Do you know how to pick the right sea fishing lure for success?  Are you aware of the differences between the saltwater lures available to you?  It is important for your successful fishing trip that you match the lures you use to the fish you are targeting and the waters you plan to fish.  Usually this information only comes from local experience.  Many fishermen, and fisherwomen, rely on their own experience in other areas and attempt to map that onto the new area they are fishing with limited or no success.

The typical response, for most fishermen, at this stage is to either attempt to gain some information from the local tackle shop or wherever the local fishermen hang out.  Unfortunately it is not highly likely that you will get the real information from these sources, well the tackle shop might be OK but the local fisherman wants to protect his best spots.  Wouldn’t you?

The next most likely response is to hire a charter boat with a fishing guide.  A good guide will take you to a number of known good fishing spots, supply you with the right lures for the waters and likely fish.  Perhaps they will also set up your tackle and all so all you have to do is catch and land the fish, they’ll probably help with that as well.

This is an understandable and perfectly reasonable response to the twin problems of wanting to catch some fish and being in an unfamiliar location.  Unfortunately there is almost no chance of you learning very much about the process of choosing the right sea fishing lure for the right location and the right fish.  You need to find out how to do this, ask questions, observe what the fishing guides and/or local fishermen actually do as opposed to what they tell you they are doing.  In reality most of the fishing guides are only too pleased to have a customer who really takes an interest in what they are doing and wants to learn and understand.  Show these people the respect they deserve and they will open up with information.

In reality there is very little difference between choosing a lure for fresh water or saltwater fishing.  You should choose a bigger lure for bigger fish, think about it, what would you rather eat, one big hamburger or 8-9 mini hamburgers if you had to chase them all to eat them?  Personally I think I would go for a bigger meal first up.  Why would fish be any different?  Another thing to be considered is that the fish need to be able to see the lure so in dark or deep water or overcast days you should use a light colored or even flourescent lure.  If you are fishing over a sandy bed, in shallow water or on a bright sunny day then a dark lure should have better success.  Sometimes a flashy lure like a spinner, or one of the spoons will have a devastating effect on the fish.

Mostly, when you are rigging a lure for sea fishing, you will be rigging one in a very similar way to the way you would do it for fresh water fishing.  Really the only difference is the size and shape of the lure you would like to use.  Many of the lures you would use for freshwater fishing resemble small crustaceans, insects or insect lavae and small fish or similar.  Similar lures will work on the smaller predatory fish like salmon, trout, flathead, tarpon and similar.  For larger fish like kingfish, bass, tuna, sailfish, marlin, shark, bonito and other fast moving predatory fish you will need a lure which resembles the type of fish they eat.  This may seem obvious now but many fishermen really don’t think about their target species and what they might like to eat.  Ask at your local tackle shop, do your homework on your target fish and enjoy many happy hours fishing.

Tight Lines.