First Lee, the foam ends about 1/4 inch before the hook tip and since it's soft foam compresses very easily, much easier than a mono hook guard. I don't think the foam will cause a hooking problem. The ice chenille underneath really takes up no volume so the foam and chenille do not really block the gape of the hook. As tied, there's lots of space between the shank and hook tip to get a hookup. If the foam was hard foam I think it would be a real problem though.
Darian, the bend in the hook was really arbitrary and I just tried to match the KD Mouse. I think the fly could be tied with a lot less bend and still work. The only time I can get the fly to land improperly is when I throw it into my Koi pond by hand. When actually cast at the end of a fly rod I've yet to have it land wrong. The hook by the way is a EC 253. The amount of bend is obviously something to play with.
NEW: Darian, I tied another, this time bending the hook only half way, leaving half of the gape exposed. It made no difference, the fly turned over just as well and again without fail.
Both Lee and Darian. I have NEVER been impressed with the hooking power of bend backs but it seems the logical thing to do to make this fly work. I agree with both of you, the less bend back necessary, the better.
Hairstacker. since you are THE PRO tier in this group, I know you can make it better! There are flies and then there is art. Mike's flies are truly art!
Sturmer, my patron, my mentor! If this fly can be improved to be half as effective as your bluegill, it will revolutionize top water bass fishing.
Sculpin, don't get too excited. This is NOT a wake fly for steelhead!
I played a little with the fly last night. I tied thread about 2/3 down the buck tail on both sides, segmenting the "legs" and then hit the joint with a drop of crazy glue. The buck tail really took on the look of a pair of frog's legs. In addition, once saturated fully, the rear of the fly dropped down in the water until it hung on the foam at about 45 degrees in the water. It really looked like a resting frog. once stripped, it came right up to the surface as a frog does when swimming.
Obviously what the fly needs next is some field testing. As they say, it's a tough job but someone has to do it!
open sourcing... I thought it would be fun to have a group develop a fly or flies. The guy proposing the original design gets to name it but individual tiers would get credit on the tying page for the mods and improvements. I could put a section on my website for open source flies with all the details. Building web pages is kind of a hobby for me so unless overwhelmed, no big deal.
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. I will definitely tie some up and look forward to trying some. I am definitely getting itchy to get out there. 
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