Money, the bait taking quite a few (5)
I believe the answer is:
lucre
'money' is the definition.
(I know that lucre is a type of money)
'bait taking quite a few' is the wordplay.
'bait' becomes 'lure' (synonyms).
'taking' indicates putting letters inside.
'quite a few' becomes 'c' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'lure' going around 'c' is 'LUCRE'.
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lucre that I've seen before include "financial gain" , "profits" , "(Filthy) profit" , "Wealth - cruel (anag)" , "Cash" .)