I have always said that as humans we are a little too arrogant when it comes to thinking we have figured everything about fish species, why because I just don’t think fish have the brain capacity to distinguish various things.
A fish already has a hard enough time hitting the actual frog bait we are using let alone noticing the leader just before it strikes. As I mentioned before there is no right or wrong way to do this, experiment and see what you like BUT some options do have advantages especially when big fish strike and the leader keeps them on !
Always heard don’t use a leader for top water baits the fish will see it, well sure in extremely clear water maybe it would impact hits but in murky or tea coloured water sorry not going to happen. Fish strike things on the surface because that is what they see all the time, frogs swimming, birds on a patch of weeds just out side of the water, lizards, snakes and various other small feed and in the end they eat these things as they are part of the food source.
Key tip is to observe these types of natural environment baits on the water, see how they scurry across the surface, how a frog gets off a lilypad, stuff like this then when you fish similar artificial baits make sure to try a mimic this behavior.
“ALWAYS” try to make your baits look as natural and real as possible and you will quickly see how you start getting strikes you wound normally not get !
This applies to any type of top water bait you use, use it the right way fish will end up on your line, use them the wrong way no fish will go near it.
The AMFisH guy…