Fishing Equipment

By Mike Adams_ | December 10, 2009

Fishing equipment is called fishing tackle by specialists and hobbyists and it usually refers to rods, lines, hooks, sinkers, spears, lures, bait, reels, nets, and et cetera. The fishing gear that is attached at the end of a line is called terminal tackle

The word tackle when it refers to fishing equipment comes from ‘takel’ which first meant the rigging of a ship, that is, the gear consisting of ropes supporting a ship’s masts and sails. Later, the same word was recorded as having a another meaning, that of apparatus for fishing and that meaning has been retained ever since.

The most basic fishing apparatus is made up of of a rod, a line, a hook, a lure, a bait and a weight or sinker. The line is a simple string especially made for fishing that is both long, strong and yet thin, so that fish can not see it. There are various things that an angler asks about when buying a fishing line, such as its resistance, stretch, strength and so on. The line will be chosen based on what kind of fish the angler intends to catch.

The sinker or weight, also referred to as a plummet, is actually a weight that assists in casting the hook and the bait as far as possible from the shoreline or from the boat that the fisherman is using. They are often made of lead because it is cheap and easy to melt at home. However, lead sinkers have been banned in some parts of the world, especially the very small ones, which are often called ‘shot’. If ingested by birds or other fish, the lead, which is well-known to be poisonous, will cause the death of that animal.

Another basic piece of fishing gear is the hook. This device meant for holding the bait on the line and for hooking into the fish’s mouth. It is tied to the line and the fisherman can select from a pretty variety of shapes and sizes.

Last but not least, the fishing equipment is not efficient without bait or lure. A lure is a device tied at the end of the line that looks and moves something resembling the prey of the fish you are after. Its purpose is to catch the attention of the fish with its colour and movement. Artificial flies and sand eels fall into this category. When the fish bites the lure, it gets hooked.

Whilst, bait, on the other hand, is the stuff physically attached to the hook. Bait is often of two types: animal or foodstuff: ‘animal’ refers to small fish or other water creatures, insects or crawlers and ‘foodstuff’ refers to things like grains, such as wheat, bread or whatever the angler believes might attract the fish.

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