Makes an effort and regularly baits with lures (8)
I believe the answer is:
attempts
'makes an effort' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'regularly baits with lures' is the wordplay.
'regularly' means one should take alternating letters (regularly take one letter, leave next etc.).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'lures' becomes 'tempts' ('tempt' can be a synonym of 'lure').
The alternate letters of 'baits' are 'at'.
'at'+'tempts'='ATTEMPTS'
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for attempts that I've seen before include "Has a go at" , "Efforts, endeavours" , "Makes a stab at" , "Takes a shot" , "Makes efforts" .)