HARD BODY FISHING LURES

Hard Body Lures or Hardbaits are normally made from metal, rigid plastics or wood and are designed to mimic live bait fish. To get the most out of fishing with Hard Body lures or HardBaits, we have to understand why and how they work. Hard Body lures can work in one of three ways - Lures that bounce or drag on the bottom, Lures that swim somewhere in the water column and Lures that break or float on the surface.

METAL LURES & JIGS

Generally metal lures, also referred to as "spoons", are made for casting while jigs are made for jigging vertically through the water column, although many anglers have been very successful using either lure type for casting or deep jigging. Metal casting lure sizes usually start around 10g and on average end around 100g. Jigs on the other hand are usually heavier and are normally from around 90g up to 300g or more for deepwater work and larger fish species. See our range of Metal Lures & Jigs

BIBBED LURES - MINNOWS

Bibbed Lures or Bibbed Minnows, also known as Crankbaits, can be made of either wood or rigid plastics and can be hollow or solid and come in a range of shapes and sizes, but all are grouped by similiar swim characteristics. All bibbed lures have a plastic or metal lip or bib mounted on the nose of the lure, which depending on design will control the swim action of the lure and the depth it will track at. A narrow bib will give the lure a tight shimmer movement from side to side and a wider bib will give the lure a wobbling action. The angle of the bib, combined with the bibs surface area will control the tracking depth or dive depth it will track when retrieved.

Bibbed lures also come in floating, suspending or sinking versions and GT Lures has a range of bibbed lures from the 40mm Noeby Crankbait to the Fish Inc Lock 160 , the Maxcatch Wobbler and the larger White Crow Cod Lures.

STICKBAITS

Stick baits are one of the most effective and versatile lures available – most stickbaits rely on the angler to impact an action into the lure by the cast and retrieve method used. Stick baits are readily available from micro sizes for targetting whiting, tailor and bream such as the Fish Inc Flanker 85 through to large stickbaits such as the Fish Inc Fullback for Tuna, Trevally, GT's, Mackerel and billfish with variations for floating, suspending and sinking presentation baits. The full range of stickbaits are available here.

TROLLING LURES

Most trolling lures will come with a bib and or skirt to attract the target fish at the required depth they normally feed at. The Fish Inc Centre has a profile like a squid and comes in 2 sizes (Centre 12 - 150mm/35g and Centre 13 - 170mm/55g) and has a nose bib to get it down the water column and skirts to attract attention. These squid profile lures mimic a squid which is on the menu for many species of predatory fish.

The Fish Inc Squidee range is a smaller lure that mimics squid and is available in Squidee 41mm and Squidee 68mm and Turbo Squidee 150mm fitted with a silicon skirt which mimics squid tentacles.

SQUID JIGS

Squid jigs or Egi jigs are mostly shaped like prawns as this mimics the food source of most squid or calamari species. The major attributes of a good squid jig are the shape, weight, cloth covering the jig, the prongs or barlbess hooks and finally the colours of the squid jig. All squid jigs at GT Lures are selected to provide the angler with the choice of quality jigs at an affordable price. The Fish Inc Egilicious range of squid jigs are availabe in 3 and 3.5 sizes and a full set of colours for all water conditions

SURFACE LURES & POPPERS

Surface lures are designed to pop, pulse, waddle, lock, drop, twitch or fizz across the surface of the water as they are retrieved and imitate surface prey such as mice, lizards, frogs, cicadas, moths and small injured fish. A typical surface lure has a solid body made out of wood or plastic, has one or two treble hooks attached to it and has an eyelet at the front of the lure body to attach fishing line. Waddlers get their action from a scooped metal dish attached to the front of the lure body. Poppers get their action from a cupped face carved or molded into the nose of the lure. Fizzers get their action both from manipulating the lure with the fishing rod and from one or more blades attached to the lure body, that spin when the lure is pulled and create a fizzing noise said to imitate the buzzing wings of a drowning insect.The popper is a very effective and proven lure designed to move water using a concave or hollowed nose. Poppers aim to simulate any sort of distressed creature that might be moving or struggling on the surface of the water such as baitfish, frogs and insects. See our range of Surface Lures & Poppers here.

VIBES & BLADES

Vibes and Blades are designed for open water sub surface presentation and as they both sink they can be allowed to fall to the required depth before being worked by the angler. Most vibes and blades are narrow bodied lures with a flat leading face which acts as a small bib forcing the lure to track through the water in a tight action causing the feels like a vibration through the line to the angler. This vibration in the water also attracts the attention of hungry predators. Some vibes are also fitted with "rattles" which send sound waves to enhance fish attraction. Vibes and Blades come in a range of sizes from micro for bream, trout and redfin through to 20cm or larger for saltwater sportfish. See our range of Vibes & Blades here.

SPINNERS & SPINNERBAITS

Spinnerbaits and Spinners get their name from one or more metal blades attached to the lure which are shaped to spin like a propeller when the lure is in motion through the water. This spinning action creates flash and vibration that mimic small fish or other prey. The most popular types of spinnerbaits are the "in-line spinner", the "safety pin" spinnerbaits and the "tail-spinner". Spinnerbaits are used principally for catching predatory fish such as cod, redfin and bass. The inline trout spinner is a great little lure.