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
Bait ball life-cycle stage, form vast schools at predictable locations and times of the year. Normally, schooling works well as protection from occasional predators. Fish schooling in vast numbers may attract correspondingly huge numbers of predators, including seabirds, sharks, tuna, billfish, pods of dolphins, and killer and humpback whales. Aggregations of predators on such a scale means the schools can be attacked on all sides and panicked into forming bait balls. A bait ball is a last-ditch defensive measure adopted by fish schools when they are overwhelmed and more effective defensive strategies have broken down. Schooling fish are easier to attack once