Rob Naysmith shares more of his angling expertise in part four of Sport Fishing – An Addiction. In this edition Rob explains the functions, variety and different techniques regarding artificial tackle and lures.
Lures
“A fishing lure is an object attached to the end of a fishing line which is designed to resemble and move like the prey of a fish. The purpose of the lure is to use movement, vibration, and colour to catch the fish’s attention so it bites the hook. Lures are equipped with one or more single, double, or treble Fish hooks that are used to hook fish when they attack the lure”.
I’ve been a dedicated fan of lure fishing my entire life and it’s without doubt because of the thrill I get when I manage to outsmart a fish into eating something artificial in its own environment. My early fishing days of lure fishing was done mostly with a spoon/spinner or trolling with a Japanese chrome head feather jig, as that was all there was available at the time. Today anglers have so many different styles, shapes, colours and sizes to choose from – many designed for a specific purpose or fish species. To most anglers starting out, even a small selection can be a mind-bending experience let alone the high costs involved. Hopefully this article will make your task a little easier.
Before delving into this quagmire it would be amiss of me not to offer some sound advice, much of which I have had to learn the hard way. Firstly, it is important to understand what the fish will see and think. A predatory fish must determine the direction in which its prey is moving and to do this they look for the head and more specifically the eye. This is a reason why some of the slow moving reef species have a big black spot near their tails, and why I tend to use lures with big, pronounced and life-like eyes. No matter how good a lure may be, a huge part of its success will be determined by the way you present it. My advice is to keep the tackle ahead of the lure as inconspicuous as possible, as bulky swivels and other massive artillery not only inhibits or changes the action of the lure but also draws focus from it.
Selection:
When selecting a lure one needs to understand what the different lures do or represent. Lure types perform differently and can be divided into two basic types – imitators and aggravators. An imitator will attract a strike because it closely resembles a food source while an aggravator induces a strike because it excites and brings out aggression in a fish. Imitators traditionally swim in the water while aggravators splash and dance on the surface where the fish doesn’t get a good look at what it is…
