Testing out a new lure on Quarry Lake

I picked up a new lure at the suggestion of some of the guys in the TCBC club. The new lure is the "Horny Toad" made by Zoom. This is a nice bait to add to your tackle from my weeks worth of testing at Quarry Lake & Lake Buchanan.

Summary of fishing:

I fished in Quarry Lake which is a private lake in Austin, in the area of 183 and Braker. It's an old rock quarry with crystal clear water and a ton of bass. I figured if I could catch bass out of it on this lure then I could catch bass out of any lake around there. I caught about 10 bass the first day fishing with the toad rigged weightless Texas style. I think it floats way to much to be fished this way after fishing with it on the second day with it slightly weighted. I caught about 20 bass the second day in half the fishing time it took to catch bass on the first day. Largest fish caught in testing was 3 1/2 pounds, and I did miss a fish on the hook set because it caught me off guard and nearly yanked the rod out of my hands. I would say this was a monster bass, but never saw the fish, only felt the weight of it just before the hook came flying out of the water. I also put some time on the water at Lake Buchanan with this lure and caught a number of bass as well.

Details:

This bait is a great Frog or Crawfish imitation bait depending on how you work it. It can be reeled fast on the surface with the legs kicking for a buzz bait type presentation that will draw massive surface strikes. It can be swam below the surface like a swimming crawfish or worked slowly on the bottom. I've caught fish with it all three ways. I had the most success swimming it under the surface. Fishing with it weightless will draw strikes, but adding some weight to the lure will allow you to feel the bite better, while increasing your chances of a solid hook set. The lure has a very slow fall in the water column like a jig, so bass will hit it on the fall. While you're waiting for it to reach the targeted zone in the water column, take up all slack in the line while letting it fall or you won't feel the strike.

I've read reports that say it tears up easy, or is only good for one fish, but I'm able to catch several fish on one toad before it needs to be replaced.

Draw backs to using this lure?:

There are only five in a bag, so you could run out in a tournament if you don't stock up. A second draw back, people are catching on and buying them up. I've been to two Academy's and a Wal-Mart in the area and they were out of watermelon seed colored toads, but had other colors available. Lastly and the most important note, the lure is bulky and requires a medium heavy to heavy action rod and a hard hook set to prevent loosing fish. Basically you can't set the hook hard enough when fishing with this bait, because you gotta drive the hook through the bait and into the mouth of the fish before pulling the bait out of the mouth of the fish.