I’ve been getting tons of big ol bullfrog tadpoles in my minnow traps lately.. has anyone used them for bait?? How do you hook them? And what usually hits on them?

I fished with tadpoles and caught some fish with tadpoles when I was a kid and even fed some pretty good sized bass in aquariums with tadpoles. It's best to hook tadpoles in the lips. They are usually not very good bait. In my aquariums, a lot of fish would hit the tadpoles as soon as I dropped them in and then rapidly spit them out. They would then rapidly move their lips in a similar way to what they did after spitting out lightning bugs. I suspect tadpoles don't taste very good, maybe because of toxins or diet.

I did have 1 large mouth bass that would gorge on tadpoles.

Keith

Goujon, for those who like to speak British you would call it flat head catfish, love them! Keep them alive and hook them in the tail from a limb line with a sliding knot. The sliding knot will allow you keep it just below the surface on a limb line, when the catfish hits it, it will allow it to dive down. Like caddy to them. Blues, channels and eel cats will hammer them têtard too. I fish for a living and bullfrog tadpoles are money.

Tried them in farm ponds are a kid. Minnow was far better. No idea what kind of tadpole I tried.

Might check on legality of using them as bait.

I looked in the fishing regulations Pete, there wasn’t anything about them listed. Bout the closest was bullfrogs.

You mite want to check. They are still bull frogs just baby ones and we got a season and bag limit . Hate to see you get busted on a technicality .

I've hooked a many of big tadpole on a hook fishing for catfish. Never got a bite. Agree with Keith, something about them the fish don't like. But, once they turn into frogs, it is game on as far as baits go. Leopard frogs in the summer and early fall make some of the best bait ever.

I bet a pike would eat them.

Knew bullfrogs have a limit on them. Being considered a game species wouldn't be surprised if tadpoles aren't as well.

We call them (tadpoles) polliwogs here

Never had any luck with them

I’ll get ahold of the cpo to see what he thinks.

I would think a tadpole would be rather fragile and wouldn't last long on a hook.

Used em a bit when I was a kid. Just a small light hook thru the lips, no weight, slow retrieve, using ultralight gear. As said, they are fragile and don’t last long. Caught one of my top 5 bass on one, late evening almost too dark to see.

As far as fragile, they sure last awhile in low oxygen environments… the batteries on my aereator(sp) died overnight… my minnows was dead,, but the tadpoles were quite lively

Tadpoles can breathe surface air. In a bucket, tadpoles will swim up and poke their lips out of the water to breathe. I once caught over 16,800 green nose frog tadpoles in 2 days once and transported them in 2 trips, in very crowded buckets, in the trunk, back seat, floorboards and front seat seat of a Pontiac 6000. I sold them all for 25 cents each, to a large pet store chain.

Keith

Wow!! That is a lot of tadpoles

1 female green nosed frog can lay 10,000 eggs in 1 year.

Keith

Wouldnt want to count them.