Several places I fish have northern pike in them as well as bass. A lot of times when I catch a pike on a hollow bodied frog, I wind up with tears in the frog from the pike's teeth. Is there a way to easily and quickly fix those tears so that the frog isn't taking on water like crazy? I hate to simply throw away a Teckel or other expensive frog simply because of a few cuts in the bait. Thanks
Might try some of the glue they use to patch innertubes on bike tires ?
1988 Ranger 364V
150HP Merc Black Max
Super glue works OK. UV epoxy is the best I've found, though I haven't tried a whole lot of things. One big drawback of the UV epoxy is that you can't (easily) apply it while fishing outside in the daylight. I'm using it to repair them in the garage while off the water (curing via a UV flashlight). Interested to see if others have had luck with other options!
2011 Skeeter ZX225
225 Yamaha HPDI Series 2
Minn Kota Ultrex 112 52"
Console: HDS 16 Carbon
Bow: HDS 12 Carbon, Solix 12 G2, Mega 360, Garmin 106 SV, LVS 34
It would be nice to be able to use something while out on the water, but the main thing I'm trying to do is keep from having to junk a bait if I don't have to, so if the fix would require doing it at home, I'd be fine with that. Thanks for the suggestions so far.
Mend-It is recommended on a couple of other site threads. Worth a look.
http://www.ultimatebass.com/bass-fis...topic=100118.0
I May try some Shoe Goo since I have a tube. Works on rubber or vinyl. And it’s waterproof, so it might work to seal up the factory holes.
BassCat Sabre FTD
Mercury 150 Optimax
"It's just fishing"
Fishing the Mississippi a lot i feel your pain, but to answer your question, nothing i tried worked well enough for me to keep fixing frogs. Super glue gel and epoxy were OK at best, i tried melting it back together and that didn't work either. Now Once they get a good tear, i pull out the hook and weight and throw it out.
I've fixed a bunch of frogs that had cuts in them from pike teeth with clear kitchen and bath caulking. A couple of thin layers and frog is good to go.
2013 Ranger Z520c, 2013 Yamaha 250 SHO
2018 Ranger RT198p, 2013 Mercury 150 Optimax
Everyone should have a bottle of Mend-It in their tackle. It's saved me hundreds repairing plastics.Originally Posted by RazorCat
"The man of system is apt to be very wise in his own conceit; and is often so enamored with the supposed beauty of his own ideal plan of government that he cannot suffer the smallest deviation from any part of it…He seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chessboard.” Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Yep! I’ve used it to fix frogs and swimbaits. It doesn’t get hard and crusty like super glue does.
I've tried using Mend-It on hollow body frogs and it doesn't set up for me? I figured this was because the frogs were rubber while Mend-It works with soft plastic. Maybe I need to try again
2011 Skeeter ZX225
225 Yamaha HPDI Series 2
Minn Kota Ultrex 112 52"
Console: HDS 16 Carbon
Bow: HDS 12 Carbon, Solix 12 G2, Mega 360, Garmin 106 SV, LVS 34
I had thought about trying Mend-It as well, but didn't for the reason you pointed out. I didn't think it would work on anything but soft plastics.
I’ve used 100% silicone and it works ok. Honestly fishing the Mississippi River it’s part of the game unfortunately. If they’re not torn too bad I will still use them fishing on top of the duckweed and they usually stay on top. I went through a lot of money in frogs last year up there
What brands of frogs has it not worked on? I've used it on Terminators, Booyahs, and LiveTargets.
Terminators are the ones I use most and the one and only time I tried Mend-It to fix one was on what was the very first iteration of "Walking Frog" (when they were having the most issues with weights flying out of them after a fish or two). It just got a little gooey, definitely didn't seal up like it does with soft plastics. Could it have been a different formulation in that frog versus others? All hollow bodied frogs I've used are made from rubber or at least something that's decidedly not plastisol like you'd see in a soft plastic bait, so combining that with my experience I just assumed it doesn't work. It sounds like I definitely need to try again. You guys who've had luck with it are just painting it into the split and pushing it together like you'd do with a soft plastic?
2011 Skeeter ZX225
225 Yamaha HPDI Series 2
Minn Kota Ultrex 112 52"
Console: HDS 16 Carbon
Bow: HDS 12 Carbon, Solix 12 G2, Mega 360, Garmin 106 SV, LVS 34
I don’t fish around toothy fish so my frogs don’t get long tears in them. Most of my frog repairs are from the nose of the frog tearing open after pulling it through heavy brush. But yeah, I just paint the Mend-It into the tears and push it back together, then I’ll also paint over the top of the seam I just made. I’ll try to post a pic of a repaired one in a few minutes.
I can’t seem to get a good pic of the fix with my phone. It won’t focus on it when it’s close up and when it’s far enough away to focus, you can’t even tell it’s been glued. I guess that speaks for itself though.
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