Shopping for lures can be a bit overwhelming. There are a lot of companies that make a lot of lures in a lot of sizes, shapes and colors. But that's part of the fun, and most lures are priced about the same.
For more information on what lures to use for your target fish, check the Species Explorer section of this Web site, or join one of our chat rooms and cast out a question.
Lure Tips
As you understand more about the environment fish live in and how they behave, you will learn which bait or lure is best for specific fish during different seasons of the year.
Jigs
JigJig
Jigs have weighted metal heads and a tail made of animal hair, soft plastic, feathers or rubber. Anglers sometimes add a minnow or piece of pork rind to the jig's hook. Jigs can be used to catch nearly every kind of freshwater and many saltwater fish.
Poppers and Flies
Fly LureFly Lure
Poppers and flies are small lures used with spincasting and fly-fishing tackle. These baits are very good for pan fish and other fish that feed on the surface such as trout and bass.
Poppers get their action from a cupped face carved or molded into the front of the lure body.
Fly action is totally controlled by the angler.
Spoons
SpoonsSpoons
Spoons are metal lures designed to look like a swimming bait fish or minnow. Many spoons are made to be cast while others are meant to be trolled behind a moving boat.
Depending on where and how you're fishing, you can buy weedless, structure or trolling spoons. Ask your tackle shop which ones you need.
Plugs
PlugPlug
Plugs have a plastic or wood body and are designed to be used on top of the water or at depths below the surface. Top-water or floating plugs are designed to float on the surface. Diving plugs have plastic or metal lips so they will dive to a certain depth. These diving plugs are often called crankbaits because they are often used with baitcasting reels that operate like a crank.
Spinners
SpinnerSpinner
Spinners have one or more blades that spin, or revolve, around a straight wire shaft. Some spinners have tails made of soft plastic or animal hair.
Plastic Baits
Soft-plastic worms, minnows and crayfish are available in many sizes and colors. You can use them with or without a weight. Sometimes, plastic baits are used with a jig head, spinner or spinner bait. Some plastic bait have scents attractive to fish built into them.
Spinnerbaits
Spinner BaitSpinner Bait
Spinnerbaits are lures with one or more blades that spin around a safety pin-type shaft. Most spinnerbaits have skirts made from animal hair, vinyl, rubber or other materials.
Surface Lures
They're made to imitate things like mice, lizards, frogs, larger crawling insects and smaller injured fish. Surface lures usually have a solid body made out of wood or plastic, carry one or two treble hooks and have an eyelet at the front to attach your fishing line.
Waddlers get their action from a scooped metal dish attached to the front of the lure body.
Fizzers get their action from the angler and from one or more blades attached to the lure body.
Fizzers get their name from the fizzing noise they create that imitates the buzzing wings of a drowning insect or a freaked-out rodent.
Catching a fish with a surface lure can be a real rush. Sizeable fish can create quite an explosion when they hit the bait.
Blade Baits
Blade bait is a weighted, fish-shaped blade made with a swinging hook and designed for fishing in deep water.
Buzz Baits
These are safety-pin lures for surface fishing that have a propeller blade on one piece of wire and a weighted body, skirt and hook on the other.
Crank Bait
A fish-like hard lure or plug designed to swim under the surface often made of plastic or wood. Some are combined with replaceable soft plastic tails.
Tube Bait
Made of soft plastic, these tubular lures are fished with special weighted hooks inserted into the hollow body.
Vibrating Bait
Oh, the wonderful world of technology. A vibrating lure contains a tiny motor that sends out a sound-producing vibration to attract fish. The lure body simulates a living creature. A programmed microprocessor is used to randomly operate the motor.
