Fishing Lures

In terms of recreational fishing, a lure is an object attached to the end of the fishing line and designed to resemble and move like an item of fish prey. The purpose of the lure is to use movement, vibrations, and color to catch the fish's attention to make them bite the hook. Lures are equipped with one or more single, double, or treble hooks that are used to hook fish when they attack the lure.Lures are usually used with a fishing rod and fishing reel outfit. When a lure is used for casting, it is continually cast out and retrieved, the retrieve making the lure swim. A skilled angler can explore many possible hiding places for fish through lure casting.

History

The fishing lure has been around since the caveman. They were first made out of bone and bronze. The Chinese and Egyptian used fishing rods, hooks, and lines as early as 2,000B.C. The first hooks were made out bronze which was strong but still very thin and less visible to the fish. The Chinese were the first to make fishing line, spun from fine silk. The modern fishing lure was made commercially in the United States in the early 1900's by the firm of Heddon and Pflueger in Michigan. Before this time most fishing lures were made by individual craftsman. Commercial-made lures were based on the same ideas that the individual craftsmen were making but on a larger scale.

Methods

The fishing lure is tied with a knot onto the fishing line which is connected to the reel. The reel is attached to a rod. The motion is of the lure is made by winding line back on to the reel, by sweeping the fishing rod, jigging movements with the fishing rod, or by being pulled behind a moving boat ("trolling"). An exception are artificial flies, commonly called flies by fly fishers, which either float on the water surface, slowly sink or float underwater, and represent some form of fish prey.There are many types of fishing lures. They are all moved to different ways to resemble prey for the fish. The different lures are made to look like dying fish and fast moving fish. They include the following types:

• 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 operator has to move the rod to get the jig to move.
• Surface lures are also known as top water lures, they float and resemble prey that is on top of the water.
• Spoon lures are made to resemble the inside of a diner spoon. They are thin and flashy to attract fish.
• Plugs (fishing) are also known as crankbaits, and are lures that are run through the water at faster speeds and dart back and forth resembling prey items.
• artificial flies are designed to resemble all manner of fish prey and are used with a fly rod and reel in fly fishing.
• Bass worms are made out of plastic or rubber and are made to resemble worms and lizards in the water.
• Spinnerbait are pieces of wire bent at a 90 degree angle with a hook on one end and a flashy spinner mechanism on the other end.

Types

These fishing lures can be made out of wood, plastic, rubber, metal and cork. They can have many moving parts and also no moving parts. They can be retrieved fast or slow. Some of the lures can be used by themselves or with another lure.One advantage of use of artificial lures is a reduction in use of bait. This contributes to resolving one of the marine environments more pressing problems, that being the undermining of marine food webs by overharvesting "bait" species which tend to occur lower in the food chain. Another advantage of lures is that their use promotes improved survival of fish during catch and release fishing. This is because lures reduce the incidence of deep hooking which has been correlated to fish mortality in many studies.

Information Courtesy of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia