Downloadable Content in Fishing Planet comes as packages that can be purchased from the Steam store for real money. I decided to get the "Green Fortune" DLC for the St. Patrick's Day event. The purpose of this DLC is to supply all of the special lures and the special stringer that are required for the St. Patrick's Day mission "The Expulsion of the Snakeheads," and it also provides the heavy tackle needed to catch trophy-size Northern Snakeheads. Note that all of the lures provided in the DLC can be obtained from completing other St. Patrick's Day missions, as well as the "Golden Horseshoe" stringer that you must have equipped to be able to catch snakeheads. The DLC just gives you a jump start on a mission that is open to everyone (note that this mission is only accessible for a certain time period in March, with or without the DLC).

When you buy a DLC, you will receive all of the associated equipment in a digital box. When claimed and unpacked, everything from the box will be added to your home inventory at once. You will also receive a quantity of credits and baitcoins specified by the DLC description. Additionally, you may receive fishing licenses, pond passes and a trial of Premium membership (unlocks all Special Edition tackle and baitcoin-priced lures/baits in store, unlocks second daily spin of the Reel of Fortune, gains experience quicker, shortens the cooldown period for forwarding game time, etc.). While holding a pond pass for a waterway that you would not otherwise be able to access at your level, you will see that the location has been unlocked to you for a certain length of time. Some DLCs also provide limited duration licenses for certain states and countries. Please note that the expiration clock on the passes and licenses will start for all locations in real time as soon as the DLC is received/unpacked.

The most important thing to recognize about an event DLC pack is that it contains everything you need to complete a mission. Your eyes may get big when you see your coffers fill up with credits and baitcoins, but do not be tempted to buy equipment with them! You will need all of those credits and baitcoins to complete the mission that you bought the DLC for. Examples of expenses that the DLC is meant to take care of include subsidizing transfer fees to get to the event locations (note that some DLC-associated missions don't require you to go to all of the locations you get a license to, so go to places near home to save money) and most importantly to pay for equipment maintenance and repair. The prized rods and especially the reels supplied by the DLC will require a lot of in-game cash for periodic upkeep while you complete the mission. So long story short, be very judicious with the money that the DLC gives you. The DLC is mission-focused, and you should be too!

There are also location-specific DLCs for high-level areas, like the Congo River and the Amazon locations. These typically come with a pond pass, an advanced license for one country and a trial of premium membership. The DLC will unlock the introductory exploration mission (once you travel to the location) and at least one relevant monster mission. As before, you will receive a certain number of bait coins and credits. Here, though, your biggest expense will be travel fees to the location. Bear in mind that you may need to allocate credits for boat rentals (daily rental rates vary by location), as the destination waterway may have relatively few starting locations and many unmarked shore fishing areas that are only accessible by boat. Pay close attention also to the daily rate of the waterway.

Use some of the credits to purchase necessary equipment that is not included in the DLC pack, like vests, hats or tackle boxes. If you are buying a DLC to get early access to an advanced fishery, bear in mind that you may not be of a high enough level to purchase certain useful baits at the fishing location, or they will be purchasable only for baitcoins (unlocked thanks to your premium membership). Therefore, if you are planning on fishing with baits, you should research the fish at your destination and buy appropriate baits from the main store. You may have to approximate, like substituting pearl barley for the high-level tropical fruits that some frugivorous fish have in their regular diet. Make sure that you inspect the DLC tackle list and compare it to the contents of your backpack before setting out for your destination, because it will be hard and expensive to travel back if you forgot something. Some of the lures and/or baits that the DLC provides are inaccessible at lower levels, so you may not be able to buy forgotten items from the location's store. It may also be helpful to bring a rod case and some of your old outfits and tackle with you, because the DLC may provide you with only one type of equipment, like a spinning outfit with lures, while the destination's exploration mission requires you to catch fish that bite on baits almost exclusively. Again, prior research is key.

River fishing deserves its own section because of the influence of current. Current affects the way that baits and lures act, and fish adapt their feeding patterns to life in a river. At the same time, you should also recognize that many rivers have backwaters, stretches of typically still, shallow water that lie almost entirely outside of the current (a good example of a backwater in-game can be found at Neherrin River, North Carolina).* You can fish these areas as you would ponds. Fish tend to move into backwaters to feed as the water warms up. These areas warm more quickly than the main stem of the river, which is deeper and also receives a constant influx of cooler water from upstream.

How should we think about current? When fishing, we should always be aware of the current's direction. We have a choice of casting upstream, downstream** or across from our location. Of course, everything eventually ends up downstream. When float fishing, it is helpful to open up the map with the "M" key and take a look at the depth of your fishing area. You will need to set the leader depth shallow enough to allow the float to straighten out and start to drift downstream. If there are no bites, the float will eventually come to a halt when it reaches a downstream location with shallow water. It is not uncommon to get a bite from a hidden catfish or sunfish at this point, so always be sure to raise the rod tip as you start to reel in, even if the float has not gone fully underwater.

Lure fishing in current is a great experience. You can think of the lure as a bird or airplane, and the current as wind. Wings rise due to the generation of lift, while drag slows down the wing's progress against the prevailing wind (in fishing, the drag force is reflected in the bend that retrieving a lure places on a light rod). One of the best lures to see the lift effect with is a spoon lure. Spoons have a concave side that helps generate lift as the angler reels in. If you make a cast downstream and start to retrieve the line against the current, you will find that the spoon lure rises more rapidly at a constant retrieve speed than it does when the lure is retrieved with the current, because the current exerts lift on the lure when it opposes the direction of retrieve. Similarly, if you are using a light spoon, it is best to cast it upstream, because the current will exert downforce ("negative lift") on it, forcing it deeper during a slow retrieve, whereas it may never get to a desired depth if retrieved against the current. The effect is less dramatic for other types of lures, but current is always a consideration when choosing a retrieve style and speed for river fishing (you can retrieve certain topwater lures slightly faster when they are being retrieved against the current from a cast downstream, but you should also recognize that when casting upstream into a brisk current, subsurface lures can sink faster than the rate of line pickup unless the reel speed is increased). Please keep these concepts in mind as you read the next section.

*Over time, backwaters tend to silt up and eventually become severed from the main river channel, as is seen in the oxbow lakes of the Mississippi River
**If you choose to cast downstream when float fishing, I recommend immediately "mending" the line by reversing the retrieve direction and creating additional slack so that the float does not tip over as it starts to drift
Original image credit: User Ondry on Fishing Planet Wiki, "North Carolina.jpg" (Neherrin River diagram included in the Fishing Planet game); edited to illustrate lift and downforce on lures generated by current; image modified in GIMP 2.1 with the aid of "arrow.scm" script add on by user B-Ranger from the GIMP Plug-in Registry

Please note that this section is organized by prey type and behavior - one lure may fit in multiple categories depending on how it is retrieved. Also bear in mind that it is often possible, and sometimes even recommended, to use multiple retrieve types during a single cast based on distance to shore and other factors.

"'Is [the pike] the King of the Moat?' 'He is. Old Jack they call him, and some call him Black Peter, but for the most part they do not mention him by name at all. They just call him Mr. P. You will see what it is to be a king.'"
~T.H. White, The Sword in the Stone, The Once and Future King (1958)

A quintessential bait, but how do worms get in the water? There are definitely freshwater annelid worms that live in the bottom of most bodies of water, and even regular earthworms can survive for a long time when immersed. Maybe they get flushed into the water by rainfall - you can imagine fish going into a feeding frenzy. Regardless, worms are a great bait and lure choice. I like to use plastic worms on jig heads, but Texas and Carolina rigs for offset hooks are also present in the game.*
Recommended retrieves: Twitching (give the lure a twitch or two as soon as it hits the water and starts to sink to the bottom to provoke a quick strike), lift and drop, stop and go (try jerking the rod horizontally to pull the lure through the water and use a relatively quick reel speed to reel up slack line after a jerk)
*Offset hooks, which are also round-bend hooks in the game, help with fishing larger soft plastic worms. The worm's head slides over the offset area for a short distance with the hook poking through the head, and the hook point is embedded in the body further down the lure. Note that the term "offset" in real life may refer to a hook that is bent such that its point is out-of-plane from its shank.

Leeches are in the same phylum as earthworms. They swim with an up-and-down undulating motion that can be imitated with slug lures (ideal for the wavy stop and go described below because the lure is in a weight-forward mold), narrow spoons or plastic worms.
Recommended retrieves: Slow straight / stop and go to keep lure just off the bottom or a rising, rapid up-and-down stop and go using a brisk reel speed (to create wiggling or sinusoidal motion, respectively, also note that the second retrieve requires attentiveness to the tension meter because it is easy to miss a strike); may also consider a twitching steady retrieve with plastic worm (w/ long jigging rod)

Youtube user Ljupco Lepi (2016) "Swimming Leech"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY3E_Cnq-8s
Hold your horses! Freshwater predators eat jellyfish? Maybe, maybe not, but consider this. Most freshwater gamefish are oviparous, meaning that they lay eggs. The fertilized eggs hatch fast, in part because fish are very vulnerable at this stage and also because the egg yolk will be carried and consumed by the fry after they hatch. Once the egg yolk is consumed, the fry begin to prey on zooplankton. These are little guys like Daphnia water fleas (a crustacean) and bryozoans (unique "meroplankton"). Some zooplankton can move very quickly in jerks to escape predators. Maybe adult fish remember the way that their prey used to move at this early life stage? Maybe fish have a primitive reflex circuit that dates way back to when invertebrates ruled the seas and fish first appeared on the scene? In any case, bass like skirted lures like bass jigs, spider-tailed grubs and spinnerbaits.
Recommended retrieve: Stop and go (make slow sweeping movements with the rod to move the jig or spinnerbait - the skirt first is compressed by this motion and then blows outward suddenly as the lure slows down; spinnerbaits are ideal for this because many of them have two metal leaflets, e.g. of "willow" type, that flutter as the lure swings by)

Wikipedia article, "C. sowerbii"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craspedacusta_sowerbii

Wikipedia article, "Megamastax"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megamastax

Wikipedia article, "Ostracoderm"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostracoderm

Bear in mind that fish eat tadpoles as well as adult frogs! From here on out we will need to be more thoughtful about our retrieves and mix things up, as these prey animals are wary by nature and know how to hide from predators. For example, a frog is unlikely to stop in open water with no cover to camouflage itself in. There are a large number of lures that can be used to imitate frogs, including topwater lures like frog poppers and hard bodied frogs.
Recommended retrieves: For hard bodied frogs, try a straight slow retrieve – stop when you reach lily pads or weeds and "walk" the lure by pointing down with the rod and striking the rod tip; uniquely for topwater frogs, "walking" works well even while the lure is stopped (see Youtube video below for examples of how frogs can quickly change direction of facing when they aren't moving)! Also try a "leaping" stop and go with quick side-to-side rod jerks. For frog poppers, use a slow retrieve and strike the rod tip to make popping sounds that imitate a frog kicking or jumping - then stop and let the lure tip over to "take a breather" among weeds.

Youtube user animals2x2 (2011) "Marsh Frogs (Pelophylax ridibundus)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdBL7sZ4ngM
Any animal struggling to swim through the water will attract predators' interest. This is where "creature" soft plastics shine. Buzzbaits are also useful: they can be retrieved near the surface so that their metal spinner reaches the water surface and creates a wake. Strikes will probably come during breaks in the retrieve when the buzzbait is allowed to submerge.
Recommended Retrieves: Twitching (simulates an animal attempting to surface, let the lure sink and quickly strike the rod tip to get the lure to rise again), stop and go (simulates diving animal)

Crayfish are also known as "yabbies" in Australian English. They swim backwards near the bottom, often in jetting movements that use the caudal fin for propulsion (a tail flip). You will notice that crayfish imitation soft plastics are rigged by their tail. Short rods can come in handy when jigging crayfish patterns because the rod tip is often pointed down toward the water.
Recommended retrieves: Bottom bouncing (crayfish-pattern crankbaits can be driven to bounce on rocky bottoms, this can also be performed with bass jigs using a brisk retrieve with long pauses to allow the jig to drop and bounce), stop and go (jerk the rod horizontally with the rod tip pointing toward the water, you could also try reeling in during the jerk to simulate a tail flip power run), lift and drop (I like to start out with this when using a short rod, or finish out a retrieve with it using a long rod when the rod jerks start taking the lure too far off the bottom)

Minnows have a number of lure imitations available, ranging from spoons (personal favorite) to shad and slug soft plastics (very good for pickerel) to crankbaits (great for gar) to swimbaits and spinners.
Recommended retrieves: Stop and go (use a brisk retrieve with a spoon or slug, but periodically interrupt the retrieve as the lure rises with very short pauses), "power" stop and go (for flashy spoons, jerk the rod tip and optionally reel in simultaneously to simulate a minnow on the run, leave out the extra reeling for slugs and simply take up the slack)

Certain schooling fish species, like gizzard shad, can be chased and penned in by bass. This drives the school to the surface, where baitfish swim erratically.
Recommended retrieve: Walking (point the rod tip down and strike it upward during a very slow retrieve to start walking, repeat strikes at short intervals to make a quicker, narrower walk), twitching (jerkbaits)

Ideally, I would have three rods for lure fishing: a short ultralight-to-light rod with a fast reel, a heavy-weight rod that can be either baitcasting or spinning (baitcasting rods are often shorter than spinning rods because it takes more force to get the baitcasting spool to rotate, while line simply falls off the spool on a spinning reel) and a long light-to-medium-weight spinning rod for multipurpose jigging. Ultimately I was able to make a compromise between the latter two rods using a long "Farcaster" baitcasting rod with a "Helios" reel, creating an outfit that was medium weight and suitable for jigging.

As for line, I use fluorocarbon (a heavy line) when jigging or fishing with other sinking lures and monofilament or braid for general lure fishing, for topwater lures or for float fishing. If you are monster fishing, using a pro-type braid, if the mission allows it, is best because it is thinner than any other line and thus fits more length on the reel.* Bear in mind that monster fish inherit the fighting qualities of their parent species and amplify them, so you may need to upgrade your reel to one with a faster speed and higher maximum drag strength. Ask an experienced angler what species gave them tough fights; thicklip grey mullet, tarpon and certain rainbow trout have been among my personal struggles.

Regarding lure selection, one important factor to consider is whether you will be fishing in water weeds. Aquatic vegetation takes on a variety of forms in this game, ranging from lily pads to pistia, a floating Amazonian weed that has short roots that do not extend to the bottom. Weedless lures include bass jigs, slop spoons, frog poppers and frogs (the latter two are included because their hooks point upward). Generally speaking, lures with fewer hook points will gather fewer snags than those with more. As alluded to earlier, you may be able to fish regular submerged lures (swimbaits, minnow lures, etc.) under floating vegetation that lacks large roots.** Fish like to hover under floating vegetation when it is hot and sunny (maybe in part to access dissolved oxygen).

Finally, I recommend carrying a barbless medium spoon with you to almost all waterways. The 0.5 ounce version works with many rods, but I strongly recommend using heavier tackle with it if you think that there are big fish lurking out there, because you will hook them and get broken off otherwise. Additionally, I recommend using X-series soft plastics for saltwater fishing, because they are very large, fitting big surf jigheads, and are generally highly effective (check the species' prey preferences first though).

You can save rod and reel templates to make it easier to put together an outfit. When you want to create a template, assemble the desired outfit in a rod case slot and go to the templates tab in inventory. The rod currently selected in your rod case will be saved when you create a template. The game recommends that you save a complete template, including a lure or bait. If you sell any component of a templated outfit, however, you will not be able to use the template until you either redo the template or buy the missing element (this may not be possible if it was a unique item from a DLC). To use a template, just load it into an empty spot in a rod case.

*A Felix 500 reel loaded with pro braid can work great as part of a budget outfit (not for monster fishing but for general purpose)!
**Bass fishers in real life may knock through floating vegetation using heavy lures, a practice called "punching"

Competitions are a lot of fun, but they are tough and have a broad base of user participation. If you are planning on applying for a competition, read the competition's rules carefully. Check the equipment tab in the competition information pane to make sure that you are bringing the right equipment with you to the competition. For example, if the competition lists that use of a keepnet is "allowed," you must have a keepnet equipped before you are allowed to start the competition, even if the competition does not require you to keep the fish that you catch.* It may not be possible to remedy a problem with your equipment once you travel to the competition's waterway, so be careful. Additionally, please note that the competition's scheduled times and scoring duration are both in real time. If a competition that runs for 45 minutes is scheduled to end at 10 PM in your local time zone, and you start the competition at 9:30 PM, you will only have 30 minutes to participate and will thus be at a disadvantage. You are also not able to register for a competition after it has started.

When you register for a competition, read the weather forecast in the competition's description carefully. You are not able to select the time of day or the weather conditions that you will be scored in, as they are standardized for all competition participants. When you start a competition, you will be fishing in a special competition room, with up to 4 other participants whom you cannot see (like a private room). If the competition allows boat usage, you can rent or bring your own boat. Certain competitions that allow boat use stipulate that only fish caught from the bank are scored, in which case you may be able to use a boat to reach unmarked spots on the map where you can go ashore to fish.** Traveling around the map on foot or by boat costs time, but navigating by menu or changing tackle in your backpack inventory does not.***

Please familiarize yourself with the HUD compass and figure out which bank corresponds to each cardinal direction at the competition's location. Once you enter the competition, the HUD compass will not be visible and it may be difficult to orient yourself (use map "m" key if in doubt). In float fishing competitions, it is helpful to determine the depths of major fishing areas beforehand by plumbing them with a float setup, as the contour map does not reveal exact depths and all bottom variation.

During a float fishing competition, I recommend making depth adjustments in the inventory menu using the slider between your current setup icons and the backpack list. This does not cost time, as opposed to pressing the "adjust leader" up and down buttons while fishing.

Keep in mind the tackle requirements of the competition, as the game only checks your equipment upon entry into the competition. If you subsequently switch rods during competition to something with the wrong setup (note that some competitions even restrict the type of line that is scoring eligible), the game will not give a warning but you will see that the fish you catch do not count toward scoring (no trophy icon next to fish name when caught).

All fish must be landed before competition time expires to be counted in the scoring.

Fish caught during a competition do not count toward mission completion, such as the mastering missions.

The item reward for each top-three finisher is randomly selected from the list of possible rewards for the competition.

*For catch-and-release competitions that require a keepnet, the keepnet's size does not matter.
**Using a boat only for transit does not require an advanced license.
***Provided that sufficient time remains until the final real-time close of the competition

Event fishing requires some strategy. Some events, like St. Patrick's Day and the 4th of July, involve a lot of lures and traveling between locations. To minimize frustration, make sure to pack all of the event lures you have with you at the outset. Sometimes after completing an event mission, another mission will begin that involves fishing with a different lure at the same place, so it is helpful to have all the event lures on hand to avoid having to go home and come back.

Additionally, some event missions reward you with information on the location of a hidden object. Click on the reward to see its description with the name of the pond that you will need to be at. Then you can plan to go to that spot last in your list of mission tasks, again allowing you to complete your current mission and immediately be ready for the next one without having to travel back to the same pond.

Try out some high-level fishing tackle, such as carp rods (only these rods are compatible with flat "method" feeders) or bottom rods.

If a fast fish threatens to get free by swimming towards you and reducing the line tension, try leaning or even walking away from the fish while continuing to reel in. As shown in the in-game tutorial, this has the effect of transferring the fish's fighting force back onto the rod. If you are kayak fishing, use a high-speed reel to keep up.

You can set keyboard keys to change the speed of retrieve. This allows for fine control of reel speed during a lure retrieve (sometimes it is helpful to slow a retrieve down as the lure approaches shore). I bound mine to the "[" key and "]" key for slowing down or speeding up, respectively.

When fishing for crappie or other fish with horizontally positioned mouths that can feed in the open water column, it is helpful to make an educated guess about the depth the fish will hold at in given conditions. For example, on a sunny day before the water warms up, fish may be suspended at mid- to upper depths. You can then tailor the retrieve to keep the lure in this "strike zone" without letting it sink to the bottom and evaluate your depth guess based on real strikes obtained. Another reason why selecting a target depth may be necessary in crappie fishing is that, with the slow retrieves used to jig for crappie, you may not be able to move the lure up and down easily, especially in current.

Certain lures, like spinnerbaits and bass jigs, accept a soft plastic trailer (n.b. it will add to lure weight). Choose a trailer that matches your fishing style (e.g. a craw for crayfish-like retrieves, a nymphes for frog or small animal-type retrieves) and/or provides color contrast (e.g. a white bass jig with a red trailer).

If you are having trouble getting fish to bite, consider decreasing the diameter of your line. Bear in mind that you will have to readjust the drag to match the breaking strength of the new line every time you change line types on your reel. Note that rear-drag spinning reels can have many drag settings (up to 12 levels on one of my DLC reels).

Importantly, loosening the drag too much can result in loss of mechanical advantage of the reel/rod/line system. This can make it extremely difficult to bring in a big fish. It is best to balance your outfit so that you can set the drag at one notch below max (a filled circle minus one) safely and keep it there.

It can be tough to set the hook when using slack line fishing techniques, especially if the fish strikes while the lure is "lifted" off the bottom during a lift & drop retrieve. A solution to this problem is to be alert to strikes while jigging and, when a strike occurs, immediately raise the rod tip while also walking backward. When the line is slack, either reeling in a tiny bit or simply walking backwards from the shore ("S" key, which I rebound to "X" key for easier access when my index finger is on my laptop's trackpad and my "strike" and "reel in" buttons are bound to arrow keys) while striking the rod tip will take up a small amount of slack. This slack, beyond that which can be taken up by raising the rod alone, has either been created by horizontal movement of the lure or by a fish that is striking the lure while heading towards you, causing the lure to move abnormally without placing tension on the line. Walking backward to remove slack line enables the hook to be set as the rod tip is raised. The key is to recognize the strike despite the distraction of your rhythmic retrieve. A strike can easily be mistaken for a change in water depth (when the lure icon suspends in the water for a moment instead of falling), a snag or simply ignored altogether.

When it is windy on a lake, consider fishing on the bank opposite from the direction the wind is blowing (for example, if the wind label is E, it is coming from the east, so use the HUD compass to find the west side of the lake). The wind will move water and suspended food items with it. Alternatively, try fishing on the windward side under a canopy, where fish feed on insects and seeds.

As the sun rises on a cold day, fish may migrate to the eastern portion of a pond to soak up the first rays of the sun - look for places where there are dropoffs to find hungry fish.

When fishing near cover, such as fallen trees or weed beds, try to place extra emphasis on your retrieve (extra twitches, faster stop & go) while passing the object. This will help ambush predators key in on the lure.

Look over the fish species at your next waterway before buying lures. Compare the color patterns of local minnows, shads and perches to lure patterns and select the best match. It is also helpful to read the "preferred lures" section of the species card for your target gamefish to choose a good lure type. Some lures imitate specific features of fish, such as disruptive eye masks (when the painted eye is placed in a contrasting local color background) or spotted and barred body patterns. Notice that many tropical and saltwater fish like peacock bass and red drum have an eye spot near their tail (automimicry) that helps to distract predators that take bites out of their prey, like piranhas and sharks. In this way, the predator may be tricked into biting a less vulnerable part of the body (e.g. the tail) rather than the vital head.

One way to speed things up if you are attempting to complete a visitation challenge that requires a 30-day stay on a waterway is to forward time into the night. Once you do this, you can select another nighttime hour on the following day and repeatedly forward time to it to avoid cool-down periods that are incurred when you forward time during daytime. Check the waterway's daily rate and make sure that you have enough credits on hand to last thirty days. If you are revisiting a waterway and don't have any need to fish there anymore, save on costs by leaving wearable items at home and not buying a new license.

Fishing licenses expire in real time. It is possible to fight a fish long enough to be unable to leave in time when you see a pop-up warning about the expiring license. This can be especially hard on days when U.S. daylight savings time starts or ends and local time changes relative to the game's UTC clock! Have some awareness of when your license expires and either renew it or stop fishing in time to avoid a hefty fine.

If there is a species "must be taken" restriction on a license, you will not be able to release that fish from your keepnet if you kept it temporarily to avoid a fine. You have to turn it in. There is no way to get around that particular restriction unless you upgrade your license.

Read the descriptions of lures in the in-game store for more insight into lure fishing techniques.

If conditions are right for topwater lures to be effective (e.g. windy), but you don't have a walker or buzzbait with you, try running a lure like a spoon or crankbait in periodic contact with the water surface. The vibrations and surface disturbance make these makeshift topwaters effective.

Check your equipment's "wear and tear" before going on a trip! You have to be home to repair rods, reels, etc.

Lightest
Plastic Worm (3" worm weighs < 1/12 oz, can be used on 1/4 oz jig head with 1/3 oz rod max weight)
Shad (3" shad weighs approx. 1/12 oz, can be used on 1/4 oz jig head with 1/3 oz rod max weight)
Craw (2" event craw weighs approx. 1/12 oz, can be used on 1/6 oz jig head with 1/4 oz rod min weight)
Crayfish [articulated limb] (3" crayfish weighs approx. 1/8 oz, can be used on 5/8 oz jig head with 3/4 oz rod max weight)
Heaviest

2" spinner tail weighs > 1/20 oz, can be used with 1/3 oz spinner (or spinnerbait) to bring up to 3/8 oz rod min weight but will overload a 1/4 oz max weight rod if equipped on a 1/5 oz spinner

Certain reels have their own minimum lure weight that may differ from that of the rod (esp. baitcasting reels).