Terminal Tackle: Why You Need to Know it Like the Back of Your Hand

Like any sport, fishing is an activity where you can enjoy a peaceful afternoon by a lake and get all the physical activity your body needs for the day. Fishing has been around for more than 40,000 years now and there are good reasons why it's still so popular. Alongside a good exercise, fishing can help boost your mood, improve motor planning, coordination, and build confidence too. Fishing can teach you perseverance and increase independence which is especially important for kids. You can also get a day's worth of vitamin D, thank the sun for that, and build social relationships by becoming part of the large fishing community. This is all great but to reap all the benefits from fishing you need proper gear and accessories, one of which is terminal tackle.

For those of you that are not well endowed in this sport, fishing tackle and terminal tackle are not the same thing. The former refers to fishing gear in general while the latter refers to anything that goes at the end of the fishing rod, bait and such.

A hook is an important piece of tackle that connects the fish to the line. This is why bad or incorrectly placed hooks are often the reason why fisherman don't land their fish. A hook is a piece of wire which used to require some sharpening before you put your lure into the water. With this type of terminal fishing tackle you can choose form a plethora of different styles and sizes, with number 12 being a small and number 12/0 a large hook. Hook styles will depend on the type of fish you're after.

We all know what a lure is but what type of lure you need is not that easy to understand. First of all, you need to get to know the more commonly used lures such as spoons, slices, jigs and spinners. There are more but these are enough to get you started. Spinners have a rotating plastic or metal blade(s) that spins around a metal shaft in the centre of the lure. These are used for Murray Cod fish.

Spoon lures have an oval, egg or rounded fish shape and they are used for redfin, trout, salmon, pike and many other types of fish. Slices are metal lures that are cut out at an angle in hexangular, circular or square rods. This type of lure is made to be retrieved at high speeds and they are used when fishing for salmon, tuna, mackerel, kingfish and tailor. Jigs are large pencil or knife shaped lead lures that are also most effective at high speeds. These are mainly used for mackerel, herring, squid, trevally and more depending on the type of jig.

A swivel can be used for multiple different things such as preventing a line from getting twisted from a rotating bait. Other uses a swivel has is the ability to be used as a joining mechanism, as a separator and restrictor too. Swivels have the same size as hooks with there being different types – box, torpedo, crane, barrel, and snap.

To help a swivel keep a line from twisting fisherman often use keels. Keels are often used in salt waters with heavy-duty keels being used in fresh water applications such as spinning or slow trawling. While keels are not mandatory for every spinning or trawling application, they are still quite helpful.

A fishing line is one of the most essential pieces of terminal fishing tackle. There are usually two types of fishing lines, mono and braided. Mono lines are made of nylon and they can stretch quite a bit before they start to brake. Braided lines have no stretch which means that they are a lot stronger than a mono line. Mono lines are better at shock absorption, have better abrasion resistance and are more affordable than braided lines.

Like lures, sinkers are made of lead and used as bait at a certain depth. Usually larger sinkers are used for hunting game fish at greater depths and smaller ones in shallow waters.

This type of terminal tackle is used to suspend a single or multiple baits in a designated area to help indicate a bite. Floats can be either running or fixed and made of plastic, wood, foam, cork and glass.

Nets together with gaffs are used to land fish. While gaffs are used on fish meant to be eaten, nets can be used on any type of fish. The size of net is going to be dictated by the type of fish you're going to be hunting. Gaffes come in different sizes and are usually meant for larger fish too.

Bats are made of aluminium or wood and are used to prevent a fish from suffering or damaging your boat. These come in the shape of a baseball bat, hence the name, and can be extremely effective at appeasing large fish rapidly.