Freshwater fish come in all shapes and sizes, and so do the lures. Many freshwater lures are specifically made for bass fishing, but artificial lures can catch many other species. Here we will show you how to choose the right lure and use it as effectively as possible.
How should I use lures in freshwater fishing? There are many different forms of lures that range from small to large. Some take the form of fish, while others can look like insects. You should use lures if you want a fun challenge while fishing and an easy way to fish for any kind of fish you want.
You will find hundreds of different artificial lures (here’s a list of my favorites), but they all fall into one of seven categories which we will go into more detail farther down:
- Spinners
- Poppers
- Crankbait
- Plugs
- Spoons
- Jig
- Flies
We will discuss each of them in more detail to help you pick which will work best in your situation.
How to Choose Bait
There are several important distinctions between natural bait and artificial bait. Keep in mind that the bait you choose will increase your chances of getting your targeted fish. Even though artificial baits aren’t alive, they are designed to fool fish. You can choose from many designs and color schemes if you go with a popper, fly, jig, spinner, etc.
Look at your budget for bait. Fishing with bait can be less expensive, but lures can be more challenging and rewarding because they give you complete control over the lure’s motion. Make sure you read the lure’s instructions carefully so that you know how to properly handle them all.
What Is Setting a Hook?
Setting the hook is when you plant the hook into the fish that is biting your line. This may not sound like it’s very hard, but the challenge is knowing if the fish nibbled or bit on your lure.
When Should I Set a Hook?
A good general rule to follow is to wait and feel the weight of the fish before setting it in. The fish may be cautious and simply tap your fishing line and bait without biting it.
If you want to experience the best results, you must have the right fishing hook setup. Sometimes you won’t need to set the hook because it is automatically caught in the fish’s mouth. This happens when you use circle baits on catfish.
How to set a hook.
- Look for some usual signs that a fish is biting such as:
- Your bobber goes completely underwater
- Your fishing line starts moving, or you feel a tug.
- Keep your line tight with the lure as you reel in the slack. This will give you more sensitivity, which helps you feel the fish’s bite much better, and you will be in a better spot to set the hook.
- It is fairly simple to set the hook once you have a bite. Make sure the movement isn’t the current or the fish swimming into the bait.
You can read this article for even more tips on how to tell when you have a fish on the line.
How to Reel in a Fish
Once the hook is set, the fish will struggle as hard as it can to get free. It may try to jump or swim back against the line. It is more likely that fish in shallow water will jump and act more erratically then fish in deep water.
Larger fish will obviously pull much harder than other fish which can be a big problem for beginning anglers. Even pros struggle with this from time to time.
The first thing you will notice is the sound of your fishing reel going in reverse as your still holding it. This means you have hooked a big fish, here is what you should do next:
- Try to relax and let your rod do most of the work. Keep the rod at about a 45-degree angle to the water and aim it right at the fish. Once the drag stops moving and buzzing, you will need to reel.
- The fish will start to slow down, and eventually it won’t take anymore line off your reel. A good method to try when reeling in a larger fish is the pump and reel.
- Don’t reel the fish in yet. Lift the tip of your rod and point it towards the sky at an angle of about 90 degrees. Don’t worry about a big bend in your rod. It is supposed to happen, and it means you have a giant fish on the way.
- Reel the fish in as you lower the rod tip to about 45 degrees and keep the pressure on the fish
- Repeat this process until the fish is completely reeled in.
Retrieving/Casting with Lures.
All lure techniques consist of casting the line and then retrieving it once you know you have a bite. What you may not know is that casting and retrieving motions are continuous similarly to fly fishing.
Since this motion is horizontal, it can be used to quickly cover a lot of water. The speed that you use to retrieve the lure and the angle you hold the rod will all impact the depth of the lure on the way back.
There are many different casting and retrieving techniques for you to master. Some of them depend on the rod and lure you’re using, so it’s important to be familiar with different techniques. Most importantly, don’t fret if you find some of the techniques challenging at first. Have fun and practice—the rest will come to you.
Make sure that you have plenty of space in front of you and behind when you cast your line so there will be no interference and you can get lots of practice
You will find that a lot of swimming lures have a lip at the front, which helps them dive the lure to the desired depth. You can find these in shallow versions as well as deep.
Steps to casting and retrieving:
- Cast your lure to your location, keep in mind that fish enjoy being around cover and structures.
- Wait for your lure to descend to the ideal depth
- Start to retrieve your lure by reeling it in, use your line to give the lure a pull, ultimate you are mimicking a swimming fish. Try out different speeds until you find one that gets a bite.
- Cast again after a couple of seconds and repeat the retrieval.
You can read more here for some tips on casting light lures further.
Plastic Worms
Plastic worms are one of the best options when you’re fishing for largemouth bass. You can get these lures in many different colors and lengths of 4 to 10 inches.
Plastic worms have a large number of other artificial lures such as:
- Grubs
- Crayfish
- Salamanders
These worms are most popularly fished on:
- Timber
- Brush
- Weeds
- Surface (occasionally)
To rig, you must thread the hook through the worm so that its body covers the hook point and makes a self-weedless rig.
Crankbaits
These lures are also known as “plugs.” They are made of hard plastic. The goal is to cast out and retrieve them sometimes very fast in order to trigger an aggressive response from your target fish.
Some of these lures are weedless, but they still aren’t supposed to be used around weeds, timber, or brush. There are several variations of crankbait, such as:
Topwater lures:
Poppers: Lures that, when jerked around with the rod tip, they make a popping sound.
Wobblers: A lure that has a plate that helps it move around on its sides when retrieved.
Stick Baits: Thin lures that don’t have any special features and have actions given to them only by the fisherman.
Thin Minnow Lures:
These lures are made to look like minnows in their shape and color scheme. They have a small lip on the front which causes them to look different than stick baits. One of these styles has a flat or concave surface at its head, and it acts as the lip on a thin minnow.
Swimming Crankbaits:
These are artificial lures that will move side to side as it gets pulled through the water. One of the styles of this lure has a concave or flat surface on its head. This functions similarly to a thin minnow because it makes the lure swim.
Diving Lures:
These have a larger lip than that of thin minnows. This is designed to make them dive far deeper when they’re trolled or retrieved. The larger the lip, the deeper it will dive. These lures can go one of two ways: short and stocky or thin and long.
To get the lure to dive really deeply, it must be retrieved really fast. If it is stopped, it will most likely rise to the surface. Some of the crankbaits will stay suspended at the depth they’ve reached.
Spinnerbaits
These lures are specialists to be used in situations where other lures would get stuck. They have the appearance of an open safety pin because of their weighted end with a single hook and a skirt at its end, which has 1 or more spinners.
To use this lure, you should rapidly retrieve it across the water’s surface, which allows the blade to flash and splash and bump off of vertical structures.
You will see spinnerbaits come with teardrop or propeller shaped blades. These blades have three of their own types.
Willow leaf: a blade that is narrow and pointed on both of its ends.
Indiana: It is a more rounded model of the lure
Colorado: Broad and rounded at 1 of its ends and features a rounded point at the other.
The inline is a lure similar to the spinnerbait. This lure has a metal body resembling a tube with a willow-leaf blade spinner on top and a feather skirt and treble hook behind it. Otherwise known as a french spinner, these lures are usually used around streams or rocky areas to attract trout, walleye, and smallmouth bass instead of largemouth bass.
Jigs
The great thing about jigs is that they can be used at any time of the year. They have a weighted head and a plastic grub, hair, or feather skirt.
A lot of jigs have round heads, but some of them have triangular or flatheads. This potentially serves two functions, to give the lure a swimming motion and to keep the hook upright and out of any nearby weeds or rocks.
Jigs should be retrieved in an up-and-down motion and can also be fished in cold or warm water situations. Make sure to slow down your retrieve when the water starts to get colder.
Some jigs will have wire guards or a stiff brush to keep them weedless. Others will only have a bare hook. The best places to fish jigs are typically where they can be placed near brush, rocks, or near weeds.
Keep in mind that jigs are the cheapest types of artificial lures, so it isn’t as detrimental to lose a couple as it would be to lose a crankbait.
There are several ways to fish with a jig. If you’re fishing for bass, then you should flip and pitch for short distances instead of casting a long distance.
Typically, they are retrieved with a lift-and-drop action. To do this, you must slowly raise and lower the rod until the jig falls on a taut line. You can also retrieve straight by keeping the rod at a 10 ‘clock position and imparting a swimming motion to the lure.
Spoons
This is one of the oldest known lures out there. It was made in 1850 by Julio T. Buel of New York. The story is that he cut the handle off a teaspoon and put a hook on it. Spoon lures can be used for many different species.
The bowl of the spoon lure causes it to wobble from side to side when they are retrieved, and this, in turn, makes them attractive to fish. Large spoons are used to fish for pike, bass, walleye, while smaller spoons can get you panfish and trout.
Most spoons are designed in a way where they can be fished below the surface. These spoons have a treble hook that is attached with a split ring.
The other type of spoon has a single wire weed-less hook with a shank that is positioned on the back of the spoon. This design works best when rapidly retrieved across the surface, and it usually has some bait attached to the hook, such as a strip of pork rind.
Flies
If you’re fishing for trout, then fly lures will work great. They feature a single hook with a feather skirt or hair. Due to their light weight and small size, they can be used in stream fishing for trout with special rods that cast a weighted line and a monofilament leader.
You can get fly lures in many different patterns to match the fly species that trout usually eat in your area. A lot of anglers will even tie their own flies at streamside to “match the hatch.” Flies have 5 distinct types:
Dry flies: These fly lures will float on the surface and usually feature a waterproofing component to prevent them from sinking or waterlogging. They are linked to a floating line to help them imitate an insect by matching the natural surface motion of one.
Wet flies: The goal with this lure is to simulate insects that are drowning or swimming. It can also look like an insect that is laying eggs or hatching them. You can use sinking, floating, or sinking-tip lines depending on how deep you want to fish.
Nymphs: Very similar to wet flies, they are fished the same way, but these lures represent small aquatic life and young insects.
Bugs: These are dry flies that represent larger insects, mice, injured minnows, and amphibians. Some have popper heads, and they can be fished with using a floating or sinking tip line.
Streamers: Some fishermen go with several different fly lures to test out which one the fish respond best to. You can combine fly types when doing this, but you must follow your state’s fishing regulations to see how many hooks you can have on your line at one time.
How to Choose the Right Lure?
There are also several different weather and water conditions to examine before choosing a lure. There is a general rule for picking the color of your lure—”dark day, dark colors; bright day, light colors.”
The objective is simple. You want to select lures that blend in with the natural patterns of the day and surroundings. You still want to use lures that vibrate or make noise as they move through the water so you can attract more fish.
Choosing the Lure Size
The lure size should be chosen based on the tackle you’re using and the species you’re targeting.
If you’re going for smaller fish such as sunfish, perch, panfish, then you will want to use smaller jigs and grubs. If you’re trying to get a pike, bass, or walleye, then you should use a larger lure, such as a crankbait or spinnerbait.
The weather can also affect what size lure you use. When the water is cooler and the fish aren’t as active, it is better to use a smaller lure as opposed to a larger lure. Remember that ice fishing lures are very tiny spoons or grub jigs.
If you’re facing high wind speeds, then you will need to use a larger lure to make sure you have enough weight on the end of your line so that the wind doesn’t blow it, and you have no clue if fish are hitting your lure.
Rods
Super light spinning and spin casting tackle rods are best suited for smaller lures. They should have lines of about 4 to 10 pounds. When using larger lures, you should have a medium to heavy action rods with baitcasting or spinning reels. You can check out my favorite rods here.
If you’re going for something very large like a muskellunge, then you will need a much bigger lure. In some cases, you will need a wire leader because of the musky’s sharp teeth.
Where Are the Fish?
Fish species require different environmental conditions even though they may all live in freshwater. Some of these conditions include:
- Salinity
- Areas of hiding such as structure, cover, and bottom
- Water temperature
- Dissolved oxygen
- Current
- Types and amounts of food
- Water depth.
Structures
You will find most fish species living near some sort of structure as opposed to out in the middle of the water with nothing around. Structures are the shapes that are seen at the bottom of the lake or river that are caused by things like these:
- Plants: downed trees, logs, brush,
- Natural features: Ledges, drop offs, humps, rock piles
- Man-made objects: Docks, piers
Fish tend to go near these structures because they provide protection, and they can maneuver themselves much easier to get food.
Salinity and Oxygen
Some fish can live in both freshwater and saltwater like the striped bass; others can only live in one. Tuna must have salt and brook trout cannot live with too much salt in the water.
All fish also need a certain amount of oxygen in their water because they will die if there isn’t enough circulation. Some fish don’t need as much oxygen to live as others, and this can be seen in the carp.
Living plants in the water will add oxygen as will moving water that runs over rocks. The decomposition of plants and animals, along with different types of pollution, will serve to reduce oxygen levels.
In some cases, thermal pollution is also a problem because hotter water can’t carry as much oxygen as colder water.
Temperature
Every species of fish prefers a certain water temperature. For example, bullhead catfish like to be in water that is around 85 degrees F. Other fish like lake trout and salmon need to have their water be in the 40s and 50s.
Some fish will be happy in a large range while others have a small window of temperature. Some expert anglers use a thermometer to help them gauge what type of fish will be around.
Food
The type and amount of food available will play a crucial role in what type of fish you reel in. For example, bass will attack bait on the surface while carp prefer to eat at the bottom.
Using a Boat
When you use a boat to fish, you will be able to cover much more distance than you would on the shore as well as hit the deep spots that are unreachable without a boat.
There are also different types of boats for you to use when you fish on small rivers, lakes, streams, or larger bodies of water. You will have to choose between skiffs, and canoes or special sportfishing boats.
Trail Lures
The idea of these lures is to move slowly behind a moving boat to cover a great amount of distance. This method is most effective when trying to catch fish that like to eat smaller fish.
A similar method is known as “downrigging.” In this method you use a winch and weight to control the lure at a depth where you know the fish are at. Downriggers can adjust the depth to about 200 feet deep. The lure then runs slowly from here as the boat moves.
Still Fishing
This is the easiest form of fishing you can do and is popular with most beginners. You cast the bait and wait for the line to signal the lure has been bitten. All you need is a regular rod and reel, a weighted line, baited hook, and—if you want–a colored bobber to help you see it from a distance.
Flipping
This is a casting technique that allows you to position your lure in a certain spot while disturbing the water as little as possible. This is usually used in dirty water with a lot of cover around. It also works best when it has a stationary type of bait.
Picking Your Times and Season
Despite what you may have heard, there is no single best time of year or day to fish. You will find that many different species are active at varying times, and this can also change due to their environmental conditions.
Usually, freshwater fish are most active shortly after dawn and dusk and are least active around the middle of the day. It is still possible to catch some fish at noon if you know what you’re doing.
For many people, fishing is a year-round sport, and they have learned how the fish behave in all these conditions. It may be helpful to find out which season is more comfortable for you to fish in and learn everything you can about the fish during this time.
To be a successful angler, you must know all the habits of different species as well as their availability. You must take into account a wide variety of factors such as:
- Temperature
- Amount of daylight
- Predation
- Food availability
Let’s look at the trout, for example. When it starts to get warmer outside, you will see them shift their feeding preferences to start eating more terrestrial insects. Bass are seen moving into shadows when there’s more light in the middle of the day.
It may be illegal to fish for certain species in some areas of the country. Lots of states have closed seasons when some of their species are breeding. As an angler, it’s your responsibility to keep up with these regulations.
The Takeaway.
Lures have many different styles and designs that they can be used to catch virtually any fish you want. There are lots of techniques and methods for you to learn when choosing your lure and retrieving it.
The next step is to pick a fish that you want to catch in some water near you and select the best lure, rod and time to go and catch it. Remember that fish will be concentrated near structures and cover. Most importantly, the best way to learn is through practice and experimentation.