Rigging & Fishing ZMan Hard Leg FrogZ

Fish find it hard to resist a frog buzzed across the surface, or those same lively legs vibrating away fished below the surface. The ZMan 4" Hard Leg FrogZ are ideal for targeting medium to large salt and freshwater species, and are especially effective when fished on the surface or just below the surface for barramundi, saratoga, cod and trevally.

The PDF rigging guide at the end of this article can be viewed online or downloaded as a reference guide.

Hard Leg FrogZ are constructed from ElaZtech, making them up to 10X tougher than standard soft plastics and yet still extremely soft and flexible. This means less ripped and torn plastics, which is common when fishing frog patterns on worm hooks and snagless rigs, so more fish per lure!

Hard Leg FrogZ are also buoyant, so unlike other frogs that need to be retrieved quickly to keep them on the surface, Hard Leg FrogZ can be retrieved slowly or left motionless on the surface and they still float horizontally, even when rigged with a worm hook or TT Lures ChinlockZ. The ChinlockZ is designed to suit the super-soft and flexible ZMan plastics, locking them in place securely on the jighead.

Ideal rigging options include an unweighted ChinlockZ or TT Lures ChinlockZ SWS jighead which is a belly weighted worm hook designed to minimise fouling with weed or snagging and also improve casting distance, especially in windy conditions. The 6/0 ChinlockZ or ChinlockZ SWS are ideally suited to the 4" Hard Leg FrogZ.

Rigging FrogZ

1. Thread hook through the front, centre of the nose and out the chin at about 45 degrees.

2. Pull the hook right through to the chin lock keeper.

3. Pull the hook right through to the chin lock - view from underneath.

4. Carefully pull the chin lock through until it locks in under the chin of the plastic.

5. Once locked in place measure where the hook needs to pierce upward through the plastic.

6. Push the hook point upward through the plastic and bring it out into position.

7. Pull the hook point and barb back against the top of the plastic and into the rigging channel to avoid snagging or fouling.

Retrieve techniques include 'buzzing', which is a quick retrieve that has the legs bubbling on the surface. A buzz and pause or a series of stops and starts where, due to the buoyancy of the ElaZtech material, the Hard Leg FrogZ can be paused in the strike zone is also effective. If the fish are not feeding on or near the surface an alternative is to rig the FrogZ on a standard TT Lures HeadlockZ HD jighead for open water or a TT Lures Snake Head jighead for snaggy areas. Snake Heads have a free-swinging weight attached to a worm hook, maximising lure movement, while allowing you to weight the lure to fish the desired depth and minimise snagging and fouling due to weed. Again, select a 6/0 for ZMan 4" Hard Leg FrogZ.

Check out the attached PDF for a step by step to rigging the Hard Leg FrogZ weedless or download the PDF to save or print.