SWIVELS.
A fishing swivel is a small device consisting of two rings connected to a pivoting joint. The swivel is usually made of metal, and the pivoting joint is usually ball- or barrel-shaped. The line from a rod and reel is tied to one end, and a length of fishing line, often terminated by a hook, lure or weight, is tied to the other. The main purpose of the swivel is to allow the line to untwist during line retrieval, preventing undesirable tangling. This is particularly important for users of monofilament test line. A secondary benefit of the fishing swivel is that it may stop a sliding sinker, which depending on fishing method may be placed before or after the swivel. Snap swivels have a safety-pin like clip linked to one of the rings. Lures may be affixed directly to the snap. The presence of the swivel has been said to detract from the effectiveness of some types of lures. Depending on the position of the lure, the hooks can become entangled in various ways with the swivel. It is also noted that swivels can serve as weak points in the line, and therefore lessen the likelihood of landing larger or harder fighting fish. Three-way swivels provide a point of connection for an additional lure or length of line, and are essential for certain line and hook setups. Fishing swivels come in sizes ranging from a few millimeters to several centimeters, and are traditionally either flat black or brass in colour. More modern swivels can be obtained in lustrous red and blue varieties.
WEIGHTS.
A fishing sinker or plummet is a weight used to force a lure or bait to increase its rate of sink, anchoring ability, and/or casting distance. Fishing sinkers may be as small as 1/32 of an ounce for applications in shallow water, even smaller for fly fishing applications, or as large as several pounds or considerably more for deep sea fishing. They are formed into nearly innumerable shapes for diverse fishing applications. Environmental concerns surround the usage of most fishing sinker materials. For example, pyramid sinkers, shaped as the name implies, are used when it is desirable to anchor on the bottom of water bodies. They are attached to the terminal end of fishing line by loops of brass. Another common type, barrel sinkers, feature a narrow hole through their length. Fishing line is threaded through the hole. Yet another common example of sinkers is split-shots—small round sinkers split half-way through and crimped at some point along the line—which are used for nearly innumerable applications. Still another, bullet sinkers—bullet-shaped sinkers, as the name indicates—are used widely in largemouth bass fishing for rigging plastic worms.
HOOKS.
There are a large amount of different types of fish hooks. At the macro level, there are bait hooks, fly hooks and lure hooks. Within these broad categories there are wide varieties of hook types designed for different applications. Hook types differ in shape, materials, points and barbs, and eye type and ultimately in their intended application. When individual hook types are designed the specific characteristics of each of these hook components are optimized relative to the hook's intended purpose. For example, a delicate dry fly hook is made of thin wire with a tapered eye because weight is the overriding factor. Whereas Carlise or Aberdeen light wire bait hooks make use of thin wire to reduce injury to live bait but the eyes are not tapered because weight is not an issue. Many factors contribute to hook design, including corrosion resistance, weight, strength, hooking efficiency, and whether the hook is being used for specific types of bait, on different types of lures or for different styles of flies. For each hook type, there are ranges of acceptable sizes. For all types of hooks, sizes range from 32 (the smallest) to 20/0 (the largest).
The shape of the hook shank can vary widely from merely straight to all sorts of curves, kinks, bends and offsets. These different shapes contribute in some cases to better hook penetration, better fly imitations or better bait holding ability. Many hooks intended to hold dead or artificial baits have sliced shanks which create barbs for better baiting holding ability. Jig hooks are designed to have lead weight molded onto the hook shank. Hook descriptions may also include shank length as standard, extra long, 2XL, short, etc. and wire size such as fine wire, extra heavy, 2X heavy, etc. Hooks are designed as either single hooks—a single eye, shank and point; double hooks—a single eye merged with two shanks and points; or treble--a single eye merged with three shanks and three evenly spaced points. Double hooks are formed from a single piece of wire and may or may not have their shanks brazed together for strength. Treble hooks are formed by adding a single eyeless hook to a double hook and brazing all three shanks together. Double hooks are used on some artificial lures and are a traditional fly hook for Atlantic Salmon flies, but are otherwise fairly uncommon. Treble hooks are used on all sorts of artificial lures as well as for a wide variety of bait applications.
LURES.
There are many types of fishing lures. They are all manufactured in different ways to resemble prey for the fish in most cases, but are sometimes engineered to appeal to a fishes sense of territory, curiosity or aggression. Most lures are made to look like dying, injured, or fast moving fish. They include the following types:
- A Jig is a weighted hook with a lead head opposite the sharp tip. They are often covered with a minnow or crayfish or even a plastic worm to get the fish's attention. The Angler moves the rod to make the jig move.
- Surface lures are also known as top water lures. They float and resemble prey that is on top of the water. They can make a popping sound from a concave-cut head, a burbling sound from "side fins" or scoops or a buzzing commotion from one or several propellers. A few have only whatever motion the Angler applies through the rod itself, though if skillfully used, they can be very effective.
- Spoon lures are made to resemble the inside of a table spoon. They flash in the light while wobbling or darting due to their shape, and attract fish.
- Plugs are also known as crankbaits. These lures have a fishlike body shape and they are run through the water where they can make a variety of different movements caused by instability due to the scoop under the head.
- Soft plastic baits are made of plastic or rubber, and are designed to resemble worms, lizards, frogs, leeches and other creatures.
- Spinners are pieces of wire bent at about a 60 degree angle with a hook on the lower end and a flashy spinner mechanism on the upper end.
- Swimbait is a minnow- like soft plastic bait that is reeled like a plug. Some of these have a swimming tail.
These fishing lures can be made of wood, plastic, rubber, metal, cork, and materials like feathers, animal hair, string, tinsel and others. They can have many moving parts or no moving parts. They can be retrieved fast or slow. Some of the lures can be used by alone, or with another lure.
One advantage of use of artificial lures is a reduction in use of bait. This contributes to resolving one of the marine environment's more pressing problems; the undermining of marine food webs by overharvesting "bait" species which tend to occur lower in the food chain. Another advantage of lures is that their use promotes improved survival of fish during catch and release fishing. This is because lures reduce the incidence of deep hooking which has been correlated to fish mortality in many studies. Mortality by swallowing hooks is mostly caused by the handling stress and damage resulting from removing the hook from the gut or throat. The best course of action when a fish is gut-hooked is to leave the hook and cut the line as soon as possible. Hooks will then be encapsulated or evacuated from the body. Use of non corroding steel is not recommended because a corroding hook will be easier to for the fish to expel.
