River2Sea's Dahlberg Diver Frog Kicks Bass (continued)

Real World Tests: To test the Larry Dahlberg Diver Frog I headed to my favorite two bodies of water for frog fishing, Clear Lake and the tule lined California Delta. I fished the frog for a season and tried it on both warm sunny days as well in cooler foul weather. I also fished the frog on a variety of rods and employed both braided and monofilament lines.

...this odd looking weedguard is the lure's diving collar

Casting: The LDDF weighs more than most frogs at 1oz. and casts like a bullet. The lure is weighted towards the back and casts very easily both long and short distances. It is also easy to flip and pitch into pockets. The one area that the frog doesn't cast as well is when skipping under docks and pilings. The legs and diving collar create additional resistance and the frog dies quickly after it makes contact with the water, unlike Snag Proof style frogs which can skirt into tight areas with the right casting trajectory and power.

The diving collar extends below the flat belly

Retrieve: The LDDF may not be the most realistic looking frog out of the water but in the water the lure is able to generate a very realistic swimming motion. The legs on the frog rest in a natural upright position alongside the body when still, but when the LDDF is retrieved the resistance in the water causes the legs to extend straight backwards creating the illusion that the frog’s legs are actually propelling the lure forward. The LDDF exhibits some of the most natural looking swimming action and can be fished both fast and slow. When fished slow and paused the lure will splash water and create a bubble trail wake, the harder you pull the more the lure will dive and at total rest the frog will float up to the surface.

Out of the water the soft legs extend

With a steady retrieve the LDDF dives under the surface but doesn’t get very far down, but by stopping and jerking the frog the diving lip is able to dig in and get the frog to gain depth with each consecutive pull. It is possible to get the frog a few feet under the surface by repeating this process but I caught more fish when it was on the surface versus deep. The LDDF is most effective on top of the water and fish strike it both when it is moving or at total rest between pauses on the surface.

At rest in the water the legs curl upwards

If you like walking frogs this is probably not the bait for you as it requires a completely different type of action imparted on the rod, but most beginner frog fishermen will probably find it easier to fish than learning that perfect cadence necessary to walk traditional hollow bellied frogs. Like with other frogs braided line helps make it easier to drive the hook into fish the split second they strike and also makes it easier to muscle them out of the slop.

The splash the second the LDDF is retrieved

The LDDF’s diving collar also is the lure’s weedguard and prevents the bait from hanging up on vegetation. The collar’s plastic extends upwards like a wire guard on a jig and we found that design did prevent the lure from hanging up on both weedy and mossy types of vegetation. The diving collar does add some resistance to the bottom of the lure and it does not skip across some really sticky vegetation as well as conventional flat bellied frogs. Nonetheless the design does do a surprisingly good job and hookups on this frog were actually better than most frogs where the fish really has to compress the soft body of the lure to properly expose the hooks.

Notice the legs also extend backwards giving the illusion the frog is propelling itself when retrieved