Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain asian market bullfrogs

I go to an asian market once in a while in atlanta. they have huge live bullfrogs for sale..$5.99 a pound..do yall think those would be good to stock in a pond? they are too big for my smaller bass to eat for sure. i have a few bullfrogs already. i had a lot of them when my pond first filled, after the bass were added the frogs declined rapidly. i did catch one on a zoom lizard last year. it was funny as heck. i kept flipping the lizard onto him, finally he grabbed him, hilarious...

Just make sure the frogs are native bull frogs... I don't think adding them to your pond would help with the numbers. They are probably cultured frogs and therefore have zero predator avoidance skills, which equals short life span in the wild. Plus $5.99 a pound is pricey in my book!

Zetts sells bull frog tadpoles for $25/100, Yearlings for $1.00 each. I am planning to buy some just because. Anyone have any experiance with this frog, or the source?

Stocking adult frogs is not a good idea. Adult frogs have a homeing instinct and will soon leave the pond insearch of where they were hatched. Stocking frogs is best if the tadpoles are used. That way the frogs home to the place where the tadpoles developed legs.
TMK come see me in spring, summer and I will give you hundreds of bullfrog tadpoles. How many hundreds do you want? Arrive during the egg laying and you also get lots of eggs.

Or come see me in the FALL when I seine my production ponds. I have hundreds of tadpoles I don't know what to do with. They're actually a nuisance.

Bill how do you capture yours?

Not to get too far off track, but tadpoles are a food source for any fish that can get their mouth around them right? I would assume so.

Nevermind I found other active thread that answers this

Over the years, I've picked up a lot of stock from Zetts. They are about 40 miles away, and are by far the largest supplier anywhere around here. Andrew Zetts and the staff are very sincere, helpful, and at least from all my dealings -- very good to deal with. I've been very satisfied with their quality.

But, nothing is perfect. Zetts has a lot of ponds, and frogs do travel a lot around here, especially on rainy spring nights. However, the worst thing that would probably happen would be that you might have some tadpoles from leopard frogs, green frogs, or toads mixed in. Certainly, yearlings would be pretty safe.

I've caught bullfrogs at night with a long pole and a piece of liver on a hook. I'd listen to where the frog was, then sneak over to it. I'd bounce the liver on the surface of the water. picking it up a couple inches and dropping it back down. The bullfrog would swim over and grab it and the hook.

Cecil, you up for some night fishing?

We shoot them with .22's or pellet guns at night using spot lights. Frog legs are tasty! My cousin likes to go old school and whack 'em with a gig.

For some reason, Indiana doesn't let you shoot 'em. So' it's either gig 'em or fish for them.

Something my grandfather tought me when I was a kid. I used to catch them with a long cane pole with a small treble hook with a small bright red piece of cloth on it. Just wave the hook over the lily pads and the frogs jump up for it.; sometimes 2 feet high or more. Its a real hoot. I agree, frog legs are very tasty.

Bill Cody, If you invitation is serious I'm only a couple of hours from you according to Mapquest.

You can do anything you want at my ponds Scot. If big brother starts watching my ponds it's time to put more privacy fence up.

Heck, since the bullfrogs make so much noise, I might ask to tranfer a few. They'll have a heck of a time making it back home!

Boise Blanc Island in MI. Going back 30 or so years. The .22 was the preferred method for collecting them Frog legs. Big Bull Frogs. We used to spend some time up there. And they do taste somewhat like Chicken 'cept the fat. Toss in some Bacon Grease, and other fixins... Ya don't even think of them hopping around. Yuuuummmm!

Little lagoon area, I almost caught a rather large Muskie foraging. I had it in my hands, but, it slipped out. What would you expect for a 12yo kid!

My mom doesn't like the sound although I love it. I may take you up on it. I hear a miner's light and extended net makes it easy to collect them.

Boy, I have been supplying Chinese customers Bullfrogs for over 35 years. One thing about American Bullfrogs, they are American. But they are incredibly adaptable and will completely dominate the right ecosystem. One pond that I manage had no females, no polliwogs, nothing. Just a bunch of gay frogs. At first I tried putting babies in, but the larger fish and predators just inhaled them. The best solution was adding mature adult females. Males croak to attract females, if the conditions are right, females just lay thier egg masses right there, the males are the wanderers.

Within one season I had close to 15 baby frogs per square yard, up from zero. Now I have a thriving population again. And the Chinese customers want live frogs. The frogs bite on movement. Not color, not red and not liver. I can catch dozens a day on any color grub or soft plastic. But the best way, I learned from a Chinese American is to snag them at night. Get a cane pole or a long steelhead fishing pole. Use a dark braided line, no stretch and a smallish treble hook, so you don't kill them by puncturing vital organs. You beam in on thier dialated pupils and they freeze. I use 1 or 2 mil candlepower lights. If you can you drop the hook under there front arm pit, and then yank them out. If not you chin hook them. And yes, they pay premium dollar for them live.

They eat the entire frog, just not the legs, and it is medicinal and good luck in thier culture. I'd say go out locally and get some more big females for your pond before the Spring. They are bigger, fatter and have no puffy throat and much smaller eardrums than a male. The population will increase if conditions are right within two seasons. Just excellent forage for fish, and a natural foodsource in the foodchain. I stock all my ponds with them.