Trolling is a method of fishing where one or more fishing lines, baited with lures or bait fish, are drawn through the water. This may be behind a moving boat, or by slowly winding the line in when fishing from a static position, or even sweeping the line from side-to-side, e.g. when fishing from a jetty. Trolling is used to catch pelagic fish such as salmon, mackerel and kingfish.
A fishing rod is a long, thin rod used by anglers to catch fish by manipulating a line ending in a hook. At its most basic form, a fishing rod is a straight rigid stick/pole with a line attached to one end ; however, modern rods are usually elastic and generally have the line stored in a reel mounted at the rod handle, which is hand-cranked and controls the line retrieval, as well as numerous line-restricting rings that distribute bending stress along the rod and help dampening down/prevent line whipping and entanglement. To better entice fish, baits or lures are dressed onto the one or more hooks attached to the line, and a bite indicator is used, some of which might be incorporated as part of the rod itself.
A fishing line is a flexible, high-tensile cord used in angling to tether and pull in fish, in conjunction with at least one hook. Fishing lines are usually pulled by and stored in a reel, but can also be retrieved by hand, with a fixed attachment to the end of a rod, or via a motor.
Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techniques such as handlining also exist. Modern angling rods are usually fitted with a fishing reel that functions as a cranking device for storing, retrieving and releasing out the line, although Tenkara fishing and traditional cane pole fishing are two rod-angling methods that do not use any reel. The fish hook itself can be additionally weighted with a denser tackle called a sinker, and is typically dressed with an appetizing bait to attract and entice the fish into swallowing the hook, but sometimes an inedible fake/imitation bait with multiple attached hooks is used instead of a single hook with edible bait. Some type of bite indicator, such as a float, a bell or a quiver tip, is often used to relay underwater status of the hook to the surface and alert the angler of a fish's presence.
Jigging is the practice of fishing with a jig, a type of weighted fishing lure. A jig consists of a heavy metal sinker with an attached fish hook that is usually obscured inside a soft lure or feather-like decorations. Jigs are intended to create a jerky, vertical "jumping" motion to attract fish, as opposed to other common lures like swimbaits, spoons and spinnerbaits, which move through the water more or less horizontally. The jig is very versatile and can be used in both salt and fresh water. Many deeper water fish species are attracted to the lure, which has made it popular among anglers for years.
A fishing lure is any of broad category of artificial angling baits that are inedible replicas designed to mimic real prey animals that attract the attention of predatory fish, typically via appearances, flashy colors, bright reflections, movements, vibrations and/or loud noises which appeal to the fish's predation instinct and entice it into striking the lure.
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The Texas rig is a fishing rig used for angling with soft plastic lures. It involves a bullet-shaped weight being threaded onto the fishing line first, that can be followed by a glass or plastic bead, and then the line is secured to a fish hook, usually an offset worm hook. The hook is then inserted into the head region of a worm lure and exits about 1⁄4 inch (6.4 mm) down the worm. The worm is then moved up the hook towards the shank and then rotated so that the worm is now "locked" on the shank. The point of the hook is then threaded back into the body of the worm to make the rig "weedless".
A spinnerbait or spinner is any one of a family of hybrid fishing lures that combines the designs of a swimbait with one or more spoon lure blades. Spinnerbaits get the name from the action of the metallic blades, which passively revolve around the attachment point like a spinning propeller when the lure is in motion, creating varying degrees of vibration and flashing that mimic small fish or other preys of interest to large predatory fishes. The two most popular types of spinnerbaits are the in-line spinner and safety pin spinnerbait, though others such as the tail spinner also exist. Spinnerbaits are used principally for catching freshwater fishes such as perch, pike and bass.
Fishing tackle is the equipment used by anglers when fishing. Almost any equipment or gear used in fishing can be called fishing tackle, examples being hooks, lines, baits/lures, rods, reels, floats, sinkers/feeders, nets, spears, gaffs and traps, as well as wires, snaps, beads, spoons, blades, spinners, clevises and tools that make it easy to tie knots.
A plastic worm or trout worm is a soft-bodied fishing lure made of elastomer polymer material, generally simulating an earthworm. Plastic worms are typically impaled onto a hook, and can carry a variety of shapes, colors and sizes, awith some are even scented to simulate live bait.
A bass worm is an artificial fishing lure which comes in a variety of different colors and body types and is usually scented with a salty, garlic residue. Bass worms are more effective than other rubber worms primarily because bass are attracted to a particular worm depending on the environment in which they are being used.
Plugs are a popular type of hard-bodied fishing lure. They are widely known by a number of other names depending on the country and region. Such names include crankbait, wobbler, minnow, shallow-diver and deep-diver. The term minnow is usually used for long, slender, lures that imitate baitfish, while the term plug is usually used for shorter, deeper-bodied lures which imitate deeper-bodied fish, frogs and other prey. Shallow-diver and deep-diver refer to the diving capabilities of the lure, which depends on the size and angle of the lip, and lure buoyancy.
A surface lure or topwater lure is a diverse class of fishing lure designed to attract predatory fish through commotions produced at the water surface, imitating preys of interest swimming at the surface such as injured baitfish, frogs, wading mice, lizards and water snakes, drowning insects and dabbling ducklings. These lures are preferred by some anglers due to the belief that they attract larger-than-average fish, and from the added excitement of actually seeing the sudden splashes created by fish aggressively breaching the surface to strike the lure, in some instances even clearly seeing the fish stalking the lure before striking.
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Swimbaits or swimmers are a loosely defined class of fishing lures that are designed to primarily imitate the underwater swimming motions of baitfishes. Most trophy anglers prefer 8” to 10” swimbaits, while casual fishermen consider 4” to 6” swimbaits a suitable fit. Those looking to tempt bigger bass should feel free to throw bigger baits.
Drop shotting is a highly finesse angling technique using plastic baits, consisting of a small thin-wire hook with a weight (sinker) attached to the tag end of the line. This is in contrast to the more traditional Texas Rig, where the weight slides inline, resting on the nose of the bait; or the Carolina Rig, where the weight is fixed above the bait. The dropshot rig provides the ability to keep a hook and lure off the bottom with a more "weightless"-looking posture. Usually the bait is fished by letting the weight hit the bottom and then twitch the rod tip, causing the lure to shake in a jumping-like action, but can also be flipped, dragged, hopped or jigged along the bottom. This simple but versatile technique has endless combinations with the different hooks, soft plastics and weights that can be used.[1] The aim is to present a free floating, slow twitching lure to induce a strike from non-aggressive fish. This rig is commonly used in bass fishing for catching smallmouth, largemouth and spotted bass, but can be used for a variety of other bottom-dwelling fish species, as well.
Fishing bait is any luring substance used specifically to attract and catch fish, typically when angling with a hook and line. There are generally two types of baits used in angling: hookbaits, which are directly mounted onto fish hooks and are what the term "fishing bait" typically refers to; and groundbaits, which are scattered separately into the water as an "appetizer" to attract the fish nearer to the hook. Despite the bait's sole importance is to provoke a feeding response out of the target fish, the way how fish react to different baits is quite poorly understood.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to fishing:
The wacky rig is a skill technique used for fishing with a soft plastic lure, such as the Gary Yamamoto 'Senko'. Notable for its unique action even among soft lures, wacky style is used to heighten the chance at catching finicky fish on harsh days, although at the expense of lowering the chances of very large fish, because the size of the bait is very small, allowing bass of all sizes to take the bait. Unlike the Texas rig and Carolina rig, both sides of the wacky rig flutter, creating a more natural action. The name comes from its unusual style of attaching a plastic worm through the middle of the body instead of on one end.
