Nothing is funner than fishing. In fact, some people claim that the worst day of fishing is better than the best day of work.

Fishing lures come in a number of types, including different sizes, shapes, and colors. And every species of fish has its own specific diet.

Choosing the right lure can make the different between a great day on the water, or going home empty-handed.

The Importance of Choosing the Right Fishing Lure

Your fishing lure can greatly influence the success of your fishing trip. Make sure you know how to choose the right size, shape, and color.

What Make a Lure Appealing to Fish?

Fish are not easy to understand. They are picky and finicky, and seemingly very hard to please. This makes choosing the right lure a never-ending challenge. What works one day might not work the next, even if conditions are mostly unchanged.

Every time we go out on the water, we are trying to figure out how to get fish to bite. Sometimes you might apply the strategy of using noisy lures like spinnerbaits or crankbaits, and aggressive presentation techniques, all in the hopes of getting a reaction. If these strategies doesn't work, you might go with the finesse approach, with a more subtle presentation, and smaller, more natural-looking lures to get the fish to feed.

Water Conditions/Weather Conditions

The weather will always impact the way fish are behaving and what they'll be interested in eating, if they want to eat at all.

During cooler times of day, like morning and evening, fish feed closer to the surface. Then as the day heats up, they will begin to go deeper to find cooler water. So the temperature and time of day can have a huge impact on lure selection.

When it's cool out, select a topwater bait. And during the heat of the day, switch to a jig or a worm, a fishing lure that will dive down deep to where the catch of the day are lingering.

Types of Lures

• Sinking Lures. These are baits that go deep, sinking near the bottom of the lake.
• Surface Lures. Also called topwater baits, these lures stay afloat and are dragged across the surface, mimicing a fluttering or splashing injured insect or other type of prey by making a burbling sound.
• Soft Plastic Lures. Like worms or lizards, etc, that appear to be swimming through the water.

Color

There's an old mantra that says fishing lure colors are designed to catch anglers, not fish. This might be more true than we'd care to admit.

A good rule of thumb for selecting the best lure is to fish brightly colored baits in muddy or murky water, and use more natural colors when fishing clear waters.

This approach follows the basic logic that a fish's visibility is not as sharp in dingy water, therefore bright colors get best results. Good color options for this type of water might be orange, yellow, or chartreuse.

Fishing in clear water, on the other hand, when water permits fish an unobstructed view of the bait, opt for subtle colors like smoke, pumpkinseed, or bone.

When the water is clear, pros will fish a white spinnerbait, or a crankbait with a shad, sunfish, or crawfish finish. Conversely, when clarity is poor, they'll often go with spinnerbaits with yellow skirts or crankbaits with bright sides and dark belly.

Size

Deciding the size lure to use will depend largely on the species and size fish you're pursuing. This is when it helps to have researched the body of water you're fishing in. The size lure depends almost entirely on the size mouth the lure must fit inside.

• Bass, Striper, and larger Catfish will usually a large hook, thus a fairly big fishing lure.
• Species like Trout, Crappie, and Brim, are smaller species, with smaller mouths, and require smaller fishing lures so that the fish can suck them in.

Weather conditions also impact the size fishing lure to use. In spring or in cool water, fish can become lethargic and you'll need smaller lures. In high-wind conditions, consider using a larger lure simply to insure you have enough resistance on the end of the line to keep the wind from bowing the line so you can't detect a hit.

Smaller lures are best suited for light and ultralight spincasting tackle with 4 to 10 pound test line, while larger lures should be used with heavier rods, baitcasting reels, and 12 to 20 pound test.

Shape

The shape of the lure is another significant factor. The purpose of shape is to mimic the types of insects and other prey native to a particular body of water. These can be designed to represent flies, spiders, mosquitoes, minnows, mice, worms, and frogs, etc.

Some artificial lures are manufactured to look incredibly lifelike, with exacting details like eyes, whiskers, and legs, while others are designed with only the basic shape of the creature it's intended to represent.

Every region and body of water is different, and the fish in these areas will be accustomed to dining on specific insect life, and those preferences must be respected if you hope to have success.

Picking the Right Lure

The is no single lure or presentation that will work for all species of fish or in every weather condition. Fishing just isn't that simple. Success on the water will require at least a bare minimum of research, careful consideration of the species you'll be going after, and the type of water being fished.

Fishing is a challenging sport. That's a big part of what makes it fun. And the science of choosing the right lure offers the angler an opportunity to be creative, as well as develop insight into how these mysterious gamefish think and behave.

We recommend stopping by a local tackle shop for advice. These are the people with their finger on the pulse of the local fishing scene and can usually tell you where the fish are biting and what lures are getting best results.

Contact us for all your fishing needs!