Fishing tackle is the equipment used by anglers when fishing. Almost any equipment or gear used in fishing can be called fishing tackle, examples being hooks, lines, baits/lures, rods, reels, floats, sinkers/feeders, nets, spears, gaffs and traps, as well as wires, snaps, beads, spoons, blades, spinners, clevises and tools that make it easy to tie knots.
An angler on the Kennet and Avon Canal, England, surrounded by his tackle
A completed assembly of tackle ready for fishing is sometimes called a rig, such as this Carolina rig.
Fishing line with hooks attached
Three types of small lead sinkers
Fishing bait is any luring substance used specifically to attract and catch fish, typically when angling with a hook and line. There are generally two types of baits used in angling: hookbaits, which are directly mounted onto fish hooks and are what the term "fishing bait" typically refers to; and groundbaits, which are scattered separately into the water as an "appetizer" to attract the fish nearer to the hook. Despite the bait's sole importance is to provoke a feeding response out of the target fish, the way how fish react to different baits is quite poorly understood.
Fathead minnow, a common bait fish
A container of earthworms (nightcrawlers) for use as bait
Mussel meat used as cutbait on a hook
Threadfin shad (Dorosoma petenense), a freshwater forage fish commonly captured as live bait