Complete Guide On Fishing Baits & Lures

People find their pleasure in spending their free time with nature and natural beauty. Fishing is one of the ways of spending time with nature and also a way of catching fish. So you can make your leisure time gleeful as well as productive if you have a fishing hobby.

If you are a beginner at fishing or have just started thinking about fishing, you have to have a good and thorough idea about fishing. Choosing baits and lures is one of the most important parts of fishing.

Baits and lures are important to gain the attraction of the fishes. You have to choose baits according to what kind of fish is available at that specific reservoir. The success of your fishing depends on choosing baits and lures a lot.

What Are Baits and Lures?

Baits:

Small insects like- worms, grasshoppers, leafhoppers, larvae are attached to the hook of a fishing rod to attract the fishes, and the small insects are called baits.

Lures:

Lures are artificial forms of baits. They are mainly colorful and made of plastic. They are also used to attract the fishes by the colors of the lures to catch them easily.

Different Types of Baits for Different Fishes:

Using baits to catch fish is the most popular and oldest form of fishing. The most common bait for fishing is simple garden worms. Besides, many kinds of baits are used to catch different fishes because all the fishes do not attract the same kind of baits.

You need to choose baits according to the reservoir what kind of fish it has. You can find or buy the baits from nearby bait shops. You can also consult a fisherman or fishing guide who will teach you basic rules and hacks for fishing and help you choose proper baits.

Here is a short chart of popular freshwater fishes and the common baits that should be used for them.

Fish Species	Baits Suggestions
Trout	Earthworms, mealworms, grubs, waxworms, crickets, crayfish meat
Catfish	Cut bait, nightcrawlers, chicken levers, chad, boilies, corn
Bass	Nightcrawlers, hellgrammites, minnows, eel, stonechats, shad
Carp	Sweet corns, boilies, dough balls, bread
Panfish	Earthworms, mealworms, waxworms, crickets, grubs, crayfish meat
Walleye	Leaches, nightcrawlers, minnows
Whitefish	Bread, dough balls, insect, minnows
Gar   Salmon	Minnows, cut bait   Cured fish roe, cut herring

 

Different Types of Lures:

Lures are the artificial imitations of the fishing baits. The main difference between lures and baits is you can use lures more than once, but you cannot use natural baits for more than one time. Lures can easily grab the attention of the fishes by their color and movement. There are also many kinds of lures.

You have to choose lures according to their size, weight, and color. You can choose light-weighted lures when it’s calm, and you can choose heavy lures when it’s heavily windy weather. If you are fishing in murky or muddy water, a bright color lure will do the best job. But if you are at any clean water reservoir for fishing, bright color lures may not serve you properly; even it can make scared the nearby fishes.

There is information on the packet of lures that any specific lure is designed to catch what type of fishes. Here is a description of some kind of popular lures-

Plugs:

Plugs or crankbaits resemble fishes, and they are made of plastic. There is a thin sheet of metal made of plastic and two hooks underneath it. Depending on its shape and size, a plug can sink, float or hover.

While fishing with plugs, you can reel and stop the plugs to resemble the movement of real baitfish which will easily grab the fishes’ attention and they will gulp the bait.

Jigs:

This type of lure has a heavy ball at one side and a hook on the other. This heavy ball helps it emerge deep under the water. So you can use jigs to catch fish from the bottom.

You have to let sink the jig at the bottom of the water. Keep your focus on your fishing rod. The slightest strike can make a pull on it, and then you have to retrieve the jig by pulling upwards slowly. You will see a fish hanging, gulping the jig.

Spinnerbait:

A spinnerbait has a skirted hook on one side and one or more blades on the other. The blades spin like a propeller, and the spinning of the blades creates vibration and color reflection, which gain the fishes’ attention.

Spinnerbaits are not proper for catching fish in murky water. When you sank a spinnerbait, the vibration and color reflection should attract many fishes, and you can easily catch them.

Spoons:

These are curved and metal lures. Usually, spoon lures are concave in shape, and the shape makes them shine underwater and helps create wobbling. This wobbling of a lure resembles an injured fish that cannot go unseen by the fishes.

You have to cast a spoon lure at least 10-20 feet under the water. The wobbling will gain the attention of the fishes, and soon, you will have a pull on your fishing rod. But remember, too much fast or too much slow movement of a lure will not create wobbling properly.

Bait Vs. Lures:

Best Sides of Baits:

• The baits are really effective at fooling the fish and catch them.
• They are cheap to buy or collect.
• Baits are so available.
• You can dispose of the leftover baits in their natural environment easily.

Negative Sides of Baits:

• You have to refrigerate or circulate water most types of baits.
• Maximum baits smell bad.
• You need to collect the baits from very nasty places.
• Baits can attract both big and small fishes for being non-discriminatory.
• Using baits spare less chance of survival of a fish as it can be deeply hooked.

Best Sides of Lures:

• The colorful and various shapes of lures are really fun to use.
• You can use a lure more than once.
• Using lures makes it easier to catch fish and release them from the hook safely.
• Lures can attract big fish and decrease the chance of catching unwanted bycatch.
• You can cover a lot of water with a piece of a lure.

Negative Sides of Lures:

• Maximum good and effective lures are expensive to buy.
• You cannot collect lures from the natural environment.
• Many kinds of fish are not so much responsive to lures.
• Lure fishing demands better fishing skills than bait fishing.
• Lures can get strangled by underwater trees or stones.

So both baits and lures have positive and negative sides. One is not superior to the other. You have to choose between them according to your personal interest. But one thing is advisable: if you are a beginner at fishing, choosing baits will bring you better and successful results as using lures requires more fishing proficiency.

If you are really into fishing, having good knowledge of baits and lures is essential. You cannot be a good angler without having the knowledge. You also have to take consultations from someone with good fishing expertise. If you have enough patience and knowledge about fishing, you can have the best result and make your free time worthy. So do not wait for any more, fishing lovers! Choose the best baits or lures according to your skills and have happy fishing!