Advice for frogs - frog leg dinner anybody?

[fishfearme]

As it turns out, odfw encourages catching bullfrogs which are an invasive species here. I've got the itch to try it out but have zero experience in this area. Before I go and just wing it, does anyone have experience with doing this? I'm right on the Willamette river and there's got to be some good spots.
Recipe advice is also welcome.
So cmon you hillbilly types! How do I git r dun?

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[Spitpatch]

Frog legs are delightful mild, tender meat of the consistency of a chicken wing. (No, they DON'T taste like chicken.) Don't be startled if the legs "come to life" a little when they hit the hot fry pan.

You hunt them most effectively at night, with a john-boat, spotlight, and a "gig" (long handled barbed prong spear that you stab with). Whiskey is optional but customary where I have attended.

Other methods include air rifle (head shots only, I owned a dog that would retrieve 'em!)), archery fishing rig, and the funnest way (daylight hours) is to dangle a fishing fly in front of them from a spinning rod. Approach slowly and quietly with all methods.

Habitat is backwaters, sloughs and ponds. Everywhere.

One person will want 2-4 big legs to make a meal with side dishes.

 

[CrackPipe]

We used to catch them with our fishing poles as Spitpatch said. Anything you put in front of them that's small and has some movement that you give it will get a "bite" from them. Something like a 1" piece of rubber worm works. Just be ready for the bouncing fight on land after you get them out of the water.

 

[RVTECH]

One person will want 2-4 big legs to make a meal with side dishes.

And the ones I have seen (in Oregon) ain't big enough to even bother with - but that has been on the 'East side' and maybe the 'Valley' ones may be bigger.

(No, they DON'T taste like chicken.)

True! - if they do they ain't cooked right!

 

[thorborg]

There used to be tons of them in the sloughs of Sauvie island up to about the 80's. this method was taught to us by a native American carpenter friend of our family;
We used a ten foot bamboo pole, six foot of string, one treble hook with a small strip of red yarn. sneak up from behind from the bank, slowly wave the yarn just over their head for them to catch. Once good at it, by flipping them to the bank they never hit and splash the water to scare away any others around.. Mate # 2 grabs them by the feet, unhooks them, and swinging them down head first on a rock or log smacks then on the head killing them. they then make an incision just above the rear leg connection point from the belly side severing them from the back bone, sticks their finger in to the skin and pulls out the legs from the skin and throws them in the sack or lunch box. Do not throw the carcase in the water, but flip them up on the bank where birds and vermin quickly thank you for the tasty treat.
For us, the only way to cook is fried in butter as the meat has a wonderful delicate flavor that needs no help unless a little salt if the butter has none.
Do not freeze the meat as it will be mushy and unattractive when cooked in my opinion, I've tried.

 

[Lazyfaire]

Way back in Boy Scout camp outs we used to gather frogs by a bright flashlight and a fence board. Wade in the water very slowly, shine the light in their eyes to freeze them, and then whack them with the board. PETA probably wouldn't have been happy but heck, we were 11-12yo. Cooked them up over the fire.

New to this? When you cook them use a splatter screen or a pan cover as they WILL jump out of the skillet!
Growing up my family used to go to a place in Hammond Indiana that served them in garlic butter family style (on a platter). Usually good for 2 platters!

 

[Mikej]

Granted I haven't traveled/fished far and wide in Oregon. Out of those places we have, I've only seen, actually heard, bullfrogs in numbers great enough to be hunted in Cottage Grove Reservoir. Quite a noise they made in July when we were on the water at 4:00am to fish for bass. I would think they'd also be in Dorena Res in the upper weedy/shallow areas. these were big, eatin' size. We only ever saw one in the Willamette when we were bass fishing during daylight and happened to see a big one on the bank in some grass. just for the heck of it I swung my plastic worm over by it. Seriously startled me when the thing lunged at my plastic worm!

You being in Newberg, I'm thinking the only way you'd find bullfrogs is getting into some very slow moving, shallow weedy water. And a boat for sure. Maybe some of the small ponds and lakes around they for the put-and-take trout fishing in the spring. Those get fished out and choked with weeds later in the year. Might be good forfrogs.

https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/p/eagle-claw-frog-spear-20eclu3prngfrgsprfac/20eclu3prngfrgsprfac?

sku=10895364&srsltid=AfmBOorbqgnXiGKzcM66KWYEyFkWUMVk8ah8cZx2G-4J36y6BuqJQZ_vOpM
And a long light pole. Unless you want to play the fishin' game for them?

 

[bionic knees]

used to get them smoked and canned, [like sardines]. they were real tasty. haven't seen them in years

 

[Andy54Hawken]

When I was young...
I'd use my Granddad's Bamboo cane pole...and whatever stinky bait I could find...Chicken Liver and braunschweiger worked well.
Flip the line out there....and slowly jiggle it and bring it back...then repeat till ya get a frog.
Andy

 

[OldBroad44]

My one experience with catching bull frogs was in the Adirondacks, home turf of my bf. His dad, among other things, (such as building Adirondack guide boats), was caretaker of a camp owned by a rich NY city guy, and he and his family were free to use the place in their absence. The camp was just a raised concrete pad with three wood sides and a roof for putting sleeping bags in. But it was on hundreds of acres of private land, itself surrounded by thousands of acres of Adirondack Park land. The camp was on the shore of a privately stocked trout pond and had a simple roofed frame protecting two canoes. There was also a cage for holding bullfrogs. The pond had lots of bullfrogs. So we decided to have a bullfrog feast. Dave knew all about catching bullfrogs. So after dinner one night, we went out in one of the canoes with a flashlight and net. Net was on a pole, same sort as used for landing fish. Pole about 6' long. Bullfrogs were raising a racket. So Dave would quietly paddle canoe toward noise. Dave was an Adirondack Mountain boy. I was a Florida swamp girl. We were both good at moving quietly. I would use sound to locate frog, turn on flash to locate frog exactly. Frog would shut up. But his eyes shined and it was easy to see him. I would quickly slip the net in front of him and he would jump right in while trying to jump back into the pond. Then I'd dump the frog in the holding cage and we would go on to the next. We didn't miss a single frog. We caught each frog without disturbing the rest at all. After we had about two dozen, there was no more croaking anywhere in the pond.

The silence of the pond worried me. I was afraid we might have got every big male bullfrog from the entire pond. (The females do make noise, but its a softer chirpy sound made to serenade and encourage males. The loud traditional croaks are all males.) So instead of eating the bullfrogs, we just put the holding cage in a place comfortable for the frogs and waited until the following night to see if the pond was still full of croaking. Nope. No croaks. Not a single one. Dave and I had not simply disturbed the croakers into silence the night before. We had harvested every one. All that raucous noise was just a couple dozen frogs. So we took the cage down to the pond and let all the frogs go. There was still no croaking for the rest of the night. Guess it took the frogs a while to get back to their home turf and recover from their ordeal. The following night the pond was as noisy as ever. The bull frogs were native there, and were a regularly harvested item. But there weren't enough of them to pig out on as we had been planning.

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

Can't speak on catching or cooking, but in New Orleans I had some and they were fantastic! If you end up catching and cooking them I'd like to see your recipe and the finished product.

 

[Lazyfaire]

Can't speak on catching or cooking, but in New Orleans I had some and they were fantastic! If you end up catching and cooking them I'd like to see your recipe and the finished product.

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[ZA_Survivalist]

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[ZA_Survivalist]

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damn that sounds good

 

[bionic knees]

you can get them on amazon, big devils and pricy too.

 

[dangerranger60]

I have yet to go frog to a gigging that did not involve a bottle. And it's usually a group effort.
I always used a bright light on the front of the boat and the eyes glow at night. then you run the boat up close enough to get them with a gig on a 10' pole.
If you hold the light in their eyes they will hold still, but if the light waves or you make noise they will take off.

I like them fried in butter, dipped in egg batter, or rolled in flour and Cajun spice. all make a pretty good meal. DR

 

[Lazyfaire]

you can get them on amazon, big devils and pricy too.

Playing golf one day. Was in a muddy low area (My game!) and almost stepped on a huge one the size of a dinner plate!

 

[Koda]

Iirc frogs also breath thru their skin, make certain you get them from a clean water source....

 

[Lazyfaire]

Iirc frogs also breath thru their skin, make certain you get them from a clean water source....

Is there any such thing anymore?

 

[pogi]

Nice simple recipe:

Lemongrass with chili

Lemongrass with chili v.2

Thai basil fish sauce + soy + oyster sauce is a lot of salt if you are not use to that much.

Thai curry