Quick Fishing Lure Descriptions

There are many types of fishing lures, and the best ones are often designed specifically for a particular species of fish to catch.

Most fishing lures are manufactured to resemble the prey of the fish in some form, usually created to look like dying, injured, or even fast moving fish. However sometimes they are designed to appeal to the fish’s sense of territory, curiosity or anger.

Different fish will have different motives for checking out the lure you’re tempting them with, so it’s important to know what you will need if you want to have a successful day out.

Common Fishing Lures

Here are some of the more common types of fishing lures you will come across, as well as a quick description of what they do and how you can use them:

• A jig is a weighted hook with a lead head opposite the sharp tip. They are often covered with a minnow of crawfish or even a plastic worm to get the fish's attention. The fisher will move the rod to make the jig move.

• Surface lures are also known as top water lures. They float and resemble prey that is on top of the water. They can make a popping sound from a concave-cut head, a burbling sound from "side fins" or scoops or a buzzing commotion from one or several propellers. A few have only whatever motion the fisherman applies through the rod itself, though if skilfully used, they can be very effective.

• Spoon lures are made to resemble the inside of a table spoon. They flash in the light while wobbling or darting due to their shape, and attract nearby fish.

• Plugs, or crankbaits as they are sometimes known, have a fishlike body shape and are run through the water where they can make a variety of different movements caused by instability due to the scoop under the head.

• Artificial flies are designed to resemble all manner of fish prey and are used with a fly rod and reel in fly fishing.

• Soft plastic baits are made of plastic or rubber, and are designed to resemble worms, lizards, frogs, leeches and other creatures that a fish might hunt as food.

• Spinner bait are pieces of wire bent at about a 60 degree angle with a hook on the lower end and a flashy spinner mechanism on the upper end.

• Swim bait is a minnow-like soft plastic bait that is reeled like a plug. Some of these have a swimming tail to resemble a fish’s movements.

• A daisy chain is effectively a ‘chain’ of plastic lures which do not have hooks – their main purpose is to attract a school of fish closer to the lures that do have hooks. In some countries like Australia and New Zealand, daisy chains can sometimes refer to a rig that’s used to catch baitfish in a similar arrangement to a ‘flasher rig’ or a ‘sabiki rig’; a series of hooks with a small piece of colourful material attached to each hook.

What Can You Make Lures Out Of?

Fishing lures can be made with a variety of different materials, like plastic, rubber, wood, metal, and cork, and also things like feathers, animal hair, string, tinsel, or other similar items can be used.

There are advantages to using artificial lures to catch fish, including a reduction in the use of bait. On a larger scale, this will help to resolve one of the marine environment’s most pressing issues, which is the overharvesting of smaller ‘bait’ species at the lower end of the food chain.

Another advantage of the use of fishing lures is it improves the survival of fish during ‘catch and release’ fishing. Fishing lures tend to reduce the occurrence of deep hooking, which can quite often lead to the death of the fish through improper handling and during removal of the hook.