Fishing Lure Types

Fishing Lure Type Names

When I look at all the fishing lures at the store I am a bit overwhelmed. They start at about a $1.00 and go up. Logic suggests that the ones that cost more must cost more because they work better. You can easily spend $50.00 on lures and come out with just a handful. One would think that now, with these lures, I should be able to go out and come home with a boat load of fish. I would starve to death if I had to live on what I catch. Me, I do it for the fun and frustration.

When you buy lures you need to buy lures for the type of fish you want to catch. (Says Me…8-)… who tries to fish) If you know how the fish feeds you can get a lure that the fish should like.

One type of Lure is called a jerkbait lure. What it is supposed to do is give an erratic, struggling look of a bait fish. I thought you were supposed to retrieve them by giving a short quick jerk, reel it in and do it again. What needs to be done to give the bait lure an injured fish look is to give a nice sweeping low pull on the pole, pause a ½ second so the bait can fall or float up and then you reel in the line a little and then repeat the pull and reel action.  Many jerkbait lures are long and thin and they are designed to dive or move to the side when you do the long sweeping pull. These lures often have treble hooks underneath and they are light so they stay up near the surface of the water. You want to fish these near but not in the water plants. They can grab water plants nicely (and dock lines, ropes, straps and clothes). 

Crankbait lures are subsurface plugs. Many have rattles inside them and many have a lip on the front of them. These are cast out and reeled in in a continuous motion. The lip and the front shape will make the lure dive and wiggle side to side when it is pulled through the water. You can get shallow or deep diving plugs, and you can also add weights to them so they will go deeper. They have treble hooks on the bottom and the lures like dock lines also. 8-) These are lures that are good for trolling. (I have never caught a troll with one of these but the way they can grab stuff off the bottom if they get down there tell me they could do a number on a troll if they got near one.)

The lures come in all sorts of colors and you should pick a color that is similar to the bait fish the big fish eat. That is supposed to help. I pick colors I like and think the fish should. The fish do not always like the colors I pick so I usually try two or three colors when I go out. Sometimes I get it right. 8-)

I like spoon lures. They are almost impossible to fish the wrong way. As someone put it: Stop and go or fast and slow they will work. I like the spoons that have a weed-less hook. You lose fewer of them. The size and shape of the spoon makes them sink or wobble in different ways. These are usually easy to cast and you can feel them wiggle when you reel them in (I like that). They are fun to reel in even if you do not catch anything. 8-)

There are all sorts of plastic thingy lures you can buy. They come in big, small, bug like, worm like, frog like, fish like, lizard like and thing like shapes. Many have no hooks with or in them so you use a hook of your choice. The baits come in all the colors you can think of and the hooks also come in different colors. The plastics can have different flavors and smells put in them when they are molded to make the more appealing to the fish (and the buyer). When you put these plastic things on a hook you can make them weed less, and that is good, the way I fish. 

You can get kits that let you mold and make your own plastic lures. You melt the plastic in a microwave and pour it in to the shapes you like to use. You can recycle old plastic lures and flavor them the way you want. You need to do this when your wife is not at home. The smell and the mess can be overwhelming and you can burn yourself big time on the melted plastic if you do not take care. If you have ever melted the end of a rope and got the hot end on your skin it is like that. The hot plastic sticks to you and will not wipe off. If you spill it (when you burn yourself) you are in for a tough clean up. You wanted to get your wife a new microwave anyway…right? I just have one of my single friends who is in to making lures do it for me. Tim will trade a six pack of beer for plastic thingies if I need them. It also keeps the smell and mess at his place. I can be lured to his place with a six pack and old lures to recycle on a rainy day. We can come up with some real unique lures after a few beers. 8-) Some of these lures will even catch fish.

I think I could buy a lot more fish at the store for what I spend trying to catch fish and what I spend on lures. But what is the fun in that. 8-)