Frogs are splendid bait. Many fishermen prefer them to minnows if they are after bass or pickerel. Then, too, the frogs are desirable for themselves. What better camp dinner or home dinner, for that matter, can be imagined than a tender, well-cooked mess of frogs' legs? The old-fashioned way to get your frog is to come up behind the prey and deal it a heavy blow with a club. It is effective, too, if the hunter has skill. Another way is to spear him with a pike pole. In the South they fish with a piece of red cloth for bait and get large numbers of frogs. Then, again, some prefer to shoot them with a rifle. But the best, most humane, and most satisfactory way to capture the frog is by means of a trap. Here is one which has proven an excellent success.
The beginning of our work will be on the square frame pictured in Fig. 4. The size is marked 8" x 1", but you may with advantage use a heavier board, as it will sustain more weight without sinking below the surface of the water. Next comes the framework that rests upon this heavy enclosure. This frame is constructed of 1 1/2" x 3/4" strips. They may be nailed right into the frame
(Fig. 4) and then reinforced by the corner blocks shown in
Fig. 5. The netting used should be coarse fly screen of about one-quarter inch mesh. It is fastened with small staples sold for the purpose at hardware stores. The upper portion of the enclosure is left uncovered with wire, the latter being bent to the inside, as shown by the drawings. We will
now make a cover or lid for our trap. It consists of a simple frame
(Fig. 1) covered by the wire cloth. It is hinged on and should be provided with a catch or
clasp to keep it in place.
To use the trap set it out in the water and tie it to a stake so it cannot float away. The lower half will be submerged, as shown in the top sketch. Bait of some kind, such as minnows or flies or grass-hoppers or bits of red flannel, hangs from the lid near the edge, so that the frog will have to jump after it. If he does so, he will, of course, land on the inside and will be unable to climb out. It may be possible that this trap will catch more than frogs, but that will only add to the fun when you come to pull it ashore.