked on Horny Toad lures? Well, there's a catch



By Ray Sasser

The Dallas Morning News



DALLAS | Eddie Chambers chuckles every time he hears another story about a fisherman getting hooked on the Zoom Horny Toad. Chambers is operations manager and one of the owners of Zoom Bait Company, a family-owned business in Bogart, Ga.



''The Horny Toad is selling like crazy,'' Chambers says. ''I get a lot of calls from fishermen who say they've never had so much fun catching bass.''



There is a catch to fishing with the soft-plastic lure. The toad's bulky body makes it difficult to hook largemouth bass that bite the lure, despite strikes that are sometimes off the ferocity scale. The No. 1 question Chambers gets from fishermen: ''What kind of hook should I use?''



Zoom recently shipped its first batch of Horny Toad Hooks, heavy-duty 5/0 hooks with a 60-degree bend and an Oldham screw lock on the eye. The screw lock holds the head of the lure into position on the hook and should result in the 50-cent plastic lure catching more fish before being rendered useless.



Zoom lures are made from a soft-plastic formula, which fish like. The soft plastic tears up easily, however, making more money for Chambers and his family but costing successful anglers an additional hit in the wallet.



The Horny Toad has enough weight that it tends to slide up the fishing line when a hooked fish jumps and shakes its head. The lure can sometimes be threaded back into place. It's often damaged beyond repair. Luckily, the lure's action is the same, whether it is rigged upside down or right side up.



Before he made special hooks for the Horny Toads, Chambers recommended any good offset, wide-gap 5/0 bass hook. The Horny Toad's body has a slot to make it easier for a hook to penetrate, but the bulky lure's body tends to ball up on the hook.



Fish are often barely hooked by the point without the barb being driven home as insurance. They jump and throw the hook.



Key Puckett, who owns Fishin' World in Dallas and is a serious bass fisherman, uses 5/0 Gamakatsu hooks with a weed guard. Puckett fishes the Horny Toad with the hook completely exposed, protected from snags by the wire weed guard. He said the weedless rig has greatly increased his hookup rate.



Tips for fishing with a Horny Toad lure



Fish with the Horny Toad when you think bass will bite a topwater lure

 

[Al Greco]

Fished the Horny Toas many times, in fact fished them this morning in the Primrose on Harris Lake. Rig the lures like a texas rig but without the weight. I use a 5/0 Gamakatsu EWG hooks. Cas them out and slowly reel it in like a buzzbait to where the legs are creating a small wake. You can also drop the lure back if needed to entice a chasing fish. Best colors I found were White and Black as a close second. Oh, BTW I use a flipping stick and 20 pound test.

 

[Jim Carlson]

I should have noted that I use a local knock-off that is not perfectly identical to the Zoom HornyToad. The one I'm using is like a super fluke in that it has a slit open bottom. I use Owner 4/0 worm hooks and no weight. I've not used super glue or hook screw yet. I do use PowerPro braided line in 30lb moss green.



I just picked up my first white Buzz'nGator (name of the local knock-off) and plan to try them out later today. I've been using blue-pearl mostly and some green/black flake.



Tight lines.

 

[Larry Harp]

I've had good luck with the watermelon/red fleck. I do have a lot of fish come unbuttoned with the Horney Toads.



Harpo

 

[Texas Transplant]

Used them yesterday. Didn't get a strike (turned out the bass wanted a popper type surface bait, not a fast mover).



Tip for those using. I normally have my rod waistlevel or lower while retrieving 'movement' lures. Hard to do that with a horny toad. It took about 10 minutes to figure out, but I needed to keep my rod 'high' to keep the toad on the surface. Once I adjusted my rod position, everything was fine.



I switched to a 5/0 EWG w/GLock for the toad, based upon recommendation I got from another source.



Tex

 

[Gerald Goff]

Like TT said keep the rod tip high. This will not only help keep the toad on top, but it also helps with the delayed hook set. When the fish strikes, dip the rod down then cross their eyes. This action feeds the lure more line so the fish can turn and prevents the angler from jerking the toad out of the fish's mouth.