Ecology and life history

Although most species live in inshore and estuarine waters, 29 species spend their entire life cycles in freshwater. These species are found in disjunct tropical regions of South America (one species), Central Africa (three species) and Southeast Asia (25 species).


Natural defenses :
A pufferfish pressing its mouth against a camera's lens at Big Island of Hawaii
The puffer's unique and distinctive natural defenses help compensate for its slow locomotion. It moves by combining pectoral, dorsal, anal, and caudal fins. This makes it highly maneuverable, but very slow, and therefore a comparatively easy predation target. Its tail fin is mainly used as a rudder, but it can be used for a sudden evasive burst of speed that shows none of the care and precision of its usual movements. The puffer's excellent eyesight, combined with this speed burst, is the first and most important defense against predators. Its backup defense mechanism, used if successfully pursued, is to fill its extremely elastic stomach with water (or air when outside the water) until it is much larger and almost spherical in shape. Even if they are not visible when the puffer is not inflated, all puffers have pointed spines, so a hungry predator may suddenly find itself facing an unpalatable, pointy ball rather than a slow, tasty fish. Predators which do not heed this warning (or who are "lucky" enough to catch the puffer suddenly, before or during inflation) may die from choking, and predators that do manage to swallow the puffer may find their stomachs full of tetrodotoxin, making puffers an unpleasant, possibly lethal, choice of prey. This neurotoxin is found primarily in the ovaries and liver, although smaller amounts exist in the intestines and skin, as well as trace amounts in muscle. It does not always have a lethal effect on large predators, such as sharks, but it can kill humans.
Not all puffers are necessarily poisonous; Takifugu oblongus, for example, is a fugu puffer that is not poisonous, and toxin level varies wildly even in fish that are. A puffer's neurotoxin is not necessarily as toxic to other animals as it is to humans, and puffers are eaten routinely by some species of fish, such as lizardfish[3] and tiger sharks.Also, Japanese fish farmers have grown nonpoisonous puffers by controlling their diet.

Puffers are able to move their eyes independently, and many species can change the color or intensity of their patterns in response to environmental changes. In these respects, they are somewhat similar to the terrestrial chameleon. Although most puffers are drab, many have bright colors and distinctive markings, and make no attempt to hide from predators. This is likely an example of aposematism.


Reproduction :
Blackspotted puffer, Arothron nigropunctatus
Many marine puffers have a pelagic, or open-ocean, life stage. Spawning occurs after males slowly push females to the water surface or join females already present. The eggs are spherical and buoyant. Hatching occurs after roughly four days. The fry are tiny, but under magnification have a shape that is usually reminiscent of a pufferfish. They have a functional mouth and eyes, and must eat within a few days. Brackish water puffers may breed in bays in a similar manner to marine species, or may breed more similarly to the freshwater species, in cases where they have moved far enough upriver.
Reproduction in freshwater species varies quite a bit. The dwarf puffers court with males following females, possibly displaying the crests and keels unique to this subgroup of species. After the female accepts his advances, she will lead the male into plants, moss or another form of cover, where she can release eggs for fertilization. The male may help her by rubbing against her side. This has been observed in captivity, and they are the only commonly captive-spawned puffer species.

Target-group puffers have also been spawned in aquariums, and follow a similar courting behavior, minus the crest/keel display. However, eggs are laid on a flat piece of slate or other smooth hard material, to which they adhere. The male will guard them until they hatch, carefully blowing water over them regularly to keep the eggs healthy. His parenting is finished when the young hatch, and the fry are on their own.
Information on breeding of specific species is very limited. T. nigroviridis, the green-spotted puffer, has recently been artificially spawned under captive conditions. It is believed to spawn in bays in a similar manner to saltwater species, as their sperm were found to be motile only at full marine salinities, but actual wild breeding has never been observed.

In 2012, male pufferfish were documented carving large geometric, circular structures in the seabed sand in Amami Ōshima, Japan. The structures apparently serve to attract females and provide a safe place for them to lay their eggs.

Thank For WIGI.

Types

           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 crawfish or even a plastic worm to get the fish's attention. The angler moves the rod to make the jig move.

Deep water jigs used in saltwater fishing consist of a large metallic weight, which gives the impression of the body of the baitfish, which has a hook attached via a short length of kevlar usually to the top of the jig. These types of jigs can be fished in water depths down to 300 metres.

• Surface lures are also known as top water lures, poppers and stickbaits. 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 fisherman 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 or minnows. 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 bib at the front under the head.
• Artificial flies are designed to resemble all manner of fish prey and are used with a fly rod and reel in fly fishing.
• Soft plastic baits/lures is a general category of lures that are made of plastic or rubber, and are designed to resemble fish, crabs, squid, worms, lizards, frogs, leeches and other creatures.
• Spinnerbait 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 form of soft plastic bait/lure that resembles an actual baitfish. It can be retrieved like a plug/minnow lure. Some of these have a swimming, paddle, tail. The development in the finishes in these types of plastic lures have meant that the finishes achieved now look more like a baitfish than ever before.

          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.

Thank for Info : http://en.wikipedia.org

Fisherman

 

          A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen and fish farmers.The term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men and women. Fishing has existed as a means of obtaining food since the Mesolithic period.

Thank for Info : http://en.wikipedia.org

Plug (fishing)

          Plugs are a popular type of hard-bodied fishing lure. They are widely known by a number of other names depending on the country and region. Such names include crankbait, wobbler, minnow, shallow-diver and deep-diver. The term minnow is usually used for long, slender, lures that imitate baitfish, while the term plug is usually used for shorter, deeper-bodied lures which imitate deeper-bodied fish, frogs and other prey. Shallow-diver and deep-diver refer to the diving capabilities of the lure, which depends on the size of the lip and lure buoyancy.


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Fishing rod

          A fishing rod or a fishing pole is a tool used to catch fish, usually in conjunction with the pastime of angling, and can also be used in competition casting. (Sustenance and commercial fishing usually involve nets). A length of fishing line is attached to a long, flexible rod or pole: one end terminates in a hook for catching the fish. A 'fishing pole' is a simple pole or stick for suspending a line (normally fastened to the tip), with a hooked lure or bait. They are most commonly made of fiberglass, carbon fiber, graphite or, classically, bamboo, and are the only fishing levers properly referred to as "poles". In contrast, 'fishing rod' refers to a more sophisticated casting tool fitted with line guides and a reel for line stowage. Fishing rods vary in action as well as length, and can be found in sizes between 24 inches and 20 feet. The longer the rod, the greater the mechanical advantage in casting.


Thank for Info : http://en.wikipedia.org

Techniques

Techniques

          There are many fishing techniques or methods for catching fish. The term can also be applied to methods for catching other aquatic animals such asmolluscs (shellfish, squid, octopus) and edible marine invertebrates.

          Fishing techniques include hand gathering, spearfishing, netting, angling and trapping. Recreational, commercial and artisanal fishers use different techniques, and also, sometimes, the same techniques. Recreational fishers fish for pleasure or sport, while commercial fishers fish for profit. Artisanal fishers use traditional, low-tech methods, for survival in third-world countries, and as a cultural heritage in other countries. Mostly, recreational fishers use angling methods and commercial fishers use netting methods.

          There is an intricate link between various fishing techniques and knowledge about the fish and their behaviour including migration, foraging and habitat. The effective use of fishing techniques often depends on this additional knowledge. Some fishermen follow fishing folklores which claim that fish feeding patterns are influenced by the position of the sun and the moon.

Thank for Info : http://en.wikipedia.org

Bass fishing

           Bass fishing is the activity of angling for the North American gamefish known colloquially as the black bass.There are numerous black bass species considered as gamefish in North America, including largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieui), Spotted bass or Kentucky bass (Micropterus punctatus), Guadalupe bass (Micropterus treculii), and many other species and subspecies of the genus Micropterus. Though referred to as bass, all are actually members of the sunfish family (Centrarchidae: order Perciformes).

          Modern bass fishing has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry. The sport has changed drastically since its beginnings in the late 19th century. From humble beginnings, the black bass has become the second most specifically sought-after game fish in the United States. The sport has driven the development of all manner of fishing gear, including rods, reels, lines, lures, electronic depth and fish-finding instruments, drift boats, float tubes, and specialized bass boats.

Thank for Info : http://en.wikipedia.org

Fishing

Fishing

          Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering,spearing, netting, angling and trapping.

The term fishing may be applied to catching other aquatic animals such as molluscs, cephalopods, crustaceans, and echinoderms. The term is not normally applied to catching farmed fish, or to aquatic mammals, such as whales, where the term whaling is more appropriate.

          According to FAO statistics, the total number of commercial fishermen and fish farmers is estimated to be 38 million. Fisheries and aquaculture provide direct and indirect employment to over 500 million people.In 2005, the worldwide per capita consumption of fish captured from wild fisheries was 14.4 kilograms, with an additional 7.4 kilograms harvested from fish farms. In addition to providing food, modern fishing is also a recreational pastime.

Thank for Info : http://en.wikipedia.org

Surface lure

Surface lure

          A surface lure is a fishing lure designed to waddle, pop, lock, drop, pulse, twitch or fizz across the surface of the water as it is retrieved, and in doing so imitate surface prey for fish 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, carries one or two treble hooks, and has an eyelet at the front of the lure body to attach the 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 front of the lure body. Fizzers get their action both from the fisherman 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.

Sizeable fish can create a sudden, noisy and spectacular explosion when they take a surface lure, usually giving the fisherman a fright in the process. Catching fish on surface lures is therefore considered a fairly exciting form of fishing.

Thank for Info : http://en.wikipedia.org

Lures

         
          In conventional fishing, smallmouth may be successfully caught on a wide range of natural and artificial baits or lures, including crankbaits, hair jigs, plastic jerkbaits (such as Rapala Husky Jerks, Mister Twister Twister Tails, Rapala X-Raps, or even a Rico Popper), spinnerbaits, and all types of soft plastic lures, including curly tail grubs or tubes with lead head jigs. They may also be caught with a fly rod using a dry or wet artificial fly, nymphs, streamers, or imitations of larger aquatic creatures, such as hellgrammites, crawfish, or leeches. Floating topwater popper fly patterns and buzz baits are also popular for smallmouth fishing.


Thank for Info : http://en.wikipedia.org

Topwater fishing lure

          A Topwater fishing lure is a type of fishing lure, usually floating, that may be moved about the surface of water in order to attract and cause fish to attempt to strike the lure. Non-floating versions may be retrieved at sufficient speed to cause them to travel at the water's surface.

          Such lures are often designed to resemble smaller creatures that would normally be considered as food for the target fish species. (They are painted to look like the prey of the target species; usually smaller fish, frogs, or insects.) One of the key features of the topwater lure is the "action" that it imparts as it travels along the water's surface. The more effective lures have an action that closely resembles that of the actual living creature. The lure is typically fitted with one of more fish hooks (usually treble hooks) to hook the target fish as it strikes the lure. Variations exist that include internal rattles to generate sound that might be similar to the sounds created by the actual, live creature being emulated. some also include small light sources such as LEDs that might be battery powered. There are also jointed bodies, moving eyes, holographic finishes, etc. all of which are incorporated to encourage the target species to strike the lure. The lure is normally attached to the end of a fishing line that is attached to a fishing rod and reel and is cast into areas where the target species might be found and "worked" skillfully within that are to encourage strikes. This type of fishing is considered by many to one of the more exciting methods used to catch fish. A frequent mistake when fishing topwater lures is to initiate the hookset immediately upon seeing the fish strike the lure. In many species, especially bass, it is important to wait a few seconds before initiating the hookset to ensure that the lure is in the best position in the fish's mouth to optimize the chances of a successful hooking. black bass, spotted seatrout, ladyfish, redfish, bluefish, tarpon, bonefish, barracuda, & pickerel are examples of fish that might be taken by the topwater approach.


Thank for Info : http://en.wikipedia.org

Fishing lure

           A fishing lure is an object attached to the end of a fishing line which is designed to resemble and move like the prey of a fish. The purpose of the lure is to use movement, vibration, and colour to catch the fish's attention so it bites the hook. Lures are equipped with one or more single, double, or treblehooks that are used to hook fish when they attack the lure.
          Lures are usually used with a fishing rod and fishing reel. When a lure is used for casting, it is continually cast out and retrieved, the retrieve making the lure swim or produce a popping action. A skilled angler can explore many possible hiding places for fish through lure casting such as under logs and on flats

Thank for Info : http://en.wikipedia.org

Doctor fish

Doctor fish is the name given to two species of fish: Garra rufa and Cyprinion macrostomum. Other nicknames include nibble fish, kangal fish,physio fish, and doctorfishen; in non-medical contexts, Garra rufa is called the reddish log sucker. They live and breed in the outdoor pools of some Turkish spas, where they feed on the skin of patients with psoriasis. The fish are like combfishes in that they only consume the affected and dead areas of the skin, leaving the healthy skin to grow, with the outdoor location of the treatment bringing beneficial effects. The spas are not meant as a curative treatment option, only as a temporary alleviation of symptoms, and patients usually revisit the spas every few months.


Thank for Info : http://en.wikipedia.org

Diversity of fish

The term "fish" most precisely describes any non-tetrapod craniate (i.e. an animal with a skull and in most cases a backbone) that has gills throughout life and whose limbs, if any, are in the shape of fins. Unlike groupings such as birds or mammals, fish are not a single clade but a paraphyletic collection of taxa, including hagfishes, lampreys, sharks and rays, ray-finned fish, coelacanths, and lungfish. Indeed, lungfish and coelacanths are closer relatives of tetrapods (such as mammals, birds, amphibians, etc.) than of other fish such as ray-finned fish or sharks, so the last common ancestor of all fish is also an ancestor to tetrapods. As paraphyletic groups are no longer recognised in modern systematic biology, the use of the term "fish" as a biological group must be avoided.

Many types of aquatic animals commonly referred to as "fish" are not fish in the sense given above; examples include shellfish, cuttlefish, starfish, crayfish and jellyfish. In earlier times, even biologists did not make a distinction – sixteenth century natural historians classified also seals, whales, amphibians, crocodiles, even hippopotamuses, as well as a host of aquatic invertebrates, as fish.However, according the definition above, all mammals, including cetaceans like whales and dolphins, are not fish. In some contexts, especially in aquaculture, the true fish are referred to as finfish (or fin fish) to distinguish them from these other animals.

A typical fish is ectothermic, has a streamlined body for rapid swimming, extracts oxygen from water using gills or uses an accessory breathing organ to breathe atmospheric oxygen, has two sets of paired fins, usually one or two (rarely three) dorsal fins, an anal fin, and a tail fin, has jaws, has skin that is usually covered with scales, and lays eggs.

A typical fish is ectothermic, has a streamlined body for rapid swimming, extracts oxygen from water using gills or uses an accessory breathing organ to breathe atmospheric oxygen, has two sets of paired fins, usually one or two (rarely three) dorsal fins, an anal fin, and a tail fin, has jaws, has skin that is usually covered with scales, and lays eggs. Each criterion has exceptions. Tuna, swordfish, and some species of sharks show some warm-blooded adaptations—they can heat their bodies significantly above ambient water temperature. Streamlining and swimming performance varies from fish such as tuna, salmon, and jacks that can cover 10–20 body-lengths per second to species such as eels and rays that swim no more than 0.5 body-lengths per second. Many groups of freshwater fish extract oxygen from the air as well as from the water using a variety of different structures. Lungfish have paired lungs similar to those of tetrapods, gouramis have a structure called the labyrinth organ that performs a similar function, while many catfish, such as Corydoras extract oxygen via the intestine or stomach. Body shape and the arrangement of the fins is highly variable, covering such seemingly un-fishlike forms as seahorses, pufferfish, anglerfish, and gulpers. Similarly, the surface of the skin may be naked (as in moray eels), or covered with scales of a variety of different types usually defined as placoid (typical of sharks and rays), cosmoid (fossil lungfish and coelacanths), ganoid (various fossil fish but also living gars and bichirs), cycloid, and ctenoid (these last two are found on most bony fish). There are even fish that live mostly on land. Mudskippers feed and interact with one another on mudflats and go underwater to hide in their burrows.[10] The catfish Phreatobius cisternarum lives in underground, phreatic habitats, and a relative lives in waterlogged leaf litter.

Fish range in size from the huge 16-metre (52 ft) whale shark to the tiny 8-millimetre (0.3 in) stout infantfish.

Fish species diversity is roughly divided equally between marine (oceanic) and freshwater ecosystems. Coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific constitute the center of diversity for marine fishes, whereas continental freshwater fishes are most diverse in large river basins of tropical rainforests, especially the Amazon, Congo, and Mekong basins. More than 5,600 fish species inhabit Neotropical freshwaters alone, such that Neotropical fishes represent about 10% of all vertebrate species on the Earth.

Fish hook : Shapes and names

Shapes and names

Hook shapes and names are as varied as fish themselves. In some cases hooks are identified by a traditional or historic name, e.g. Aberdeen, Limerick or O'Shaughnessy. In other cases, hooks are merely identified by their general purpose or have included in their name, one or more of their physical characteristics. Some manufacturers just give their hooks model numbers and describe their general purpose and characteristics. For example:

• Eagle Claw: 139 is a Snelled Baitholder, Offset, Down Eye, Two Slices, Medium Wire
• Lazer Sharp: L2004EL is a Circle Sea, Wide Gap, Non-Offset, Ringed Eye, Light Wire
• Mustad Model: 92155 is a Beak Baitholder hook
• Mustad Model: 91715D is a O'Shaughnessy Jig Hook, 90 degree angle
• TMC Model 300: Streamer D/E, 6XL, Heavy wire, Forged, Bronze
• TMC Model 200R: Nymph & Dry Fly Straight eye, 3XL, Standard wire, Semidropped point, Forged, Bronze

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, fly imitations or 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.

Single, double and treble hooks

Bait hook shapes and names include the Salmon Egg, Beak, O'Shaughnessy, Baitholder, Shark Hook, Aberdeen, Carlisle, Carp Hook, Tuna Circle, Offset Worm,Circle Hook, suicide hook, Long Shank, Short Shank, J Hook, Octopus Hook and Big Game Jobu hooks.
Bait hook shapes and names

Fly hook shapes and names

Fly hook shapes include Sproat, Sneck, Limerick, Kendal, Viking, Captain Hamilton, Barleet, Swimming Nymph, Bend Back, Model Perfect, Keel, and Kink-shank.

Fish hook : Hook types

   There are a large number 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).

Fish hook : Anatomy and construction

    Commonly referred to parts of a fish hook are: its point - the sharp end that penetrates the fish's mouth or flesh; the barb - the projection extending backwards from the point, that secures the fish from unhooking; the eye - the end of the hook that is connected to the fishing line or lure; the bend and shank - that portion of the hook that connects the point and the eye; and the gap - the distance between the shank and the point. In many cases, hooks are described by using these various parts of the hook. Example: Wide gap, 2X Long Shank, Hollow Point, Turned Down Ring Eye Bait hook. Contemporary hooks are manufactured from either high-carbon steel, steel alloyed with Vanadium, or stainless steel, depending on application. Most quality fish hooks are covered with some form of corrosion-resistant surface coating. 


    Corrosion resistance is required not only when hooks are used, especially in saltwater, but while they are stored. Additionally, coatings are applied to color and/or provide aesthetic value to the hook. At a minimum, hooks designed for freshwater use are coated with a clear lacquer, but hooks are also coated with gold, nickel, Teflon, tin and different colors. Mustad, for example, produces hooks in six colors, including black.

Fish hook : 2

    The fish hook or similar device has probably been made by man for many thousands of years. Examples of some of the earliest recorded fish hooks were from Palestine about 7000 BC. In 2011, archaeologists in the Jerimalai cave in East Timor discovered the world's oldest fish hook, a shell hook between 16,000 and 23,000 years old.Man has crafted fish hooks from all sorts of materials including wood, animal and human bone, horn, shells, stone, bronze, iron up to present day materials. In many cases, hooks were created from multiple materials to leverage the strength and positive characteristics of each material.
    Norwegians as late as the 1950s still used juniper wood to craft Burbot hooks. Quality steel hooks began to make their appearance in Europe in the 17th century and hook making became a task for professionals.

Fish hook

   A fish hook is a device for catching fish either by impaling them in the mouth or, more rarely, by snagging the body of the fish. Fish hooks have been employed for centuries by fishermen to catch fresh and saltwater fish. In 2005, the fish hook was chosen by Forbes as one of the top twenty tools in the history of man. 


     Fish hooks are normally attached to some form of line or lure device which connects the caught fish to the fisherman. There is an enormous variety of fish hooks in the world of fishing. Sizes, designs, shapes, and materials are all variable depending on the intended purpose of the fish hook. 


    Fish hooks are manufactured for a range of purposes from general fishing to extremely limited and specialized applications. Fish hooks are designed to hold various types of artificial, processed, dead or live baits (bait fishing); to act as the foundation for artificial representations of fish prey (fly fishing); or to be attached to or integrated into other devices that represent fish prey (lure fishing).

        A Topwater fishing lure is a type of fishing lure, usually floating, that may be moved about the surface of water in order to attract and cause fish to attempt to strike the lure. Non-floating versions may be retrieved at sufficient speed to cause them to travel at the water's surface.

        Such lures are often designed to resemble smaller creatures that would normally be considered as food for the target fish species. (They are painted to look like the prey of the target species; usually smaller fish, frogs, or insects.) One of the key features of the topwater lure is the "action" that it imparts as it travels along the water's surface. The more effective lures have an action that closely resembles that of the actual living creature. The lure is typically fitted with one of more fish hooks (usually treble hooks) to hook the target fish as it strikes the lure. Variations exist that include internal rattles to generate sound that might be similar to the sounds created by the actual, live creature being emulated. some also include small light sources such as LEDs that might be battery powered. There are also jointed bodies, moving eyes, holographic finishes, etc. all of which are incorporated to encourage the target species to strike the lure. The lure is normally attached to the end of a fishing line that is attached to a fishing rod and reel and is cast into areas where the target species might be found and "worked" skillfully within that are to encourage strikes.


       This type of fishing is considered by many to one of the more exciting methods used to catch fish. A frequent mistake when fishing topwater lures is to initiate the hookset immediately upon seeing the fish strike the lure. In many species, especially bass, it is important to wait a few seconds before initiating the hookset to ensure that the lure is in the best position in the fish's mouth to optimize the chances of a successful hooking. black bass, spotted seatrout, ladyfish, redfish, bluefish, tarpon, bonefish, barracuda, & pickerel are examples of fish that might be taken by the topwater approach.


 Thank for : wiki

Topwater Fishing Lure

   A Topwater fishing lure is a type of fishing lure, usually floating, that may be moved about the surface of water in order to attract and cause fish to attempt to strike the lure. Non-floating versions may be retrieved at sufficient speed to cause them to travel at the water's surface.

    Such lures are often designed to resemble smaller creatures that would normally be considered as food for the target fish species. (They are painted to look like the prey of the target species; usually smaller fish, frogs, or insects.) One of the key features of the topwater lure is the "action" that it imparts as it travels along the water's surface. The more effective lures have an action that closely resembles that of the actual living creature. The lure is typically fitted with one of more fish hooks (usually treble hooks) to hook the target fish as it strikes the lure. Variations exist that include internal rattles to generate sound that might be similar to the sounds created by the actual, live creature being emulated. some also include small light sources such as LEDs that might be battery powered. There are also jointed bodies, moving eyes, holographic finishes, etc. all of which are incorporated to encourage the target species to strike the lure. The lure is normally attached to the end of a fishing line that is attached to a fishing rod and reel and is cast into areas where the target species might be found and "worked" skillfully within that are to encourage strikes. This type of fishing is considered by many to one of the more exciting methods used to catch fish. A frequent mistake when fishing topwater lures is to initiate the hookset immediately upon seeing the fish strike the lure. In many species, especially bass, it is important to wait a few seconds before initiating the hookset to ensure that the lure is in the best position in the fish's mouth to optimize the chances of a successful hooking. black bass, spotted seatrout, ladyfish, redfish, bluefish, tarpon, bonefish, barracuda, & pickerel are examples of fish that might be taken by the topwater approach.

7 Tips To Making Your Own Wooden Fishing Lures 

      I have not had much to do with making my own wooden lures even though I have been fishing for a lot of years and against my better judgement, decided to give it ago. As anglers and fishos, we all know what it is like, the cost of replacing lost lures. Little did I know what I had gotten myself into!! so I thought I would put something together to give any budding lure designers a helping hand.   

      Have you ever wanted to learn how to make your own top water wooden fishing lures and did not know where to start?  If you have thought about it and like me thought, "it's just going to be to hard", well don't, because I have done some hard yards and have put together several inportant tips that will put you on the road to making your own Wooden Fishing lures that work perfectly the way you want them to, are professionally finished, cost less and give you that great sensation when you catch your first fish on a lure that you have made.

      If you are like me and been arround a few years and have been fishing since you could walk, you will know what it is like over the years to loose that favourite lure that wasn't cheap to buy or to loose that new lure that you are trying for the first time and seeing it swim away in the side of the fishes mouth, Another missed Photo Op. or see it smashed after one hit!! 

There is just so many lures to choose from when you walk into the tackle shop today, I can stand there for hours admiring them all. I want them all!!! but it comes down to how deep are your pockets. Sometimes I wonder if I should invest in a Fishing Tackle Shop then I could get the Fishing Lures at cost!

But that thought is quickly put out of my mind because I would have to work more and that might mean I would loose valuable fishing time. So I think I'll give making my own wooden fishing lures ago it cannot be to difficult right? I mean what could be more satisfying, then to catch that perfect fish on a lure you built yourself. Not only that, I can build up my fishing tackle and my lure box and not hurt my wallet as much which means I can use the money I save to buy other fishing gear. That sounds like a plan because you can never have enough fishing gear.

So enthusiastically I started and a short time later decided I needed to give myself a server slap in the face!! What was I thinking? there were so many things I did not think about and when I finally got my first lure in the water I nearly broke down and wept. The thing would not swim properly and the paint was coming off after only a few casts. At this point I was ready to chuck it in and thought what a wast of time but after giving it more thought, (which I should have done in the first place), I decided to sit down and make up a plan which took into consideration the basic things that I had not thought about and problems I had not thought of!!

Anyone who has ever attempted to make wooden fishing lures will understand the months and sometimes years of trial and error that go into consistently getting it right. Along the way we all experience failures.

The lures that don't swim properly and/or have a poor action

Lures that spin when retrieved or trolled

Lures that won't dive or aren't properly balanced

Lures that won't dive deep enough

Lures that have the wrong angle of attack

Lures that don't swim straight and just can't be tuned to swim straight

Lures that don't have the intended combination of action and dive depth

Lures that don't perform properly once the terminal tackle is fitted

Lures that just aren't strong enough to cope with fierce fish or tough conditions

Lures that perform OK, but don't have the quality paint job of professional lures

On and on the list goes

So with these problems in mind I decided to put some steps in place that would if not eliminate then minimise the issues you will have making your own lures.

The best and most important thing you can do is research and remember 'If you dont quit, you will succeed.

Tip # 1 - Types

Go to the tackle store, get online it doesnt matter how but spend some time studying the different kinds of wooden lures that you can buy or make and what makes them work. Even if you never get started making your own lures, taking the time to do this will improve your lure fishing success, because you will get to know how to pick the best lure for any set of circumstances. For example, knowing the combination of body shape, bib size and angle, bib shape, tow point location, internal weighting and hook selection that's required to make a deep diving lure (for example) will save you hours of wasted time and frustration making lures that just won't do the job. Likewise, if you need a shallow diver, jerk bait, casting lure or bibless minnow. You need to know how and why they work so that you can custom make wooden lures to meet your exact needs.

Tip # 2 - Style

There are so many different types of wooden lures you can make. Minnows (floating, suspending or sinking), bibless lures, jointed minnows, topwater lures (fizzers, buzz baits, prop baits, chuggers and skipping poppers), stickbaits, jerkbaits, sliders,...etc, etc.  These different lure styles all require similar wood working skills, but there is a world of difference in the way they are designed and built. Pick a style of wooden lure initially, and persevere until you work out how to consistently make that style of lure over and over again. When you can consistently make a wooden lure that not only swims, but has exactly the action you require and consistently catches fish, then it's time to start making another style. 

 Most new lure makers seem to start with either bibbed (floating/diving) lures or topwater lures like chuggers and prop baits. Both of these styles are relatively easy to make, so they are good starting points. Bibbed minnows are a good place to start because they are one of the most versatile and consistent fish catchers around.

Tip # 3 - Design

If there is a quick way to get frustrated and eventually give up on wooden lure making, it is to start carving a piece of wood without a firm plan in mind. You need to be able to visualise what your finished lure will look like before you start, or the result will almost certainly be a useless lure and wasted time. Search around for some lure templates, or try to shape something similar to your favourite fish catching lure from the tackle shop. If you are new to lure making you will waste less time if you start by making a lure design that is proven to work. Once you have it perfected, you can start modifying your lure template, or creating your own designs without suffering too many failures.  Make templates, because doing so means that when you design your own wooden lure and it is catching fish, you can use the template to make more and more of the same lures over and over again, and they'll all be just as effective. All you will need to do is change the paint job and/or maybe target a different species.

Tip # 4 - Timber Selection

What timber to use? When you start out be careful because nothing will dampen your enthusiasm faster than making a beautiful lure, but using the wrong wood and finding it doesn't work properly, is too hard to shape, is unbalanced or paint doesn't stick to it. There are thousands of timbers that can be used to make wooden lures successfully. But there are just as many that don't work so well. Stick with timbers that are light in weight, even if you are going to make sinking lures. Soft enough to easily shape, and yet strong enough to take the punishment.

Balsa wood is great for many freshwater applications, but can be a little too soft for some saltwater ones. Cedars, basswood and pine are generally pretty reliable.

Tip # 5 - The Paint Job

 Firstly "dont stress", if the other attributes of the lure are working O.K. the fish will most likely strike at it anyway regardless of how the paint looks. You can get your homemade wooden lures to look every bit as good as any bought one, but it won't happen overnight. Probably more effort, time and tears go into working out a system for painting wooden lures than any other aspect of lure making. The good news is, while you're learning to turn your plain wooden lure bodies into works of art, the fish will be just as happy to eat the practice ones that you learn with. Don't be discouraged if it takes a long time to get the painting process as good as you want it to be. Just keep making and painting lures, and don't be worried about throwing some of your reject paintjobs in front of fish, because if the size and action are right the paintjob really isn't that important!

Tip # 6 - Source the Components

When you start making lures it is importand to find sources for all the materials you will need. Develop a list of all the components  and sources for all the materials you need. Compile a list of the company names, addresses, phone numbers and web addresses for everything you will need to get the lure finished.

Tip # 7 - The Right Tools

When starting out you dont have to spend heaps on tools but you will need some basic tools to get started. Having the right tools will save a lot of frustration. You can slowly build up your tools but it is a good idea to source what is required and where you can get them from at the right price. As with the components, develop a list of the tools you will need and again compile a list of names, addresses and phone numbers of where you can get them.

I hope these 7 tips have been helpfull and will assist all the budding new lure makers out there to to give it a go. There is a lot of help out there from the guys that have been doing it for many years and have a wealth of experience. So dont be  stubborn like I was and bash away at it. All the info to get you making your own lure professionally and landing that first fish on your own lure is out there. Remember Tight Lines and No Bananas.

Thank You For : http://www.streetarticles.com

The term "fish" most precisely describes any non-tetrapod craniate (i.e. an animal with a skull and in most cases a backbone) that has gills throughout life and whose limbs, if any, are in the shape of fins. Unlike groupings such as birds or mammals, fish are not a single clade but a paraphyletic collection of taxa, including hagfishes, lampreys, sharks and rays, ray-finned fish, coelacanths, and lungfish. Indeed, lungfish and coelacanths are closer relatives of tetrapods (such as mammals, birds, amphibians, etc.) than of other fish such as ray-finned fish or sharks, so the last common ancestor of all fish is also an ancestor to tetrapods. As paraphyletic groups are no longer recognised in modern systematic biology, the use of the term "fish" as a biological group must be avoided.

Many types of aquatic animals commonly referred to as "fish" are not fish in the sense given above; examples include shellfish, cuttlefish, starfish, crayfish and jellyfish. In earlier times, even biologists did not make a distinction – sixteenth century natural historians classified also seals, whales, amphibians, crocodiles, even hippopotamuses, as well as a host of aquatic invertebrates, as fish.However, according the definition above, all mammals, including cetaceans like whales and dolphins, are not fish. In some contexts, especially in aquaculture, the true fish are referred to as finfish (or fin fish) to distinguish them from these other animals.

A typical fish is ectothermic, has a streamlined body for rapid swimming, extracts oxygen from water using gills or uses an accessory breathing organ to breathe atmospheric oxygen, has two sets of paired fins, usually one or two (rarely three) dorsal fins, an anal fin, and a tail fin, has jaws, has skin that is usually covered with scales, and lays eggs.

    A typical fish is ectothermic, has a streamlined body for rapid swimming, extracts oxygen from water using gills or uses an accessory breathing organ to breathe atmospheric oxygen, has two sets of paired fins, usually one or two (rarely three) dorsal fins, an anal fin, and a tail fin, has jaws, has skin that is usually covered with scales, and lays eggs. Each criterion has exceptions. Tuna, swordfish, and some species of sharks show some warm-blooded adaptations—they can heat their bodies significantly above ambient water temperature. 

     Streamlining and swimming performance varies from fish such as tuna, salmon, and jacks that can cover 10–20 body-lengths per second to species such as eels and rays that swim no more than 0.5 body-lengths per second. Many groups of freshwater fish extract oxygen from the air as well as from the water using a variety of different structures. Lungfish have paired lungs similar to those of tetrapods, gouramis have a structure called the labyrinth organ that performs a similar function, while many catfish, such as Corydoras extract oxygen via the intestine or stomach. Body shape and the arrangement of the fins is highly variable, covering such seemingly un-fishlike forms as seahorses, pufferfish, anglerfish, and gulpers. Similarly, the surface of the skin may be naked (as in moray eels), or covered with scales of a variety of different types usually defined as placoid (typical of sharks and rays), cosmoid (fossil lungfish and coelacanths), ganoid (various fossil fish but also living gars and bichirs), cycloid, and ctenoid (these last two are found on most bony fish). 

     There are even fish that live mostly on land. Mudskippers feed and interact with one another on mudflats and go underwater to hide in their burrows.[10] The catfish Phreatobius cisternarum lives in underground, phreatic habitats, and a relative lives in waterlogged leaf litter.

Fish range in size from the huge 16-metre (52 ft) whale shark to the tiny 8-millimetre (0.3 in) stout infantfish.

Fish species diversity is roughly divided equally between marine (oceanic) and freshwater ecosystems. Coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific constitute the center of diversity for marine fishes, whereas continental freshwater fishes are most diverse in large river basins of tropical rainforests, especially the Amazon, Congo, and Mekong basins. More than 5,600 fish species inhabit Neotropical freshwaters alone, such that Neotropical fishes represent about 10% of all vertebrate species on the Earth.

“Most guys set the hook wrong!”


We spend a lot of time in a boat fishing, much of that time with guys who make their living fishing whether that’s fishing on a professional bass fishing tournament trail or guiding fishing clients on a local lake 350 days a year. These guys have had more than the average angler’s opportunity to learn from mistakes. So we pick their brains, mining for a few nuggets of information we didn’t already know.


But I often ask guys one question over and over regardless of what subject we’re discussing.


“What do you see most anglers doing wrong?”


That question more than any other gets a lot of good responses but I don’t ask it so they can poke fun. I ask it because if we at Wired2Fish can identify the common mistakes and not-so-common ones as well, we can make you a better angler in all facets of the game.


One topic that has come up a lot this year is hooksets. I spent the majority of this year testing some theories on hooksets that I’ve gotten from a myriad of anglers from all over the country.  Let me tell you, it’s tough to play with hooksets when the fish are biting and you run the risk of losing them because you’re “trying something different” on them.


But more professional anglers notes that your weekend and beginning anglers set the hook poorly and it results in more lost fish. Which if you’ve fished much at all, there’s really nothing worse than losing or breaking off a fish. But we’ve been given some great advice on how to overcome this shortcoming.


Slack. That is the biggest culprit on a bad hookset. It took one angler changing his thinking over the years and losing a bunch of fish to finally figure out that constant tension is more important than jarring hooksets.


“I call it snap setting,” said Greg Hackney, Strike King and Bassmaster Elite Series pro and noted big bass in the thick stuff expert. “We’ve all done it and we’ve all seen other guys do it. The fish bites. What’s the guy do? He drops his rod tip and then starts winding a little a bit and then cracks back as hard as he can. Then the fish fights, jumps and gets off. And you’re left wondering how anyone could set the hook any harder.”


It was actually a practice phenomenon that led Hackney to a realization about good hookset form.  He was losing some fish in a tournament and couldn’t explain what it was. Was his hook flexing? Was his he just missing the timing on the hookset? Was he setting it too hard? Or maybe to soft?


The next tournament he was practicing and a fish bit and he started shaking his rod trying to get the fish to let loose as he didn’t need to stick him now and wanted to save the fish for the tournament. The fish pulled and bent his rod and never let go. Nothing but straight tension on the line and the fish wasn’t letting go.


The next fish and the same scenario unfolded all over again. Then it dawned on him. In practice, he can’t get the fish to let go, no matter how much he pulls on the line. Yet come tournament time, he sets the hook hard enough to drive a nail into a plank of wood and still loses the fish.


Simultaneously he was working on a new line of heavy cover hooks and lures with Strike King that featured hooks that absolutely would not flex.


Now the two ideas have melded into a lockdown approach to setting the hook.


“When a fish bites a lure, say a jig, and you rare down and use that drop the rod and rapid explosive hookset, I believe a lot of times you’re popping the fishing mouth open because there is a bit of slack in the line and the lure all the sudden pops to the front,” Hackney said.


What Hackney has found, that when a fish bites his jig, he mentally slows himself down and starts reeling into the fish. As he does he brings his rod towards the fish reeling until he feels the pressure start. Sometimes his rod even begins to bend at the tip. As the pressure begins, then he starts sweeping his rod back in what he calls “leaning into them.”


“I just reel and lean into them and I feel like the pressure and the sharp points on these new Heavy Cover hooks and the fact they won’t flex means it’s coming up and forward until it finds something to bury into. With hooks that flex, you will find the hooks sometimes scratch and grab but don’t really penetrate because they lost their piercing angle as they flex.”


Now Hackney said he’s hooking and landing nearly every bass that bites and has never felt more confident about his mechanics and his equipment.  Rather than popping the fish’s mouth open he’s getting penetration in the mouth and jaw of the fish like never before.


This really stuck with me because I had come to a similar revelation with drop shotting years ago. When you dropshot in clear Ozark Lakes like Table Rock, Beaver and Bull Shoals, you do a lot of vertical fishing, catching fish you see on your graph. I was really good at finding and catching suspending bass in the top of deep standing timber, but I was only hooking and landing them sporadically.


I thought I had to be a rocket reaction hookset guy to get those deep fish up and out of the trees. So at the first little tick or pressure I’d jerk upward. And I’d land some bass. But I started forcing myself to slow my reaction and just reel and raise my rod tip up high as I reel into them. The line goes so tight it slips the drag. That’s when I’m sure they are stuck. My fishing partners still are blown away at how hard I pull on a drop shot fish with 6-pound line. But you know your hooks, you know your line and you know your drag. If you have confidence in all that, then it works just about every time.


That’s where Hackney is at. He’s got confidence in his rods and reels, his line and his new line-up of Heavy Cover hooks and lures from Strike King that when he reels down and puts pressure on a fish and then leans into them, he’s going to have them stuck every time.


Obviously there will always be exceptions. Sometimes you need to let them eat a 12-inch worm a bit longer and you’ve got to give them slack so they can. Sometimes on a frog bite, you may not want them to bury up in the grass while you wind down on them. So it definitely is something that each angler has to figure out for themselves. But I’ve hooked and landed more quality bass this year than in many years in the past and I think a lot of it has to do with the slow down and lean into them approach with good equipment and sharp hooks.


How do you set the hook? Would take the time to experiment and change your technique if you thought it would help you land more bass when fishing different situations on the water?


Thank for : http://blog.wired2fish.com