Fish hook designs, shapes, and materials are all variable depending on the intended purpose of the fish hook. Fish hooks are manufactured for a range of purposes from general fishing to extremely limited and specialized applications. Fish hooks are designed to hold various types of artificial, processed, dead or live baits (bait fishing); to act as the foundation for artificial representations of fish prey (fly fishing); or to be attached to or integrated into other devices that represent fish prey (lure fishing). The fish hook or similar device has been made by man for many thousands of years. The world's oldest fish
Fishing bait in southern climates such as Florida, United States, fish such as bream will take bread bait. Bread bait is a small amount of bread, often moistened by saliva, balled up to a small size that is bite size to a small fish. Most common earthworm species, such as "Lumbricus terrestris", which can often be dug up in the garden, are eminently suitable for freshwater fishing. However, on a commercial scale they are not really candidates for worm farming for providing fishing bait. The greyish brown common earthworms are deep burrowing ("anecic") and do not readily breed in the shallow worm