Baits and groundbait
The wiki already has four roots. Fishing Gear is what the thing in your hands is made of. Artificial lures are what works in the water instead of prey. Fishing methods are what the angler does. Gear and Safety is what can happen to the angler. This root is about what the fish takes into its mouth, and about what gets thrown into the water to bring it closer.
Three different things that often get mixed up
Animal bait is a living organism, or an object of animal origin, on the hook. Plant and manufactured bait is the same spot on the hook, but it isn't an organism: plant raw material or a manufactured product. Groundbait never goes on the hook at all — it's thrown into the water, and its job is to keep the fish where the cast has landed.
The line between the first two runs through whether the object is alive, or was alive until recently. A boilie made with fish meal starts from an animal raw material, but it isn't an animal bait: on the hook it's a product, not an organism. Manufactured baits like this are gathered separately in the root.
Mixing them up isn't harmless. Anglers expect a bite from groundbait — and get disappointed, even though it did its job. They expect hookbait to gather fish — and end up throwing into the water what should have stayed on the hook.
How this root differs from lures
A lure isn't food and doesn't pretend to be: it imitates prey through shape, motion and colour, and the fish reacts to the movement. Animal and plant baits work differently — the fish recognises them as edible, and what matters most is smell, taste and how long they stay usable on the hook.
Why this isn't part of the gear section
Because the subject is described through something else. A hook, a hooklink and a rig are described through strength and geometry — that's part of the gear. A worm, sweetcorn and a groundbait mix are described through how they behave in water, their food value and shelf life. Mixed into one section, they'd turn into a product list.
Where the line with articles runs
An article answers the question ‘what to use to catch crucian carp in spring, on this water’ — it's seasonal and local. The wiki answers ‘what this is and how it behaves in water’, and the answer doesn't depend on the season or the region. So the same word legitimately lives in both places, and one doesn't replace the other.
What this root will hold
Animal baits. Plant baits. Carp baits — manufactured ones, from boilies to pellets. Flavours and attractants. Hook-baiting technique and its accessories. And groundbait, which the root starts with.
Why groundbait was chosen as the first branch
Not by size: the largest branch in the root is animal baits. But some of its topics run into the protected status of the creature, which has to be checked against the regional authority's annual order, and without that check a card turns into instructions for breaking the law. Groundbait is free of that check, and it explains the mechanism the rest of the branches rely on.
