When fishing, you need to know which fishing lure will help you reel in the best catch.
Fishing lures are small, artificial objects often shaped like a fish prey that are attached to a hook and tied to the end of a fishing line. In this list, we will compile and explain the different types of fishing lures that are most commonly used, while also giving you our recommendations.
Believe it or not, an essential part of lure selection is color. This explains why there are so many crazy colors out there. The general rule for lure color is “bright day, light colors; dark day, dark colours".
A. Jigs
Jigs are a type of lure that usually has a metal body with a design that mimics the look of a fish. They are weighted with a treble hook attached to the front/back of the jig.
When to Use Jigs?
Jigs are versatile and can be used virtually anywhere including salt (offshore or from jetty or shore) and fresh water applications.
Jigging is the form of lure fishing that uses specific movements to mimic an injured baitfish erratic swimming style. As it imitates the injured fish, there will be bound to have fish that will be attracted to this lure. Unlike spinnerbaits or flies, Jigs which move through the water horizontally, Jigs are intended to create a jerky, vertical motion.
When jigging from the bank or shore, the lure must be cast out into the body of water and then jigged back to the angler relatively quickly.
Although, we would recommend using jigs for boat fishing. Since the jig is weighted and is heavy, it will sink to your desired sea level without being carried around too much by the ocean current. Furthermore, the weight makes it smoother to cast with your fishing rod.
Pros & Cons of jigging
Many anglers like jigging because you do not need to go through the hassle of buying or sourcing for live baits. But Jigging should come with a warning as it is both addictive and an adrenalin rush. It can be demanding and requires a good basic level of fitness to last a full day on the water.
Jigging is also labour intensive, time consuming and requires technical knowledge to determine when and where it can be used. Furthermore while the jigs are normally affordable, a good jigging rod sets (especially dedicated offshore jigging rods) can be expensive.
B. Hard Lures
These includes Jerkbaits, Crankbaits, Swimbaits and Topwater lures.
1. Jerkbaits
A jerkbait is a minnow-shaped lure, that is slender and long (sometimes torpedo shaped) and are designed to be used primarily as a topwater bait. Jerkbaits mostly have three treble hooks and are also known as “stickbaits”. Stickbaits refers to a series of versatile hard-body lures that may be the most well-known multi-species baits in the history of sport fishing.
Jerkbaits would be a great choice when pursuing schooling and/or fast-moving game fish. Jerkbaits should swim over fish, not below them. They are among the few lures that are genuinely effective the whole year. Normal jerkbaits are some of the noisest baits on the water, and work well in even muddy water.
The 2 popular Jerkbaits used by anglers in Singapore are the Rapala X-Rap & Rapala Shadow Rap.
Our personal favourite Jerkbait is the Everest Quickcatch Sinking Minnow. Comes in 5 different colours and are very effective in SG Waters.
Meet The Temensis Hunter Who Swears by Everest Quickcatch
The primary difference between Jerkbaits and other lures is that they don’t have any built-in action. Most lures have blades, skirts, bibs, etc. to help create a swimming action while being retrieved.
Since Jerkbaits can float, suspend or dive, Fishing with Jerkbaits requires the angler to impart action into the lure. Once you learn to balance the bait in the water then you will become more inspired by the potential it brings. Stick baits are one of the most effective lures out there.
2. Top Water Lures
The three common top water lures are Poppers, Walk The Dog Lures and Frog Lures. They come in all shapes and sizes, and in most cases float. Top water lures are mainly made of hard plastic and are equipped with treble hooks. When fishing a topwater lures, choose a floating or shallow diving lure. The size of the stick bait you choose will depend on baitfish in the area.
2a. Popper lures
2b. Walk The Dog lures
Walking the dog, refers to making a topsurface lure move rhythmically from side to side by repeatedly twitching the rod tip. This lure works wonderfully for covering water and drawing fish from a broad area because the lure keeps moving and the steady surface disturbance allows fish to zero in on a target. The 7' rod is the perfect length for walking baits and the tip is designed for topwater baits.
28g Rapala Skitter V13 Rattling Topwater Lure
Frog fishing offers an exhilarating, fast-paced, sight fishing opportunity that pushes your anticipation to the limit. Frog Lures are designed to mimic the color and action of the real frog. They are the perfect choice for fishing at heavy vegetation. Armed with two upswept hooks, they'll will slide over vegetation that a treble simply wont.
2c. Frog lures
Frog fishing offers an exhilarating, fast-paced, sight fishing opportunity that pushes your anticipation to the limit. Frog Lures are designed to mimic the color and action of the real frog. They are the perfect choice for fishing at heavy vegetation. Armed with two upswept hooks, they'll will slide over vegetation that a treble simply wont.
3. Crankbaits
Most anglers will agree that hard baits are a go-to for when you do not know where the fish are and when the water is deep. Most of these lures are retrieved fast and aggressive, meaning you can cover a lot of water in a short period of time. This is especially important when you do not have electronics.
Crankbait is a lure with a plastic lip that dives underwater when it is reeled in. They are used to target fish at specific depths. The length and angle of the plastic lip is what determines the depth that the bait can reach. Longer, less-angled, lips dive deeper than short, sharp-angled, lips.
Crankbaits are lures usually made out of a plastic body with an imitation design of a fish, with 2 treble hooks attached on the body. Just like the flies and jigs, this can be used anywhere. However, it is best recommended to use this to fish in freshwater for bass and such. This is due to the fact that the treble hooks on the crankbait makes it easy for it to be snagged on the bottom of the sea floor or areas with rocks. Which can be quite troublesome especially for beginners.
When using the crankbait, you will need to mimic the movement of small fish when it is in the water, bob it up and down in the water from time to time by jerking your rod up and down. This will make the crankbait seem more life like and appealing to the fish.
Fishing with a crankbait shallow waters can prove to be difficult. Since most crankbaits are made to dive to deeper depths (up to 25 feet or more) they are a much better choice for deep lakes (which we have none in SIngapore) or Offshore. Experienced anglers or boat captains will know what type of fish can be found at what depths at what time of year. Crankbaits make it possible to target these fish, and they do it very well.
Difference between Stickbaits/Jerbaits & Crankbaits
- Best for shallow waters : Jerkbaits
- Best for shallow to medium waters: Jerkbaits and smaller and/or lipless crankbaits
- Best for medium to deep waters: Crankbaits
C. Soft Plastics
Fishing with soft plastics is an amazing way to target fish.
Soft Plastic lures are made out of a rubbery material in the shape of a fish with a tail. The rubbery consistency allows the tail to have lots of movement when traveling through the water, mimicking the swimming of a fish. This is the most realistic moving lure that we have on this list, due to the fact that when it swims, it looks like a real fish (due to the tail). Moving around on the hunt for fish as opposed to sitting and waiting for the bite is a thrill.
Soft Plastics are available in a wide array of colours.
Close-up of a Soft Plastic Bait
When using soft plastics, pair it with jig heads.
Squishy Lagoons (left) paired with Everest Jigheads (right) (Get your soft plastics here!)
Jig heads are weights with hooks attached onto them. This makes it so that the soft plastic is able to sink into the water while also having a hook attached on it. Soft Plastics are extremely effective and fun. You can feel the fish strike as you work the soft plastic with the rod in your hand. For beginners, I would personally recommend you to use this lure at a paid pond for an exciting fish experience with many bites.
Fresh or Live Bait
Just in case you are wandering if fresh bait better than artificial bait, the answer boils down to personal preference, how much dirt you want to get your hands into and your fishing environment. Fresh or Live Bait is messy and smelly than fishing with lures or soft plastics. Furthermore, live bait needs special storage considerations like refrigeration, portable air-pump to circulate the water, water bucket etc. And all these storage considerations, added weight to your fishing trip. Fresh bait also means more trips to SGFishingRigz to top up your supplies (not that we mind seeing you more often).
Summary of Which Lure to Use?
It all depends on the type of fish you would want to catch, the place you are fishing, and the time of day. But in a quick nutshell;
1. For larger fish and boat fishing - Jigs, Tenya & Crankbaits.
2. For reservoirs - Hard Lures & Soft Plastics
3. For paid ponds - Soft plastics.
Note : The use of live bait in reservoirs is banned in Singapore as it may contaminate our reservoirs.
Get Your Lures Here!
Happy Fishing!
