Bait and lure selection is essential to an angler’s fishing success, from worms and cut bait to fishing lures; there are options suitable for virtually every fishing scenario available today.

Fishing lures like spinners, jigs, spoons and flies mimic smaller bait fish such as minnows or insects to attract fish through movements, vibrations and colors.

Soft Bait

Most fishermen use soft baits to simulate aquatic invertebrates that provide natural sustenance for carnivorous fish, including worms, beetles, bugs, eggs, crayfish and crabs. Because of their versatility, affordability and convenience they have become standard items of fishing tackle commonly employed with jigheads or as components in more elaborate rig designs like Texas or Carolina rigs.

When choosing soft plastic baits, look for ones that can be impregnated with fish-attracting scent or flavour, along with features like glitter, UV reactive qualities and shapes that resemble real baitfish bodies. Heavy monofilament fishing line may also serve as an effective baitstop to stop it slipping down the hook shank and potentially falling off, thus saving time spent setting and retrieving hooks.

Lures

Lures are anything that resembles animal bait that can be attached to a hook, such as flies, hard plastic or wooden lures (called plugs), facsimiles of fishes molded onto plastic lures ( molded facsimiles of fishes ), spoons and other metal lures.

Some lures can be made to move through the water by twitching, pulling or trolling behind a boat – an effective method.

Some fishing lures, like spinnerbaits and swim jigs, feature propeller-like blades to churn the water to lure fish, while others, like open safety-pin-like wire swim jigs use an open safety pin with skirt and weighted hook to lure in fish. Lure use helps reduce live bait consumption while helping preserve local species populations; however many nonbiodegradable lures have adverse environmental effects if discarded improperly.

Bobbers

Bobbers (also referred to as floats or corks) serve three key purposes in fishing: They keep bait at an appropriate depth, they notify anglers when there has been a bite or strike and they attract attention to your line. There are various styles and sizes of bobbers available from round to pencil-like shapes.

Many anglers enjoy using a basic setup with just a bobber, hook and bait to catch panfish – an effective approach which also introduces kids to fishing! This setup works especially well when used for panfish.

When fishing with a bobber, use the smallest one possible in order to prevent scaring away fish. Furthermore, thinner bobbers register light strikes more readily due to less resistance on your hook. Furthermore, there are lighted bobbers available that make night fishing easier as these light up in darkness more effectively than traditional models.

Snaps

Snaps are an ideal solution when fishing artificial lures designed to stop periodically during retrieve. When attached with a snap, these lures move more naturally during these pauses and can move and wiggle more naturally as well.

Some anglers also utilize lure snaps for quick changes to their crankbaits. Instead of having to tie new knots each time they want to alter its color or cadence, lure snaps make these adjustments in record time.

Snaps offer another advantage to bait fishing: protecting it from the sharp teeth and scales of predatory fish. Though obtrusive at first glance, snaps can provide extra protection to a bait with just one more layer of protection than normal leaders would provide.

Weights

Weights are necessary when fishing from a boat. Most anglers keep an assortment of sizes and shapes in their tackle box to meet whatever may arise during a given fishing trip, including rubber-core and clasp-on sinkers with dog-ears to quickly add weight when necessary to get bait or lures down deep enough.

Other weights available to anglers are sliding sinkers and split shot, both of which can be pinched to a hook shank for convenient angling in heavy vegetation or strong current. Heavy weights may also help when fishing in heavy matt vegetation or strong current, as these conditions may hinder your bait’s natural presentation and needlessly throw you off course. In these instances, using heavier weights could provide the solution.