If you’re new to fishing, we will help you out when you come fishing with us. However, you may be interested in learning some things before you come out on the water with us. In this article, we’ll be tackling the subject of fishing lures. What kinds work best with what fish, the advantages and disadvantages. This two part blog series should help everyone – novices and experts alike might be interested in taking a look. We hope you enjoy learning more about fishing lures and we also hope to see you out on the Kona water with us.
What are Fishing Lures?
As the name might indicate, fishing lures are an artificial bait meant to lure the fish over to a fishing line or hook. Lures use movement, vibration, flash and color to bait fish.
Advantages of Fishing Lures
- Much less messier than live bait
- Lures don’t gut hook very often.
- You can target the species you are after more efficiently with lures since certain lures work better with certain species (more on that below).
- Lures are easy to replace.
Disadvantages of Fishing Lures
- Lures are fairly expensive, especially when compared to bait.
- Sometimes lures can be snagged, usually by unseen underwater obstacles. And since they’re expensive it hurts to lose them.
- Might be harder to catch certain types of game fish without using live bait.
Types of Fishing Lures
There are 7 main types of lures that include jigs, spoons, spinners, soft plastic baits, spinnerbaits, plugs,and flies. Today we will be covering jigs, spoons, spinners and soft plastic baits.
Jigs are some of the most versatile fishing lures available. They are fairly inexpensive and are able to catch most game fish. Because of this, they are one of the most popular fishing lures available. They are made up of a book with a lead head and a trailer, jigs can imitate everything from live saltwater bait to invertebrates (and everything in between). If you need to catch a fish that’s deep in the water, a streamlined jig head will sink faster while a wider head will flutter down. The size of the jig SHOULD match the size of the trailer – make sure the trailer on the jig is threaded so that the hook comes out the trailer ahead of the bend. Pass the hook once you’re through the wide end of the trailer. When you use a jig lure, just know that jig fishing can take a lot of concentration. This is because how the lure moves in the water depends on you. If you do nothing, the jig will just sink.
Spoons are metal lures that are curved. Actually the first spoon lures were in fact just spoons with handles broken off! Now spoon lures are available in any color or size and can be used for almost any fishing situation.
The shape of this lure gives it a distinctive type of movement – one that almost looks like the way an injured baitfish moves in the water. Game fish, of course, love injured bait fish. If you’re a beginner, you will most likely being using the most common type of spoon – the casting spoon. Casting spoons are heavier than trolling spoons so they can be thrown a long distance. You will just cast and retrieve this spoon – just varying the speed as long as it’s wobbling. If it starts to spin, slow down your retrieval. Casting spoons are great when you need to imitate a small bait. Some spoons are made to be cast, others to be trolled, and some even to be jigged.
Spinners are another great beginner lure! They’re simple and easy to use. They’re a metal shaft with a spinning blade with a bare or dressed hook – depending on your preference! If you drag the spinner through the water, the blade will spin (which is obviously how it got its name) The spinning creates sound and vibration and attracts any fish that can hear it through their lateral line. You just need to cast and retrieve!
Soft plastic baits can be made up with lots of different lures – the classic, of course, being the plastic worm. They can look similar to most other little fish and creatures like worms, crawfish and lizards. The soft bodies of these lures encourage the fish to hold onto them a little bit longer before they are spat out giving the angler (you!) time. These baits come in a variety of colors, sizes, and shapes – bright colors work best on sunny days while darker days require a darker color bait. Soft plastics can be cast and retrieved.
We will continue this discussion of lures next week right here on the blog. For now, think upon what kind of lure seems to suit you best, and which lures might work best for you when you go fishing with us in Hawaii. Next week, we’ll cover spinnerbaits, plugs, flies, and, of course, which ones work best on the open sea.
If you’d like to try out lures and fishing with us, call us at (808) 960-1424 to book your Big Island fishing charter!