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Natural Bait or Lures

Match what is on the hook to what the fish eats

Natural bait: what fish already eat

Natural bait smells right and moves right, which is why it out-fishes lures for beginners. Earthworms catch nearly every freshwater fish; hook them once through the thick band and leave the ends wriggling. Sweetcorn from a tin takes carp, bream, roach and tench, one or two kernels on a size 10 to 8 hook. Bread flake pinched onto the hook works for mullet, roach and chub. In the sea, lugworm and ragworm dug from mud flats catch bass, flounder and bream, and a strip of squid or a small prawn stays on the hook in waves. Keep bait cool and shaded. Dead, warm worms catch far less than lively ones.

Lures: bait you cast again and again

A lure imitates a small fish or insect with movement and flash. Spinners are a spinning blade on a wire; cast, count to three, wind steadily. They catch perch, trout and small bass. Spoons are a curved metal blade that wobbles; heavier, so they cast far and go deep. Soft plastics are rubber fish or worms on a weighted jig hook; let them sink, then lift and drop the rod tip so they hop along the bottom. Hard plugs float or dive to a fixed depth. Start with three lures: a 5 g silver spinner, a 10 g spoon, and a 7 cm soft plastic on a 7 g jig head. That set works in almost any water.

Which one, when

Choose natural bait when you are new, when water is cold and fish are slow, when the target is bottom feeders like carp, bream or flounder, or when you want to sit and watch a float. Choose lures when fish are hunting: bass, perch, pike, mackerel, trout. Lures let you cover 200 m of shoreline in an hour, so they are best for finding fish. Bait is best once you know where fish are. Water clarity matters. In murky water fish hunt by smell and vibration, so use bait or a lure with a big blade. In clear water use small natural lures and thinner leader.

Matching bait to species

Think about the mouth and the feeding style. Fish with small downward mouths (bream, mullet, roach) sip small soft baits off the bottom: bread, corn, tiny worm pieces. Fish with large forward mouths (bass, perch, pike, trout) chase moving prey: lures, live-looking worms, small dead fish. Flatfish lie on sand and take worms dragged slowly past them. Mackerel hit any flashing metal. Carp root in mud and love corn, boilies and bread. When you do not know the species in a water, start with a worm under a float at mid depth. Whatever bites tells you what lives there, and you adjust from that first fish.

Bait ethics and rules

Never dump unused live bait into a water. Live bait fish, crayfish and worms from elsewhere have spread disease and invasive species across whole river systems. Many regions ban live fish as bait entirely; check local rules before using anything alive that swims. Collect worms, shellfish and shrimp only where it is allowed and take a small amount. Return the mud and stones you moved on a shore. Tinned corn and bread need no permit anywhere. If you buy bait, ask the shop what is legal locally; they know the current rules better than any website.

Next lesson: Casting a Spinning Reel →

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