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Sea Fishing Lures, how to choose the right one.

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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.

P.S. I have found a brilliant program that sits on your computer and gives you the tide times and heights for your local area anywhere in the world. It’s free so just download it, share the link to this page, use it and enjoy. Download the Free Local Tides Program.

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Deep Sea Fishing Lures are different, How to Pick the Right One.

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Deep sea fishing lures are not just different in size to fresh water fishing lures but also have other characteristics specific to deep sea fishing. It is extemely important for your success as a fisherman who prefers deep sea fishing to learn which lures to choose, when and why. Many times it can seem like a difficult job when you’re confronted with getting to pick a deep sea lure to use.

The facts are that there are some types of lures which work better for catching some types of fish than others. The type you ultimately choose is entirely up to you, but recognizing how to pick the correct one will unquestionably help you catch vastly more fish.

One of the first things that you need to recognize before choosing which deep sea fishing lure you are will use is the size of the fish you are seeking. One of the characteristics of an amateur fisherman is that they do not understand that the size of the fish determines the size of the lure that you should use.

Larger fish demand that you use a larger lure to successfully snare the fish. On the other hand for smaller fish you’ll need to use a lure which can fit in it’s mouth or you’ll fail to hook up even if you manage to get a strike.

Another condition to consider when choosing a deep sea fishing lure is how natural the lure looks and moves in the water. Lures should look like the food your target fish usually likes to eat.

Lures which look completely unrealistic have little chance of catching fish even if somtimes they will try to bite it. However, if you go deep sae fishing with a lure that looks entirely natural then tons of fish will attack it with a very good chance of being caught.

This is another common mistake that amateur fishermen make, using lures that do not look completely realistic. Professionals never make this mistake, they cannot afford to waste their time by not always using realistic looking lures.

The next mistake many amateur fishermen make is to not choose the correct type of line for the the type of lure that you utilize. It seems clear that if you use a heavier lure then you’re going to lose it if you don’t use a heavier line to support the weight of the lure plus the potential weight of the fish you are pursuing. At the same time, a lighter lure can easily be used on a lighter line without being forced to spend money on one of the heavier lines.

Are you aware that an additional consideration when picking a sea fishing lure is deciding whether or not to use live bait?. There are some lures which have been specifically designed to have live bait attached. These often have special fittings to keep the bait from causing any additional drag or spinning while being trolled or retrieved fast.

As you can see from this overview, there is more to choosing your deep sea fishing lures and the associated tackle than immediately meets the eye. Careful choice of lure, matched with line, reel and rod are required to progress from an amateur fisherman who rarely catches fish to a professional who always catches fish.

Saltwater Fishing, What Info Do You Need?

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Apart from choosing sea fishing lures, saltwater fishing reels or the right saltwater fishing rods you will definitely need to know about the tidal movements.

Saltwater or sea fishing does require some additional information that is not required when you fish fresh water. Estuary fishing can be considered saltwater as can the mouths of rivers.

What we are looking at is those areas affected by these tidal movements.

You will need to be aware of how much movement you are likely to get with the tide. This is important regardless of whether you fish from a boat, the rocks or the beach because the tides affect the fishes eating/hunting patterns and your access to the water.

Launching and retrieving a boat can be quite dangerous if there is significant wave action on an exposed ramp and impossible if the tide is too low to get the trailer deep enough to get the boat on. There is a risk of bogging the trailer or tow vehicle.

On the rocks there is a risk of being trapped by a rising tide, especially if the fish are biting and you leave your escape a bit late. Always plan your escape route before you begin fishing and keep your tackle in a manner which will enable you to grab it and run if need be.

You can have similar dangers when fishing from a beach if it is surrounded by high cliffs so the same rules as rock fishing apply, plan your escape route first and watch the tides. The tides can come up surprisingly fast if you are having fun catching fish. The “just one more” syndrome has drowned many fishermen in the past and will do so again, don’t let it be you or your fishing companions.

There is an excellent desktop tool to help you with planning your next fishing trip. It is a small program which can be customized for your local fishing area and will give you the tide times and heights for any day of the year. This is current information and, depending on how close the nearest tidal recording station is to your favored location, is accurate to within minutes and height. The best bit is that it is totally free. Download the Local Tides calculator here.

Whether you are looking to make your fishing trip safer or just to catch more fish this tool can help in the planning.

More information about saltwater fishing, rods, reels and sea fishing lures in the next post.

Saltwater Fishing Reels, What’s the Difference?

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While this post is actually about saltwater fishing reels lets just go back in time a little first.

Can you remember when you first began fishing? Did you begin with a hand line? Perhaps one of those you can buy at some little shop at the sea side? It might have been on a plastic bait caster spool or perhaps you had one that you made with the piece of wood and notched cut in each end.

And I bet you caught fish with it. Probably some poor unsuspecting fish suicided on your hook but you caught it and proudly took it how to be cooked up. Mine wouldn’t have even been a mouthful but it was the best tasting fish ever.

After a while though you wanted to catch bigger fish and needed to cast further from the shore line or even use one of those fancy sea fishing lures you had been eying off in the shop. That really flashy red one with the feathers out the back surely would catch the biggest salmon in the ocean wouldn’t it? You saved up your pocket money for weeks and finally bought a saltwater fishing rod and reel combination and that lure.

You almost ran down to the beach and, having watched the other fishermen casting from the shore, you just knew how to do it. You wind back and cast. The lure tangles around the end of the rod. Hmmm. OK, you know what went wrong, you just forgot to release that bail thingy. You do that and the lure hits the sand. Right, you need to old onto the line by pinching it against the handle of the rod with one finger and then release the bail. Ah ha, got that working, now wind back and cast. You’re lucky, the lure misses your ear on the way past and actually lands in 1/2″ of water.

This casting stuff is a bit harder than it looked. In the interests of shortening this story a little you do begin to become proficient at casting and get the flash lure out into the breakers. After several hours, you’re no quitter, you have aching arms and no fish. Is this a dodgy lure you have bought? Not at all but it might not be suitable for the conditions or location in which you are using it. You may not be able to get it far enough out and your retrieval action might not make the lure look very much like food to the fish out there.

As your fishing skills improve you will most likely be looking to add to your saltwater fishing tackle. One of the most important elements of this is the choice of fishing reel. A quality fishing reel is important to your success in many ways and most people abuse them. A fishing reel is not designed to act as a winch, it is designed to keep the pressure on a hooked fish when he wants to go for a little run, it is designed to allow the line to flow off freely for casting and it is designed to allow the line to be taken up and layed down smoothly when winding it in.

Unless you choose a saltwater fishing reel which matches and balances your saltwater fishing rod, holds enough of the type of line you need to use and does all those other things then it will be a pig of a thing to use. It will seemingly fight you at every turn and create more line tangles then you could possibly imagine.

Most of those rod and reel combination sets are actually reasonably well balanced and can work well for catching bait fish but don’t ever think that you are going to be able to catch decent fish with it. Sure there will be some one out there who has caught good fish with one of these cheap sets but for every one who has there will be thousands who haven’t.

The vast difference in size of the fishing reels reflect the many different ways you can go fishing and the different fish you can hunt, only you can identify what you like to do and therefore what size reel you need. All you need to consider at the moment is wht type of reel will work best with your rod.

There are 3 main types of reel, the closed face spinning reel, the open faced spinning reel and the bait casting reel. In saltwater fishing the bait caster reel is usually used for trolling on a boat and are excellent for this purpose. I find that when I cast with these I can usually guarantee an hours fun untangling line. The closed face spinning reel is the absolute easiest to learn how to cast with. They work well with bait or sea fishing lures but you should concentrate on working the estuaries, the beaches and around the rocks. The third type of saltwater fishing reel is the open faced spinning reel. These are an excellent multi purpose reel which can provide good casting distance and a very fast retrieve if required. You can really crank these babies. I have had a lure skipping over the water with one of these.

In general a medium sized open faced spinning reel with several hundred feet of 12 pound breaking strain line makes a good saltwater fishing reel add a saltwater fishing rod of about 6 feet with a nice whippy action will make a good multi-purpose saltwater fishing rig. I like a two piece rod so I can easily pack the rod and other gear away for traveling but that is just personal preference.

For more help grab a good book, pick up a magazine, ask at the local tackle shop or keep coming back here.

Deep Sea Fishing Lures

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I found a couple of blogs with links to some deep sea fishing lures information.

Deep sea fishing lures are different to normal lures because they need to be heavier and stronger. The also work best if they are green, blue and some yellow. That’s because fish can see colors and these are the colors which show up best at depth.

Unfortunately, deep sea fishing lures are also more expensive so you really want to be sure your fishing reel is stuffed full of some of the finest fishing braid and a good fishing leader between the braid and the lure.

It is interesting that the most common fishing reel used for deep sea fishing is a heavy duty version of the bait casting fishing reel. I suspect that it is because there is no need to cast with the risk of a great tangle that inexperienced fisher folk usually get with the bait casting reel. The retrieve on the bait casting fishing reel is far less likely to put additional twists in your braided fishing line than the open faced spinning reel.

When fishing with lures you really don’t want any addition twists in your fishing line as this just might put an additional strain on your line, potentially weakening it, when you are attempting to land that record fish.

Any way, enjoy the information on these sites about deep sea fishing lures.

  • Deep Sea Fishing Lures – One thing about deep sea fishing lures are their availability. You won’t find these lures at any bait shop. These lures are available at higher end stores such as Cabella’s or Bass Pro Shop. At these stores, you will unlimited amount of …
  • Deep Sea Fishing for Beginners | Deep Sea Fishing – Most Recent; Deep Sea Fishing for Beginners · Fishing For Tuna · Why Choose A Charter Service · Tools For Deep Sea Fishing · Deep Sea Fishing Lures · Deep Sea Fishing Gear · Deep Sea Fishing – San Diego · Deep Sea Fishing – Miami, FL …
  • fishing beginerrs – Latex and different humor sea fishing lures draw a humongous difference of species much as Ostinato, Painter, and Mackerel all lures someone unlike methods on how they should be fished, many are a text of a factual temptation fish and …
  • Sea Fishing Gear Lures, Lines, Rigs – Author: Thirdlaner Keywords: Sea Fishing Lures Rig Tackle Added: June 11, 2009.
  • What are the best spinners and lures for sea fishing – Best sea fishing lures. I was recently asked this question via email, regarding the best spinners / lures for sea fishing. Hi I’m a complete amateur when it comes to spinning . Was just wandering which are the best all round spinners and …

Sea fishing lures – Care and Maintenance. Part 2 of 2.

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Many hard sea fishing lures have poor hook up rates so it is extra important that you make sure the hooks are in the best shape they can be. If your lures do have poor hook ups you may like to consider changing the size of the hooks to better match the type of fish you are hunting. Small hooks won’t catch larger fish and large hooks won’t catch small fish.

Other things to consider are that bent or rusty hooks also won’t catch fish. If your hooks have been bent and reshaped several times then you should replace them. If you have lures which cannot have the hooks replaced, throw them away. They are no good for long term use and you will lose the best fish you’ve hooked with it.

The colored wooden or plastic lures often suffer from chips, gouges and scratches. These can, and should be repaired because these can unbalance the action in the water and scare off the fish rather than attract them. Fill the gouges with fiberglass putty, touch up the paint work with model paint ot nail polish. Octopus type lures can have new skirts tied onto them.

Finally you need to make sure that you store your traces and leaders properly so they don’t end up tangled, kinked and useless. Use a larger diameter device such as an old hand caster or large plastic bottle. The bigger the diameter the better as you want the traces to be stored as straight as possible. If you can remove the lures from the traces then you should store them separately in a dry container. I like to put corks over the points of the hooks to protect unwary fingers. I also like to store the sea fishing lures singly in their own containers, look for things like medicine bottles or even short lengths of plastic water pipe plugged at each end. If the containers are not see-through then it helps to put labels on them.

Follow these simple steps and keep using your saltwater lures for a long, long time.

Sea fishing lures – Care and Maintenance. Part 1 of 2

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Sea fishing lures have advantages over baits because of the the handling issues, some people just don’t like the feel of bait.  One of the main advantages of lures over baits is that the lures will keep a lot longer. But you do have to maintain the lures or they will rust, go blunt or break when you next use them.

Blunt hooks don’t catch fish, rusty hooks either break the line or saw out of the fish. None of these things are good for you or the fish. Maintenance is the key to successful fishing and maximizing the chances of catching and keeping those you hook.

Simple things can make your sea fishing lures last much longer. Begin by always washing your lures out with fresh water after every fishing trip. When they are dry you need to coat them with a film of oil to prevent rust. Some people like to use a light spray oil like CRC, WD-40 or similar. Others like to use an oily rag, even if it is motor engine oil, and just wipe your lures down.

I have some issues with these approaches and think that it is essential to wash your lures with detergent to get the oil off them before using them. Because of that I actually prefer to use either a vegetable oil, even a spray on, used for cooking or, my personal favorite, fish oil. I then don’t wash the lures before I use them as I think that the smell and taste of these oils will not stop the fish striking and may even improve the possibility.

Before putting your gear away you need to examine it carefully, check the lures and traces carefully for damage and deterioration.

  • bent, cracked or rusting hooks;

  • rusting, fraying or kinks in wire and cable;

  • abrasion or knots in mono filament and multi filament lines;

  • sleeves, knots and splices which are slipping or coming undone;

  • damage done to lure bodies by fish teeth.

Make the decision now about if you need to repair or replace before your next trip. Sharpen the hooks or even replace them.  Your timely maintenance will help your saltwater lures last for and keep catching fish for years.

More in Part 2…

Sea Fishing Lures

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Sea fishing lures are used in many different ways.  When towed behind a powered boat it is called railing or trolling, when towed behind a rowed boat it is called wiffing or trolling so there is significant chance of confusion.

I personally prefer to use the cast and retrieve method from a boat, the shore or a jetty.  When using the cast and retrieve method it is important to retrieve in a manner which is similar to the normal movement of the creature the lure is supposed to look like.  It pays to watch carefully the movement of such creatures as shrimp, small fish, sand worms etc and then determine how best to make your lure act like that.

You are trying to fool a fish into believing that something you have thrown into the water is edible and escaping.  When you can do that succesfully you will have many tales to tell about the ones which didn’t get away.

Tight Lines.