Fishing tackle typically refers to poles, lines, hooks and floats used for fishing; but bait also plays an integral part of fishing: from live crayfish to processed groundbait.

Artificial baits mimic the food sources fish naturally consume in nature, such as worms, night crawlers, grubs, leaches and frogs. You can purchase these synthetic lures online or at tackle shops.

Lures

Lures are objects designed to mimic the food of specific fish species and used for various fishing applications. Lures may be made out of various materials like metal, wood and soft plastics; their size and action mimic those of baitfish such as grubs, frogs or snakes.

Spoon lures are among the most widely used lures, consisting of round pieces of flat metal resembling kitchen spoon bowls that can be painted to add color and flash. Rigged with single or three-prong hooks, spoon lures can be an effective means of targeting fast predatory fish such as mackerel and barracuda.

Crankbaits are another effective lure, consisting of a body designed to sink and wobble when cast. These lures can be fished efficiently in deep waters by making a short lift followed by a rapid drop, using either a snap swivel or ball bearing swivel as its attachment point.

Live Bait

Most anglers envision live bait as being limited to worms on hooks; however, live bait fishing is an integral component of fishing and can be done in various ways. Mullet and bunker can quickly be caught using sabiki rigs while drifting or cast nets; alternatively other species of baitfish such as blue runners (koheru/kahawai) or whiting can also be targeted using these methods. Buckets with battery-operated aerators or mesh bags provide lightweight live bait options – making these methods portable enough to carry easily when fishing outdoors.

Bait requires special storage considerations such as refrigeration and a live well that circulates water to keep its freshness, plus special handling when being captured – such as time and effort required to capture it – which in turn results in overharvesting fish prey. A light action, soft tip rod combined with an 8-10lb line capacity spinning or baitcaster reel is most ideal.

Artificial Bait

Bait can come from both natural and artificial sources, and be used both fresh and saltwater environments. Natural bait sources include crayfish, clams, mussels, chicken livers, dough balls, cut fish and bait shrimp while artificial baits (or lures) include flies, hard plastic lures (or plugs), soft plastic imitations of fish crabs worms squid other aquatic lifeforms metal spoons or spinnerbait.

Advantages of artificial bait include less mess, no refrigeration or live well requirements and greater durability. Furthermore, its use reduces impacts on local habitats caused by overharvesting of live bait. When making this decision there are various factors to keep in mind such as target species, fishing conditions and experience level – experimenting with both can broaden an angler’s repertoire for creating an enjoyable fishing experience and increase versatility; furthermore it must be kept in mind that using artificial bait often requires more skillful presentation than when using live bait.

Rigging

Rigging is an integral component of fishing that entails attaching bait, line and hooks together to form custom-tailored rigs for specific species of fish. Rigs often use movements, vibrations, colors and noise attractors as ways of attracting more fish into their net.

Many anglers use plastic baits to mimic natural food that fish consume; these soft plastic lures, known as soft plastics, include worms, crayfish and dough-like lures.

A bobber is an oblong or cylindrical piece of plastic or foam attached to line that suspends bait at an ideal depth and acts as an indicator when fish strikes, alerting an angler when their target fish has taken an interest in what’s on offer.

Snap swivels feature one end where you tie in your line, and built-in clasps to connect it to hooks or lures. More complex rigs may consist of multiple snap swivels connected together but the simpler their structure, the better it works.