frog spear

[coon4492]

I saw an interesting item at the fishing store recently. It was a frog spear but it looked like a trident so I bought it figuring it could also spear fish. I decided to try it out today with kingoftheflock but we had no luck spearing anything with it. We electric taped it to a stick and were wet wading in the water trying to tab panfish with it. Then king decided to hold it over his head and scream like a native in an indian jones movie chasing me around with it. The other fisherman were giving us weird looks the whole time.

[LDS]

You guys probably do have a wierd look but I doubt that the other fishermen gave it to you!

Those spears are called "frog gigs" down south. The way we used them was to put them on a cane pole about 10' long and pin them in place with a nail. You use them in conjunction with a flashlight at night. You get in the water and wade just off the bank. The frogs will sit in the light, it shines off their eyes a little so you can spot them, and you can stick the gig right up to them and give them a poke. We used to catch burlap sacks full of frogs.

You take them home and use a good knife to cut their legs off. You leave the legs connected together and simply cut them off the torso. You can roll them in corn meal just like you would fish or chicken. You get a skillet of grease going real good and pop them in. You need a cover though, the legs will jump out if you don't have a lid. You really need two skillets so you can cook the potatoes in the second one.

Some say they taste like chicken, but they don't. They taste like fish with the texture of chicken. They're good though.

See, we grow up learning how to survive down south. At least we did until the invention of the vidio game. Hot summer nights we would head for the creek and stay gone half the night. You can make a servicable frog gig out of wire, sheet metal, or just split the pole and cut barbs in it. You can use a torch instead of a flashlight.

Funniest thing I ever saw was a guy that gigged a water-moccasin thinking it was a frog. Kids scattered every direction available and that guy's eyes were as big as car tires!

[dixieangler]

Warning: If you go frog gigging at night wading, not only are there moccasins but there are gators (here anyway). If you are fortunate enough to spot a four footer (gator that is), you have an even better meal than frog legs. Best to stick him behind the head but he will fight. Just make sure his mama doesn't make a meal out of you.

BTW, moccasins are also food. Just don't get bit.

You can even make your own gig from a sapling. Split it on one end and sharpen it into prongs. Separate prongs with sticks wedged in.

[Kingoftheflock]

they werent fisherman joe they some random family whos kids happen to have been fishing


ive tried eating crayfish before, many times actually, always didn't taste very good...

LDS, i would've probably been doing the same thing growing up as frequently, believe me when i say that i wish i couldve done the same all these years. but with people around here, there are video games and marijuana, easily 65% of the kids in my neighborhood were doing both at the same time by the age of 14. which then kind of kills the mood. the only thing they would do in the woods would be running from cops or finding a place to plant a pot plant. completely different ballgame now unfortunately, but this is my time period. if i was born in any other i would've been dead by 2 years old, so the only thing to do is accept it.

[coon4492]

If you are fortunate enough to spot a four footer (gator that is), you have an even better meal than frog legs.

This is good info if only PA had gators, oh well looks like a vacation down south is in order! I'm gonna try and bring back a gator as a souvenier!

[LDS]

Check the sewers Coon! I hear they infest the yankee sewer systems.

I had a friend the was bitten by a moccasin once. The fangs got stuck in his heel bone and they had to cut the snakes head off to take him to the hospital. They could not get the fang out and he got blood poisoining and they had to amputate his foot. One of my outdoor horor stories.

[coon4492]

Check the sewers Coon! I hear they infest the yankee sewer systems.

I checked the sewers in Philadelphia but all i found were the remains of british soldiers and a secret freemasons meeting place

[LDS]

Here's the plan,

Open a web page and set up a private historic tour service and operate guided tours to see the bones, relics and rituals that built out nation!

You'll make a mint and could probably get tax exempt status as an educational establishment.

Back on track, have you ever eaten frog legs?

[dixieangler]

Back on track, have you ever eaten frog legs?

I think I have eaten most critters of one kind or another. lol Frogs, gator tail, squirrel (cat or gray and fox), deer, hog, quail, dove, and turtle, that I can recall to name a few. I have to put my foot down when it comes to armadillo, pole cat, possum, and raccoon. The last three have some fairly ugly diseases including rabies. Gopher tortoise is one that is protected here. Don't think I would want that one either but it would be unlawful anyway. Come to think of it so is fox squirrel. Did I say I ate fox squirrel? Whoops. LOL Nowadays I think a permit is needed to take gator or it has a season (not sure which). Missed out on bear (permit I think). Anybody ever eat river otter? I missed that one too. I think its unlawful to take river otters also. You know, I don't ever recall eating rabbit. Probably did, just don't recall. The memory tends to fade over time. There are loads of rabbits around here where I live breeding unchecked. Nobody bothers them and they are quite tame, probably being fed by somebody. I may have to do something about that. What's one or two missing more or less? Discreetly of course. lol I will have to think about that some more.

I do not recall eating snake either but like rabbit, the odds are pretty good I had some rattler somewhere along the line.

[LDS]

Here in KY we have a rabbit shortge. The native grasses have been replaced by planted fescue and the fibers are so course thya kill the rabbits be cutting up their intestines. I see more deer than rabbit.

I have eaten possom, coon and bear. My mountain man friends love to cook strange game in camps.

I have eatern squirrel but consider squirrel little better than rat, which I have never eaten, nor grubs, worms and only the occasional bug by accident.

I have not had frog leggs in years.

The best meal I have had in a decade was fish cooked on the lake shore 10 minutes after they were caught.

[dixieangler]

Nope. I have not eaten rat either. Fresh caught fish is good.

[LDS]

The fish meal was one of those good adventures.

I dropped by the lake and saw one of my friends sitting on the bank with a pole. I walked over and he looked up and said;
"If I had some taters I cook these fish!"

I turned around and went back to the truck, came back with a 10 pound bag of potatoes I had brought for my overnight camp. I cooked the fish while he went to the store and called his wife to tell her he would be staying at the lake that night. We fished and told tall tales all night.

[Kingoftheflock]

i've eaten crayfish, from streams, but never frog legs, i would consider it if i was starving, but to be perfectly honest, when i think of frog legs i think of the french, and that completely turns me off it the idea...

i've eaten shark before, me and my uncle were walking down a pier in honolulu and some guy was selling it, its really good. i've eaten raccoon in meatball form, along with venison, rabbit, alligator and other things. i'm not really interested in eating squirrels, and rats are almost completely out of the question i'm if not starving because i look at them and just see a small hairy mass of dirt, disease and bones.

[OzaawaaMigiziNini]

I don't care for frog spears. I've seen em work, and I've had em work. Personally though? Take a willow about as long as your arm, with a fork at the end (two branches forking off for about 6 inches each). Use it like a tennis racket and swing down on the frog. Much faster and more effective. And more importantly? If you stab certain frogs in the wrong spot, toxin glands can taint the meat. With this "Frog stick", you are basically stunning and killing without piercing the flesh or toxin glands. Safer, faster, just as primitive... takes 1 minute to make it... c'mon folks we can all do math

[coon4492]

Ozaa that sounds like a hell of alot of fun but if I went around bashing frogs with a big stick the local suburban yuppies would probably call the police claiming I'm abusing animals . The benefit of the spear is I can use it without drawing to much attention. You know what changed my mind screw it I'm going to use the stick method it sounds like a fun time. If they throw a fit I'll just run