Frog baits are all the rage as more and more anglers find themselves hooked the very first time a largemouth explodes on their surface lures. The two most well known are the Zoom "Horny Toad" and "Sizmic Toad." Both of these lures have distinctive profiles, colors, and feature characteristics that help each lure generate their own unique action. I have fished the Zoom Horny Toad prior to reviewing the Sizmic Toad, and its actually one of my go to topwater baits in and around heavy cover. Upon first inspection of the Sizmic Toad I would have to say that the Horny Toad has a more realistic profile, and features a wider more natural belly. The most noticeable difference between the two is the implementation of the swimming tails. The Zoom Horny Toad has two worm tails, while the Sizmic Toad makes use of a much more swimbait-like set of tails.

The Sizmic Toad features an indented hook keeper in which the hook point rests exposed beneath the main level of the toad's body. The Horny Toad is the exact opposite, and the hook point rests right on top of the baits body exposed, and a raised bump on either side of the hook is designed to thwart hang-ups on structure. The Sizmic toad feels a bit more rubbery than the Horny Toad, and Sizmic lineup includes two tone designs that blend colors better than the Zoom offering. For example some of the frog color combinations are more realistic with a dark spotted top and a solid lighter colored belly. 
 

The Sizmic Toad can be fished a variety of ways, but my favorite way is to apply it as a topwater lure. This involves casting right into the center of the vegetation and retrieving it over the surface. The lure makes use of dense plastic and does have some weight to it so casting weightless is both easy and recommended. Rigged normally the lure is weedless and with limp braided line or even a mid weight mono the Sizmic Toad is easy to flip and pitch if you wish to drop it directly into predetermined pockets.

The very first time I started retrieving the Sizmic Toad I couldn't quite believe my ears. The best way I can describe how the distinctive sound the Sizmic Toad generates is a rhythmic spinning, almost what a plastic buzzbait sounds like. The sound is generated by the uniquely shaped swimbait tails coming in contact with the surface. While the Horny Toad's worm-like tails "churn" the water the Sizmic Toad's tails "slap" the surface. The Sizmic Toad creates more commotion on the water, as well as generates a clearly visible wake trail. The Sizmic Toad will sink slowly when at rest, and the head will sink slightly faster than the tail. This characteristic can be used to your advantage, and you can buzz right over dense vegetation and pause your retrieve over holes in the blanket and allow the Sizmic Toad to sink into potential strike zones. The strikes typically are rather violent, and usually involve a vicious surface splash. When pitching this lure all of my strikes occurred within seconds of the lure hitting the surface rather than deep in the drop. Yet another way to fish the Sizmic Toad is as a trailer on a spinnerbait or jig. The Sizmic Toad can be worked up the hook so that only the legs flap or it can be hooked in the head just like a pork

In terms of durability the Sizmic Toad has the competition beat. The plastic used in the construction of the Sizmic Toad has a more rubbery and dense makeup and the swimbait paddles are far more durable than the Horny Toad's worm tails. Even when hooked on jigs and spinners the plastic doesn't break off and can be removed and reused many times with no issues. I also found that I lost a lot less Sizmic Toads than Horny Toads because of the recessed hook design. The Horny Toads tended to hang up more on the hook point, while the Sizmic Toad hangs up a bit more on the swimbait style legs. The difference is that you can much more easily pull out of a snag on the soft plastic tails than when hooked directly into weed with the hook.

The lure delivers a quality action and a inimitable sound that you just have to hear to believe. The distinctive action and surface commotion emitted by the Sizmic toad during retrieves was more than enough to get bass to come up and brutally strike this lure, but the lure's performance on top of the thickest vegetation was what impressed me the most. The Sizmic Toad can actually be fished where even buzzbaits struggle to get through, and topwater retrieve and pause techniques were enough to dig even the most veiled fish out of hiding. These explosive strikes were usually followed with a hard fought battle of pulling the fish right out of the center of the weeds, but every time one of these fish got hooked up I could swear that my heart took pause. For generating surface eruptions its hard to beat the Sizmic Toad.