bait the hook well and the fish will bite
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Make an attractive offer to get someone interested
Literally: put bait on a fishing hook
Examples
The company baited the hook well and the fish will bite with their new employee benefits package
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “bait the hook well and the fish will bite” mean?
Make an attractive offer to get someone interested Literally: put bait on a fishing hook
Is “bait the hook well and the fish will bite” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.