Lures or bait catch more ?

[kind_cir]

What catches more fish in your opinion. Would it be lures or bait.
I prefer both styles, and will fish a bait like a lure and get greater success.
Like in the bream season I'll put a herring fillet on a squidgie jig head and work it like a soft plastic and catch more. If I were to put on a Gulp soft plastic and fish it the same my catch rate drops.

[Scott nthQld]

Well the way I see it is that a bait is the intended targets natural food source and that's what fish will be looking for when they are on the chew, lures are just an imitation of their their natural prey. So if a lure and bait were fished side by side to try and catch one fish, the bait would win hands down, while fishing both in identical ways IMO.

But saying that, whilst fishing lures, you tend to cover more ground and therfore you may expose the lure to more fish, whilst while using bait, you are at anchor or a slow drift with the bait trailing behind.

Also, the action of a lure can entice a fish to bite when they are off the chew, but usually not because they are hungry, but a territorial instinct the fish may have, where as fishing baits you are targetting the fish while they are feeding, if they're not hungry, they won't eat a bait, even right infront of their nose, now matter how suductively it wafts in the current.

[tunaticer]

I clicked lures because I no longer use bait basically, maybe once a yr for beach whiting.

Bait often does outcatch lures but popularity of the bait brigade is waning as more people opt for the dark side or at least hop in the shade for a while.

[Cammy]

Bait for me :)

Cam

[nezevic99]

I suppose it depends what you are fishing for in the end. We chase snapper at deep tempest primarily. We used to be bait only, i started getting into soft plastics and dad wouldn't touch them. After several trips where i had to stop fishing so that Dad could catch a fish before we reached our combined bag limit he started to convert. He still fishes with a bait out but most of the fish, and all the bigger fish, come from the plastics.

[mookyandlumpy]

for me bait catches more , as i have just started to use plastics and lures so i have not got my technique down only had the tails bitten of a few times

[breamnut]

depending who is on the other end of the line and what fish were targeting

[Jeremy87]

Like everything in fishing it depends. I can't understand why people want to generalise everything. I can think off many examples where 1 would outfish the other or one is more practical than the other. Also anglers experience plays a huge role. It's best to fish whatever way you enjoy the most.

[Synful]

I'd have to say bait, mainly because I've never had great success on lures but I'm keen to turn that around with a lot of hard work! ::)

[northey]

What happens if a fish bites you off and swallows the plastic, ? does it die or throw up the lure?Seriously, I"ve often wondered. Merry Christmas to all fishers, cheers northey

[MeePee_99]

What happens if a fish bites you off and swallows the plastic, ? does it die or throw up the lure?Seriously, I"ve often wondered. Merry Christmas to all fishers, cheers northey


Nah they through it back up after a little while when they realise they cant eat it.

[Synful]

What happens if a fish bites you off and swallows the plastic, ? does it die or throw up the lure?Seriously, I"ve often wondered. Merry Christmas to all fishers, cheers northey

I've heard rumours of them passing it; sure there's at least one post on here of a snapper with one in their intestine or partially out their bum...

[tailorboi99]

I voted 'lure' because bait you have to wait for a fish to bite. With a lure you make the fish bite it by action in your rod - much more funner and challenging. I only use bait for sharks and other large fish such as tuna.

Tom

[haggis]

I voted bait as I recently have only went lures only , but with no succes .
I always feel with bait that I will catch a fish .
but will keep trying with the lures
cheers jimmy

[finga]

Stinky stuff for me.
Lures work for me too but haven't used them of much lately and as for plastics...well just say I have not got a clue on how to use the suckers.

[Donny Boy]

I'll go bait................

then again I haven't caught a bloody thing last 2 trips out !

:'(:'(

[Synful]

I'll go bait................

then again I haven't caught a bloody thing last 2 trips out !

:'(:'(

Here I was thinking that I was special being cursed... ::)

[Remo]

Put simply live bait!

Ray

[greenie.77]

Lures during the day, Bait at night.

[FNQCairns]

Bait definitely and without doubt if fished correctly for the target and conditions and type of fishing, cannot think of a situation where it could be reversed...guess poping for GTs can be a little hard with bait so lures will work better there...fast trolling a livebait can cause problems too.....as can jigging at full force a garfish.....

.......tis all a little silly really and IMO shows the lack of broad experience some fishos do have.

cheers fnq

[RAT-KING]

Once again depending on the area, fish, time of day, depth, current
theyr'e all factors that play a part in wat technique will work better, in estuaries the big thing u do notice is the quality of fish is usually better with lures u may still get the same taget species with lures but a lot less rubish!
Cheers Simon

[garman1]

this thread could run along the same lines as which is better a etec or a 4 stroke really...........

Maybe a combo of etec and fresh bait or 4 stroke and lures or etec and lures and 4 stroke and bait........................ sorry couldn't help myself. Think I will go fishing with my 2 stroke and use bait and plastics just to keep the gods happy.

[Pelagic 660]

Generally I prefer bait, however I troll lures. recently gave plastics a go fishing from the shore whilst on holidays, amazed I did better on the plastic banana prawn than on any other bait, even live shrimp, so parden the punn but I am hooked.:D

[Nico.d.R]

plastics mainly unless shark fishin but after seeing keechies post i might start useing poppers for the sharks lol .

cheers nico

[BREAMBOSS01]

ive only managed to catch a grinner on s/ps, but lose the tails to lil nibblers , i usually use bait cause i have better luck.

[smoked]

bait catches more fish in the end...... but i love the challange of catching fish on lures. much more rewarding in the end.

smoked

[fishel]

When I was fishing for tailor at Fingal in August my non-fishing husband observed from the rocks that I and one other fisho using bait were catching bigger fish than those using lures. Numbers seemed to be about the same but there was a significant difference in size!

Cheers Eleanor

[Noelm]

I wonder how many times lures would out fish weed on blackfish??

[Noelm]

or worms on Whiting?

[Noelm]

or Cunji and Bread on drummer

[netmaker]

plastics for me. have fished plastics against bait too many times to go back. only time i use bait is for an overnighter on the pick with a berley trail.

[Nic]

When we chase jungle perch we always use lures or plastics... don't know if I've ever heard of someone catching a JP on bait? Could be wrong though...

Although I suppose a live grasshopper or beetle might do pretty well!

[bassfan]

I prefer lurefishing these daze & rarely use bait basically because it is more proactive (as in hunting), more challenging, & overall far more satisfying. I let most of my fish go anyway, but would rather catch one on a lure than ten on a bait.

BF

[snagking]

I think you would land more on bait, but lures definitely produce higher quality fish.

Lures for me, except for yabbies and live bait at night.