It’s not often a bass fishing lure storms onto the scene with so much fanfare, but the Teckel USA Sprinker Frog has managed to have anglers around the world salivating for a chance to try one. We’ve even seen some second-hand Sprinker Frogs listed for sale for well over $100 in recent weeks.
So what’s the hype all about? We’ve been testing it extensively and here’s what we’ve learned about it.
Body profile
Designed by popular Japanese lure maker Hideki Maeda, the body of the Sprinker Frog has a slender nose extending to a mouse-like body. The shape and downward-tilted nose keeps the line tie in position throughout the entire retrieve to prevent excessive rolling.
Belly System
The belly of the Sprinker frog exposes the hook system and weighted rear that helps the bait track true and gurgle and buzz on a straight retrieve.
WATCH: Bass Exploding on the Sprinker Frog
A post shared by Wired2Fish (@wired2fish_official) on Jul 27, 2017 at 9:12am PDT
We got a few of our blow-ups on the Teckel Sprinker Frog on video so you can see what it looks like in action for yourself.
Boot tail adds an interesting twist
Instead of your traditional rubber frog legs, you’ll find a rotating boot tail on the back of the Sprinker Frog. It’s situated on a heavy duty swivel and corkscrew keeper, which allows it to displace a bunch of water on the retrieve. It combines the walking action of traditional hollow-bellied frogs with the agitation and “gurgle” of a buzzbait.
While it’s certainly a good choice for close quarters, heavy-cover fishing, its unique design allows for excellent topwater blow-ups in open water as well. The slower you retrieve this lure, the more water it displaces.
Cover water quickly
Although the boot tail may not spin in matted vegetation, the Sprinker Frog can still hold its own in these situations. It has an interesting side-to-side sashay as it’s reeled over the slop while its boot tail simply wobbles back and forth. This creates even more pressure waves and disturbance.
The nose-down design allows the body of the frog to easily glide over the slop, and its 5/8-ounce weight facilitates some super-long casts, even in a stiff breeze.
Narrow nose and broader body
Its narrow profile helps it track straight and gurgle while coming around and over cover.
Like a traditional frog and buzzbait in one
The Teckel Sprinker frog can be worked through cover like a traditional topwater hollow-body frog. It can be stopped in holes, chugged over open and sparse cover, and buzzed along in between like a buzzbait. It’s like having a regular hollow body frog and a buzzbait in one lure. The body is very soft and collapses well.
Limited availability and spare tails
You will lose a tail or two after fishing them a while and getting strikes in thick cover. They are attached very well, but they are still soft plastic tails held on with a spiral-lock keeper. The package comes with two tails, but you can order spare tails here.
Unbelievable demand from anglers exceeds the initial supply, but Maeda ensures a large order should hit retailers very soon. We’ve fielded calls from some of the world’s top bass anglers asking if we had any extras to spare. When they show up on TackleWarehouse.com and other retailers, they are pretty much gone the next day. But supply should pick up in the next month for most.
You can order the Teckel USA Sprinker Frog at TackleWarehouse.com, and they will ship when available.
Several bass on the Teckel Sprinker this year
Jason and I have caught a bunch of bass on the Teckel Sprinker frogs already this year, even with only having a couple to play with. It’s a fun lure because you can you twitch and pop it on cover, buzz it along, stop it in holes and be very versatile fishing this frog. It fishes like a buzzbait through sparse grass and like a hollow-bodied frog in thick cover. It draws some crazy cool strikes in places where you can’t always get a buzzbait to run clean.
