This redfish struck a topwater “frog” cast by St. Augustine guide Matt Isaiah during an outgoing tide in summer, a time that often sees reds feeding on crabs drifting at the surface.
October 06, 2025
By Matt Badolato
Fishing with topwater frogs is a longstanding technique for drawing aggressive strikes from freshwater fish, but what about 30-pound redfish?
James Cordiano and Captain Isaiah Michael discovered that Drave USA’s Jump Frog 65 resembles a swimming crab, and they’ve had great success catching bull reds ever since. “It looks just like a crab swimming sideways,” said Cordiano, owner of Drave USA lures. “The wake it makes perfectly mimics the way a crab’s claws cut through the water.”
Their technique matches the hatch. During strong tidal periods throughout the year, crabs take advantage of the moving water to head to sea to spawn. When they’re moving through east coast inlets, redfish switch to surface feeding on the drifting snacks.
“It’s so much fun,” said Cordiano. “It’s best at night when the crabs really get moving. The largest I’ve caught on a crab was a 52-incher.”
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Cordiano is no stranger to topwater froggin’. His lures have been key to catching record snakeheads in South Florida and tournament-winning bass throughout the country.
“When fishing for snakeheads, you want to really burn that frog in, reeling it fast to keep the fish’s attention, like it’s chasing a scared frog. They like to stay on a fast-moving target,” he said. “But unlike frogs in a pond, crabs aren’t looking out for threats, they’re just drifting in the current, barely swimming and just kicking their leg to stay on course. The reds are just looking up and then sucking them down off the top.”
Originally designed for catching exotic snakeheads, the Drave Jump Frog is a suggestive lure that could pass as many forage types. Redfish on Top Cordiano and Michael look for the oversized reds’ head wakes pushing along the surface as the fish hunt crabs, usually in 10 to 20 feet of water inside Atlantic inlets. Sometimes the small weedlines formed in current eddies will hold crabs clinging to the debris for protection, and reds will come up and smack them out of the grass.
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“Once we see a pod of reds on top, we make a cast up current, then keep the rod tip high and make short, snappy twitches between 11 and 12 o’clock,” Cordiano said. “There’s a ball bearing inside the Jump Frog that helps it hop out of the water like a frog, but it also makes the slightest clicking noise against the plastic which really draws the reds in. It’s crazy, it’s such a subtle noise that you can watch them just home in on.”
In addition to a little sound, they’ve found redfish prefer certain colors over others.
“Our Blood Tiger and Malayan Tiger, both shades of red, seem to work best,” said Cordiano. “The crabs themselves aren’t red, but something about those colors cues the reds that it’s good to eat.” It seems like a niche fishery, but it’s really not. Up and down the coast, crabs and shrimp make their big moves under the cover of darkness. The best runs of crabs—a few species of “swimmer crabs”—occur during the full moons in July and August, but Michael finds them slinking out through the inlets throughout the year.
As a St. Augustine charter captain specializing in throwing artificials, Michael has found reds, snook and tarpon focus on these nocturnal crab runs in nearly every east coast inlet. He travels up and down the coast, putting clients on big fish when he finds a hot bite.
To book a trip with Capt. Isaiah Michael in East Central Florida, visit reelfinesserfishing.com .
This article was featured as a “Florida Gem” in the August-September issue of Florida Sportsman magazine. Click to subscribe .
