Many add the word
artificial before the word lure which has been handed down from the fly tyers of old. Imitations of insect patterns has survived for over 100 years by those diehards that believe trout at times will focus primarily only on certain nymphs, hatches and other seasonal bug species. But anglers have so many lure designs to chose from that the word doesn't/
can't apply. It's like saying your casting an
artificial spinnerbait or
artificial crankbait when you say you're casting
artificial lures. Lures are
real - period, whether a skirted jig + trailer or a Chatterbait. If anything, the general label I would use for all lures is
creature X and move on from there to specific lure types.
I, like most (elderly) anglers, remember when lures were advertised as
minnows or frogs or some insect larvae. But yesterday I happened to be watching a Power Grub I copied from a mold as it was swimming back to me while being retrieved at a steady pace. Until that moment I thought -
fish - because it looked like a fish with its tail wagging back and forth.Soon after that I happened to watch a water snake swim from one shore towards me and watched its tail and body action. Dang! if it didn't hit me -
curl tail grubs and worms resemble snakes when retrieved - not fish! Regardless, I've caught many fish of all species using curl tail grubs and worms, never choosing them for what they
represent to a fish but simply because they catch fish mostly related to design, size and mostly action/ presentation
in combination.
So when I say I'm catching fish on a Spoon Minnow (a creation of mine using a tablespoon as a mold), it has nothing to do with what it looks like but more to do with how it moves and its shape (even though it does kind of look like an
artificial minnow - and even swims like one to boot! )