Can you tell a jerkbait from a crankbait, or a swimbait from a wakebait? Knowing how di� erent lures work will help you target the right species.

Words & Images: Kosta Linardos

MASTER OF

PUPPETS

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A Tricky MarketPretty colours, highly detailed shapes, cool

packets, effective marketing campaigns and

hype can have a more dramatic effect on lure

sales than its actual performance.

On�the��ip�side,�a�lack�of�pretty�colours,�

highly detailed shapes, cool packets and an

effective marketing campaign can also be

the downfall of a lure that’s actually highly

effective�in�the��eld�–�that’s�just�basic�business�

and marketing. However, as anglers who want

to be buying the best product that catches us

�sh�consistently,�we�need�to�wise�up.�

As a lure enthusiast and someone who

reviews tackle for a living, I’ve always known

how marketing and good distribution affects

sales, but it’s recently become strikingly

evident that anglers are missing out on some

gems when they’re right in front of us.

While magazines such as Hooked Up

are extremely powerful when it comes

to communicating new products on the

market and providing in-depth reviews, we

can’t cover every lure. Word of mouth and

social media play a huge part these days,

and unfortunately the new and somewhat

narcissistic quest for sponsorship and social

media notoriety is bringing about some very

questionable posts and images. The educated

angler might have trouble believing certain

�sh�were�caught�on�certain lures.

So, as anglers you need to have a keen

understanding of lure type, their intended

use, how they perform, and when and how

to use them. This will help you make better-

informed purchasing decisions; you can block

out any hype and become a better angler.

I’ve recently noticed the now-discontinued

Wilson Slick Back selling on the second-hand

market for three times their original price.

They are a highly effective lure but at the

time anglers discounted them without even

giving�them�a�go;�they�didn’t�have�a�very��ash�

packet or a high price tag, but that’s no reason

to�discount�a�product.�Wilson�may�just�be�a�

small Australian company when compared

with American and Japanese tackle giants,

but they make some amazing products. Some

good anglers could clearly see these lures

offered something and had success, and now

this cheap crankbait is highly sought-after.

The same goes for many of the lures from

Kaj�Busch’s�Bushy�Lures�brand;�they�are�

discontinued and in demand, fetching very

high prices online.

It’s a shame these lures didn’t get the

recognition they deserved when they were on

the market at accessible prices.

Know Your LuresWhile they may look similar, a swimbait,

wakebait and a glidebait have vastly

different actions and applications. So, the

angler buying one or the other may be quite

disappointed in his purchase once he hits the

water if he doesn’t understand the difference.

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THE JERKBAIT

One of the original and most underrated, undervalued and misunderstood lures to ever grace the tackle boxes of any Australian fi sherman is the jerkbait. You’ve all seen and most probably fi shed with a jerkbait. A jerkbait can be defi ned by the position of its bib. The bib sticks out from under the lure, as opposed to straight out from where the fi sh’s mouth would open. In some models the bib is fi tted a fair way back and some very close up the front. This bib position dramatically changes its action and the way you work it.

Due to the position of the bib and the intended action they are generally shallow-diving lures and mostly come in long and slender, or ‘minnow-style’, shapes. As the name suggests, most jerkbaits are intended to be retrieved with jerks and twitches of the rod. This gives them an action that resembles a prey that is injured and about to die. Jerkbaits dart, dive, kick and the good ones roll and shimmer. When working a jerkbait I often try to work it like a bait that struggles and kicks

to move away from prey or towards a safe place but then is so exhausted it gives up and either sinks, suspends or fl oats, depending on the jerkbait’s buoyancy, and this is where it often is hit. Performing this action takes a bit of getting used to as it requires co-ordination between your rod and reel hand.

You don’t just slowly wind a jerkbait – with some of them you can, but they can do so much more. The slight bit of practice required to work a jerkbait is why many anglers don’t favour them, but they are highly e� ective for many species. They are best fi shed with high-speed reels for more control and faster retrieval of slack line.

If you’re not into jerkbaiting or don’t have any, fi nish this article then drive to your local tackle store and buy some. Whether it’s jewfi sh, barra, trout, bass, bream or whatever, there is a jerkbait out there that’s waiting to get smashed.

MUST HAVE JERKBAITS

Now, the point of this piece isn’t about being

anal or elitist, it’s about anglers understanding

prior to buying how a lure should behave

when you retrieve it through the water. With

a limited understanding of what it does, you

may be choosing the wrong style of lure for

your intended species or application and

therefore wasting your money and catching

less�fi�sh.�

Baits Or Lures? So why is this so? It seems the fact that

Australians�refer�to�artifi�cial�baits�as�‘lures’,�

and not baits, is part of the problem – we’ve

somewhat�ignored�these�defi�ning�categories�

and lost a fundamental form of understanding

and communication. In Australia, when we say

bait, we think of a dead pilchard; however, by

defi�nition�both�lure�and�bait�mean�the�same�

thing.

Pretty much every style of what we refer to as

a�lure�has�the�word�‘bait’�after�it:�spinnerbait,�

crankbait, jerkbait, swimbait, glidebait,

wakebait, stickbait and so on. But here in

Australia, we call them all lures and we

haven’t had a consistent way of describing any

lure we come across, which leads to inaccurate

marketing and communication.

Believe�me,�I�know:�I’ve�edited�thousands�of�

press releases from Australian manufacturers

and wholesalers and it takes a lot longer to

get to the point of what a lure does than an

American or Japanese press release would.

It’s also apparent that we’ve confused shape

with lure style. There is no such lure type as a

minnow, shad, deep-diver or hard-body, yet I

have heard anglers use these terms countless

times – “they’re going for minnow-style lures”,

or “I got him on a deep-diver”. Each style of

lure can have varying shapes and dive depth

– it is its action and response to rod and reel

movement�that�defi�nes�it;�shape,�colour�and�

size are somewhat secondary.

The other thing we do as Australians is overuse

eponyms (using a brand name generically).

Think ice box and Esky; cola/Coke, and

paracetamol/Panadol. We’ve done the same

with lures. Jerkbaits are Rapalas in the south

and Bombers in the north; lipless crankbaits

are Jackalls, inline spinners are Celtas; for a

long time soft-plastics were Squidgies; and

winged lures are Tassie Devils. Now let’s not

take anything away from these brands and

models – they became eponymous because

they’re great lures and pioneers – but it’s

important we understand what style of lure

they are and what they do.

Master Of PuppetsYou�have�to�remember�that�every�lure�or�fl�y�

is like a puppet on the end of your string and

you’re the puppet master; if you don’t know

what your lure is designed to do, you can’t

work that puppet to the best of its ability.

A keen understanding of what’s on the market

and correct application for species and

environment is what separates great anglers

from the rest.

So read on as we identify some common styles

of�lure�or�‘bait’,�explain�how�they�differ�and�

provide some well-known models within each

category to give you some perspective and

maybe some new items for your shopping list.

RAPALA ORIGINAL FLOATER OR CD

DAIWA DOUBLE CLUTCH

NORIES LAYDOWN MINNOW

BOMBER 14A

CLASSIC LURES 120

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THE SWIMBAIT

Lures should be viewed like classical painting styles: you have Impressionism, where you can see the scene, you know what it is, but there is nothing ultra-detailed

or realistic about the way it has been painted; and you have Realism, highly detailed, where the artist tries his best to replicate a scene. A skirted game

lure is like Impressionism; it really looks nothing like a fi sh, but does a great impression of one. A Cranka Crab, however is the ultimate example of Realism; it looks very close to the real thing. In the realm of

‘jointed’ lures, the action of a swimbait is much closer to Realism. They are designed to swim like a healthy

fi sh when simply slow-rolled. Some of them have an amazingly life-like ‘swimming’ action; however,

it’s up to the angler to incorporate fast burns of the reel, jerks and twitches to make that fi sh look sick or injured. To achieve this life-like action, multiple joins are required and these are the defi ning features of

a swimbait. Swimbaits don’t have a bib and can sink at varying speeds or fl oat. They can vary in size from

very small to ridiculously large and heavy. In their larger sizes they can be put into the bigbait category and weigh in excess of 10oz. Swimbaits can be made

from hard or soft plastic or wood but are always defi ned by that life-like ‘swimming’ action.

MUST HAVE SWIMBAITS

LUCKY CRAFT REAL CALIFORNIA

LUCKY CRAFT REAL BLUE GILL

JACKALL GANTIA JACKALL CHIBITAREL

JACKALL GANTAREL BULL SHAD BULL SHAD

THE GLIDEBAIT

Glidebaits are commonly confused with swimbaits, and you can be forgiven for being confused as

most Australian distributors of these American and Japanese creations label them this way. They are

highly e� ective but they have a very di� erent action from a swimbait. While they are a jointed lure, a

glidebait has only the one join and this changes the action dramatically. If you test one out or just punch some of the names below into YouTube to see them

in action, you may be quite shocked at how they swim. They don’t have that same snake-like swimming action of a swimbait. They glide and move in a left-to-

right action, more like a sinking stickbait or jerkbait than a swimbait. They have that realistic shape and profi le of a baitfi sh or a trout, but they’re designed to imitate a fi sh that is about to keel over and die.

Just with the turns of your reel handle you can present a glidebait very well and there is hot debate between anglers as to how much rod action should

be employed. Most glidebaits are big lures, and they’re designed

for getting a strike from those big fi sh that might not look twice at your smaller o� ering. From the research I’ve done it seems that once American bass anglers started using big glidebaits, their captures not only increased in frequency, but the size of the fi sh they were catching increased dramatically. It seems that many anglers here in Australia are fi nding the same results on cod and barra. Bigbait rods are necessary to cast these heavy lures out and low-profi le baitcast

reels are best used to get that side-to-side action.

MUST HAVE GLIDEBAITS

GAN CRAFT JOINTED CLAW

DUO ONIMASU

DEPS SLIDE SWIMMER MEGABASS I-SLIDE

LUCKY CRAFT REAL AYU

DEPS BULLSHOOTER

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THE WAKEBAIT

Wakebaits are another lure getting thrown into the swimbait category, and again, they can be classed as a bigbait as some of them are huge. Much like a swimbait, some wakebaits do have the snaky

swimming action, but not all are jointed. A wakebait is a sub-surface lure, by which I mean it’s designed to

swim just under the surface. You’ll easily be able to tell a wakebait from a swimbait by its defi ning feature, which is a bib. The bib is most

commonly situated under the lure like a jerkbait. When you work a wakebait it creates a wake on the surface and this attracts fi sh. Wakebaits are perfect for fi shing areas that are very snaggy or in shallow waters; best of all it’s visual and you see the strike. So, if it’s jointed and has a bib, it’s a wakebait, not a

swimbait. Don’t discount wakebaits that aren’t jointed – they are excellent lures that have amazing sub-

surface action with a simple slow roll.

— MUST HAVE WAKEBAITS —

THE CRANKBAIT

If one lure category could be called the most popular and had more models under its name than any other it would be the crankbait. There are without doubt more crankbaits in the world than any other lure

type. The crankbait greatly di� ers from the jerkbait as you can just ‘crank’ it in with the reel with no rod

movement and it will have (or should have) an action that fi sh fi nd appealing. Slight jerks and twitches can be placed in your retrieve, but the speed that

you crank and the length of your pause is what will fool your target species. Knowing your lure and the optimal speed and length of pause for your target species is what separates good anglers from great anglers. Crankbaits range in size from tiny 30mm

bream lures through to monsters that are trolled for barra and cod. They can dive to extreme depths or

run quite shallow. They can have every type of shape imaginable and can be trolled or retrieved. They all

generally share the wobble and tail kick action we all know so well but each one di� ers slightly and these ever-so-slight di� erences are what make some lures famous and some end up in bargain bins. Crankbaits

have an action that imitates a wounded prey as opposed to that ‘I’m just about to die’ action of a

jerkbait. They have strong vibration, visual presence and they’re highly e� ective on every species of fi sh.

— MUST HAVE CRANKBAITS —

ECOGEAR SX40 JACKALL CHUBBY

OSP DUNK

CLASSIC LURES DR EVIL

JJ’S STUMP JUMPER ATOMIC HARDZ CRANK

DAIWA RPMDAIWA

TOURNAMENT SPIKE

EVERGREEN NOISY DACHS

JACKALL MIKEY

IMA RATTLIN’ ROUMBA

JACKALL CHAN WAKE

DUEL HARDCORE NINJA SWIMMER

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OTHER LURE TYPESHere is a brief rundown on many other lure types that were once originally made from wood, metal

or lead. There is also a few hybrids and inventions that have come along since. This list obviously doesn’t include soft plastics, jigs and a variety of creature baits, but it does break down various lure

types that are often confused into categories with their original name.

LIPLESS CRANKBAITSometimes referred to as “hardbody

vibes” or “jackalls” due to the popularity of the Jackall TN60.

BIBLESS MINNOWThe bibless minnow is designed to be trolled at high speeds for

pelagic species.

TAIL SPINNERA great little mix of a few

di�erent lures and an underrated lure amongst Australian anglers.

SPINNERBAITWhether it’s bass, toga, yellas or cod the spinnerbait is a highly e�ective lure for

various species.

BLADED JIGA lure that came about this millennium.

Often re�ered to as a chatterbait or Mumbler but these are brand names.

INLINE SPINNERAustralian’s often refer to them as “celtas” but many brands produce

the Inline Spinner.

POPPERPoppers float and the big cupped face

grabs water, makes a bloop or chug sound and causes a lot of commotion. They come in every size imaginable.

STICKBAITA popular and highly e�ective lure. Stickbaits walk and skip along the surface like a fleeing baitfish being chased. They come in sizes from

ultra small to ultra large.

SLUGThis is the simplest lure in existence. A slug is a shiny piece of lead that you retrieve through the water as fast as you can. They can catch

anything and everything.

PADDLER BAITPaddler baits walk or paddle

along the surface. They make a lot of noise, have great action and cause a lot of commotion.

WINGED LURECommonly referred to as “tassies”

as the first lure of this type was Australia’s own Tasmanian Devil.

It’s a hybrid of a spoon and a slug and is highly e�ective.

SPOONSOne of the simplest lures in existence.

Spoons have a great action and can be cast or trolled. They catch everything from trout to mackerel.

PROPBAITMost commonly referred to in Australia

as a “fizzer”, propbaits are a surface lure with two propellers that make a fizzy type sound props spin through

the water.

SPYBAITA spybait is often confused with a propbait. Spybaits sink and are

designed to send out subtle vibrations. They’re big on the American and

Japanese bass scene but never quite took o� here in Australia.

BLADEOften referred to as “vibes”. They di�er from a lipless crankbait. They’re made from a thin metal and vibrate with less

force.