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Ancient caves have
been found to hold fish hooks carved
out of bone and also molded out of
bronze. The ancient Greeks and
Romans both advocated fishing for
sport as well as for food. Bronze
barbed hooks were used by the
Egyptians to catch fish. The Chinese
spun very fine fishing line from
silk and then used rice for bait. I
must say, I’ve never thought of
filling my bait bag with rice in
order to catch a fish.
Claudius Aelianus, Roman who lived
during the third century A.D., wrote
about fly-fishing for trout. He made
lures of feathers, lead, and bronze.
He also used horsehair and twisted
flax to make his fishing line.
There’s not much documentation of
advances in fishing tackle,
especially lures, throughout the
Renaissance periods, but in 1653
Izaak Walton wrote what is probably
the most famous ever penned on
fishing. His The Complete Angler
described all of the sport
fisherman’s necessities. He wrote
about fishing for trout in streams
in the English countryside, and his
poetic style is wonderful.
By the 1830’s and 1840’s in both
England and America, the making of
fishing tackle began to change.
Fishing lures were no longer made by
individual craftsmen, rather by
commercial manufactures. From the
early 1900’s, the firm Heddon,
Pflueger, and Rapala led production
of commercially made fishing lures.
Names you’ve no doubt heard of even
today.
What is a Fishing Lure?
In terms of fishing, a lure is an
object, often designed to resemble a
fish’s prey, equipped with one or
many hooks used to catch a fish. The
lure is attached to the end of the
fishing line and is then thrown out
into the water and pulled back to
attract fish.
When the use of live bait is
prohibited or not preferred, angler
use artificial fishing lures with
hooks attached. These fishing lures
imitate the game fishes’ food in
movement, color, or both. Anglers
can make all fishing lures wiggle
and/or dart by moving the rod tip
from side to side and varying the
speed of their retrieve.
There are many types of fishing
lures but we’ll discuss five here.
The jig, spinner, spoon, plugs
(wobblers), and the Texas rig (used
to fish a plastic worm).
 Jig
– The makeup of a jig usually
consists of a lead sinker with a
hook molded into it. There is then
some sort of body attached to the
shank of the hook. It could be a
twister tail, skirt, plastic
crawfish, or any number of other
bodies. The jig is very versatile
and cam be used in salt water as
well as fresh water. Most species of
fish can be caught using a jig.
Color variations between the head
and body are almost endless.
 Spinner
– A spinner is a lure designed to
make noise and flash underwater in
order to catch a fishes’ attention,
rather that mimicking food. A
spinner consists of a metal pin with
a cup shaped blade around it which
will vibrate when water is flowing
by due to the fishing line being
reeled in, almost like a
mini-turbine. Below the blade, metal
weights are placed in order to make
the lure sink and to keep the blade
from getting stuck in the treble
hook which is placed at the end of
the pin. The treble hook is often
camouflaged in a soft material like
feathers. Have you ever heard of a
Rooster Tail?
 Spoon
– A spoon is a concave metal
piece that resembles a spoon (that
you eat with) minus the handle. The
spoon lure is mainly used to attract
fish by reflecting light and moving
randomly. Have you ever heard of a
daredevil? This is an example of a
spoon. Julio T. Buel invented the
spoon lure in 1848. The design of
the spoon is simple; an oblong
concave metal piece with a shiny
finish, and a single or treble hook
attached to the end.
While the basic principle of design
has stayed the same over the years,
application and use have changed a
bit. Fishermen have found that by
using different color variations,
they can catch more fish. Although
that of course has never been
proven. Such details don’t seem to
bother us angler though.
 Plugs
– Plugs are designed to resemble
a fish or other natural food of
predatory fish. Plugs are also
called wobblers. As that name
signifies, the lure makes wobbling
movements that are caused by the
mouth dish or bill on the plug,
which causes it to wobble as it
moves through the water. In the late
19th century a beekeeper, named
James Heddon, was whittling a piece
of wood while relaxing along a pond.
When he rose to leave, he tossed the
carved scrap of wood into the water,
and a large bass struck at it.
Intrigued by this, Heddon began
experimenting and perfected a design
he dubbed the “Lucky 13” – a fishing
lure that is still sold today.
Texas rig – A Texas rig is
actually a technique used fir
fishing soft plastic lures. It
involves a bullet weight threaded
onto the line followed by an
optional glass bead, and then the
line is tied to a hook. The hook is
then inserted into the head region
of a plastic worm. The worm is then
moved up the hook towards the shank
and then rotated so the worm is
‘locked’ on the shank. The point of
the hook is then placed back into
the body of the worm to make the rig
weed less. Being all but weed less,
this rig is then fished in very
heavy cover. It is a very popular
technique for Largemouth Bass.
There are entirely too many fishing
lures to list here, and with color
and size combinations, the list
could be all but endless. We’ve
attempted to provide you with the
basics of where the fishing lure
came from and what a fishing lure
is. If you would like too find out
how JRWfishing.com can help you with
your fishing lure needs simply click
on fishing lure.
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