For recreational or sport fishing and commercial fishing, you need a way to trick the fish into thinking your bait, or lure, is one of their usual food sources. There is artistry and creativity in the world of lure making. For fishing salmon, lures that resemble an anchovy, or a minnow, or a needlefish, or a herring, or a squid can be useful—these lures are called hoochies, and can be used for different fishing styles such as trolling, which is trailing a baited line behind a vessel, or jigging, which uses a weighted line with a lure that you jerk up and down to catch the attention of passing fish. This is a salmon spoon—very useful for trolling because its movement imitates a wounded smaller fish that salmon would usually attempt to eat. They can be plain, or decorated. Another small lure that looks like a fish is this little wooden painted one. Part folk art, part tool—there’s a whole industry of lure makers making lures for every feeding habit, environment, and food source. And finally, this hotspot flasher dazzles even me. It can be used at the same time as a hoochie. It moves erratically, and you can aim a light source at it to make it the most interesting and visible thing in the water for a fish. These salmon fishing lures are just a small part of the available lures in our Museum Collection and on the market.
