Fishing

Fishing has changed a lot over time. Fishing rods and reels have gotten better and better every year, so have fishing lures. The first artificial fishing lure was invented in the late 1890s’ by James Heddon. The fishing rod has been around since 2000 BC. The fishing reel was invented in 1650 AD. The first baitcaster was invented in 1820 in Kentucky by George Snyder. Bass fishing became a sport in the 19th century, but there were no rules and no goals. Bass fishing started to actually turn into a real sport in the mid 20th century, now you can win up to thousands of dollars. With sponsorships now you can get free baits, sponsors will sometimes pay for most of your boat, they will supply you with lots of things. Sponsors pay you a lot if you use their product.

Soft plastic fishing lures are some of the best lures ever made in the history of fishing. The first soft plastic fishing lure was made in 1949, made by Courtesy Creme Lure’s Worm. The first soft plastic fishing lure wasn’t actually soft it was more of a hard rubber. The most famous kind of soft plastic fishing lure was a grub when soft plastics were first invented. In 1972 a silicon-based plastic was created to give the plastic fishing lure a more lifelike action. High sales values of Mister Twister came out with many new entrants to the market in the mid 1980s’. The soft plastic fishing lure has grown more and more over the years and sale prices have to. In late 2000s’ we started using Cyber Flex which makes it more durable (stronger) and stretchier, which allows us to catch more fish with a single worm. Cyber Flex floats and has a more lifelike action than silicon.

There are so many different types of soft plastic fishing lures and rigs. One soft plastic fishing lure is a stickbait also known as a senko, it has the action of an injured baitfish. There are alot of different rigs and ways to fish the senko. One of the many rigs is a texas rig, a texas rig is weedless, so it is a good bait to throw when there is a lot of moss or weeds, or there is a fallen tree in the water. Another rig is a wacky rig, it is the easiest rig to do, it is the best type of way to fish a senko in open water. When a wacky rig is sinking it either glides to the bottom or it wobbles, a wobbly action is better because it represents an injured baitfish. Another rig is a drop shot rig, it is a great rig to use when the water is cold or the fish are less finicky than usual. A drop shot can either be weedless or it can be open hook depends on what kind of water you are fishing in. Another soft plastic fishing lure is a creature bait, it usually represents a craw, but not all the time. There are a couple of different ways to fish a creature bait, one of the ways to fish a creature bait is by using a is a texas rig. You can fish a weightless texas rigged creature bait on top of the water and make it look like a frog if you fish it really fast, or if it is windy you can use a bullet weight so it sinks better, or if the fish are less finicky you can fish a texas rigged creature bait really slow. Since a texas rig is weedless you can fish a texas rigged creature bait in fallen trees, or in grass mats. They are also great to use when there are rocks in the water, because craws most of the time like to live in rocks, so bass like to feed off of rocks to try to find a craw to eat. Another soft plastic fishing lure is a curly tail worm they come in a lot of different sizes, it is like a senko, but with a slim curly tail.

There are two rigs for a curly tail worm, one rig is texas rig, since it is weedless you can fish it in fallen trees in the water, or in moss, it represents a swimming baitfish. Another rig is a shakey head, it is weedless like a texas rig, but instead of just a plain hook, it is a weedless hook with a weight where the eyelet is, the eyelet is at the top of the hook, when your bait is falling in the water the curly tail looks like a bait fish tail, when is at the bottom the weight is on the bottom and the curly tail is standing up, which triggers a bite from the fish. Another soft plastic fishing lure is a soft plastic swimbait, there are two rigs for a soft plastic swimbait, they both have the same action, one rig is a texas rig, which is weedless so you can fish in the moss, or a tree that has fallen in the water, the other rig is an open hook rig, you can’t fish an open hook in moss, or in a fallen tree, because you will snag and possibly break off. Swimbaits are known for the most lifelike representation a fishing lure has ever had, and for catching the biggest fish. They can swim in the water and look just like a fish, you can fish them slow or fast, you can let them sink or sometimes you can reel them close to the surface of the water.

There are so many lures out in the fishing market, but one of the older ones is a swimbait. The first swimbait was invented in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1906, invented by John D. Kreisser. It was called The K&K Animated Minnow. The K&K Animated Minnow was made out of wood and had a large metal tail fin, it also had joints. The wood was used for the body of the swimbait, the large metal tail fin helped it to glide, and the joints made it have that lifelike swimming action. The swimbait is a great lure, there are a lot of different sizes, there are smaller sizes, and there are bigger sizes, some swimbaits are so lifelike, sometimes the type of baitfish it is representing fish will swim with it kind of like a school of baitfish. Most swimbaits have treble hooks on them, so a swimbait is better to us in open water. Fishing for bass with big swimbaits is more common in southern states, where its warmer year around.

Topwater lures have been in the fishing lure industry for a very long time. The first topwater fishing lure was invented by Heddon, Heddon is a company they make a lot of topwater that is kinda what there known for. Some of the most famous topwater lures are the popper, spook, and the torpedo. Some topwater fishing lures are made out of a hard hallow plastic, wood, and metal. There are many different types of topwater fishing lures. One of them is a spook, a spook is a topwater lure that has glides from right to left right to left etc… on top of the water, and has treble hooks. Sometimes they have three treble hooks, some of the time they have two treble hooks. Another topwater fishing lure is a popper, a popper is a topwater fishing lure that that has a bowl shaped mouth and treble hooks, when you rip it on top of the water the bowl mouth makes a pop noise that’s where it gets its name from. Another topwater fishing lure is whopper plopper, a whopper plopper has a fat body and treble hooks, it has a tail that spins when going across the top of the water. Another topwater fishing lure is topwater frog, it is a weedless hallow body frog that floats across the top of the water some topwater frogs have a body that is designed to hop, there are some that have the action of a spook, some have legs that kick and causes a bubble trail in the water. There is also a soft plastic topwater frog there are many different companies and names for this lure but my favorite brand is Zoom, they call the soft plastic frog the horny toad. Another fishing lure is a buzzbait, it is a skirted bait with a metal blade at the tip of the lure that spins that causes it to stay on top of the water it can sink, so you have to fish it fast or it will sink and that is not what it is designed for

Another very famous fishing lure is a skirted bait, there are many different kinds of skirted baits. Skirts are made out of different things, the most common skirt is made out of silicon, but some skirts are made out of a wool. There are many different designed skirted baits, the most famous skirted baits are spinnerbait, chatterbait, jig. A spinnerbait is a jig with a metal arm that can have multiple blades on it, or just one blade. A spinnerbait is a great bait to throw in the fall because that is when baitfish are schooled up and bass are feeding on schools of fish. Spinnerbaits have two kind of blades a colorado blade and a willow blade, a colorado blade causes vibration in the water, and a willow blade makes the bait more flashy. Another skirted bait is a chatterbait it is a jig with a single blade at the head of the jig. A chatterbait is a great bait to throw anytime it works very well when it is windy because the blade causes vibration in the water. Another skirted bait is the jig, the jig is a jig head with a skirt, there are different sizes of jigs, if it is windy it is better to go with a ⅜ ounce jig. If the water is cold or the fish are less active than usual use a smaller jig. Another kind of jig is a hair jig, hair jigs are usually smaller than most jigs. When the water is a stained or a muddy color it is better to throw a white spinnerbait or a chartruse chatterbait or a black and blue jig. When the water is clear it is better to throw more natural colors.

Another artificial fishing lure is the Jerkbait, it is a lure that works great in cold water or when the fish are less active than usual. The first jerk bait was invented by Rapala in 1936. The jerkbait comes in many different sizes and colors. There are suspending jerkbaits there are rising jerkbait. Most fish eat the jerkbait on the pause.

Line is a very important part in fishing, The first Nylon fishing line was invented in 1937 and 1938. When the water is clear it is better to throw clear monofilament or clear fluorocarbon, because fish can see line and sometimes that causes those fish to shy away from the bait. When you are fishing in moss or where there are fallen trees in the water it is better to fish with braid because braid does not fray as easy as monofilament or fluorocarbon, and fish can not see line in dirty water.

A crankbait is probably the most famous lure out on the market. The first crankbait to hit the market was in 1916 it was called the Creek Chub Wiggler, it did not get its patent til 1920. A crankbait can be made out of wood or a hard plastic, a crankbait has a lip that helps it dive and give it that wobbling action. If depends a lot on the place of the lip, if the lip is sticking straight out and is about an 1 ½ inch long it is probably a deep diving crankbait, if the lip points downwards at an angle it is probably a shallow diving crankbait.