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Action (Fishing)
1. Characteristics of rod flexibility.
2. Characteristics of lure movement when retrieved.
Adams (Fishing)
A very productive and world famous all-purpose dry fly pattern.
Adult (Fishing)
The final phase of an insect's life cycle, most often occurring above water for aquatic insects.
Alphabet lures (Fishing)
Wide-body crankbaits that were originally fashioned from wood. Modern examples include Bomber Model A and the Cotton Cordell Big O.
Amateur (Fishing)
Fisherman who is less experienced than his partner. Normally a term used in Pro/Am style tournaments. Also describes angler who does not earn his living fishing.
Anchor buoy (Fishing)
Usually a red plastic ball of at least 24 inches in diameter, with a large ring attached. Hook the ring on the anchor rope and heave the buoy overboard. Drive the boat upwind or upcurrent. Presto! The anchor is pulled up quickly to the buoy using horsepower instead of human power.
Arbor (Fishing)
The "bottom" of a reel's spool (what you tie the line onto). A spool with a small diameter arbor holds more line than the same size spool with a larger diameter arbor.
Artificial Reef (Fishing)
Any material sunk offshore for the express purpose of attracting fish. Old boats, concrete culverts, metal pipe, the list is endless. Most states now require a permit before dumping because non-practical material was being used, objects that rusted quickly, polluted or were a hazard to shrimpnets.
Attractor patterns (Fishing)
Bright, bold flies that do not imitate any insect in particular, but many insects in general. Attractor patterns often provoke a trout's tendency to strike.
Backing (Fishing)
Small diameter braided line loaded onto a fly reel underneath/behind the actual fly line. It serves to fill the reel and add line capacity when fighting long-running fish.
Backing down (Fishing)
Driving the boat backwards (in reverse) while pursuing a fish.
Baetis (Fishing)
A small, widely occurring mayfly also referred to as a Blue Winged Olive.
Bait seine (Fishing)
A large, rectangular shaped net for gathering baitfish from a rearing pond. One person is stationed at each end, and each person holds the net taught as they move from one end of the pond to the other.
Baitcaster (Fishing)
Most common style of reel used in bass fishing, typically round or oval shaped and somewhat open construction. Also known as level wind reels.
Balao (Fishing)
Pronounced "bally-hoo," this is the popular offshore bait used for trolling, most often for billfish. The bait of choice for sailfish for many years. A pricey bait when used for other saltwater species.
Ball bearings (Fishing)
Small metal balls added to the mechanical mechanism of high-quality reels to make the retrieve smoother. Normally the more ball bearings a reel has the higher quality.
Balsa (Fishing)
Type of wood several lures are manufactured from. This wood is very light, yet highly buoyant. Gives the lure great action. Examples include Bagley's Balsa B, and Rapala Minnows.
Beads (Fishing)
Glass, or plastic beads added to a Carolina Rig to enhance the noise, and protect the knot.
Beds (Fishing)
Circular areas in the lake bottom that bass clear out in which to lay their eggs during the spawn. "The bass are on the beds" refers to the fish actively spawning.
Bell sinker (Fishing)
Rounded conical shaped weight with a tie-on loop at the top. Also referred to as a Dipsy sinker.
Belly (Fishing)
The 'fat' section of a tapered fly line.
Belly strip (Fishing)
A strip of belly meat from a baitfish. Cut and trimmed in a streamlined fashion, it can be trolled behind the boat, where it flutters in a fashion enticing to gamefish.
Billfish (Fishing)
Any of several species of pelagic fish, including sailfish, spearfish, blue, black or white marlin, and swordfish.
Blood knot (Fishing)
A common knot used to join two pieces of leader together. Most often used in hand-tied fly-fishing leaders.
Bottom fish (Fishing)
Fish that spend most of their lives on bottom, such as cod, snapper, and grouper.
Brackish (Fishing)
Water that is mostly fresh, with some salt. The far ends of tidal creeks are mostly brackish, supporting sometimes fresh and saltwater fish.
Braided channel (Fishing)
Usually found on freestone rivers, braided channels are ever-changing smaller channels that together constitute the course of the entire river.
Brass (Fishing)
A metal alloy mainly composed of copper and zinc. Used in low-friction gears on fishing reels because of it's corrosion resistance and on bass fishing sinkers in conjunction with glass beads to create noise.
Brook trout (Fishing)
A member of the char family. Native to Northeastern North America. Requires cooler, purer waters than most "trout."
Bullet Sinker (Fishing)
A bullet-shaped sliding sinker popular for rigging plastic worms.
Bump-troll (Fishing)
Keeping a trolled bait mostly in one spot, by pointing the boat into the current/wind and "bumping" the engines in and out of gear, to hold position.
Butt seat (Fishing)
A seat that is shaped in a sort of half moon design, which anglers often use to lean against while fishing. Also known as "Bike" seats.
Bycatch (Fishing)
Non-targeted sea life caught by commercial fishermen. Tuna longlines have a bycatch of turtles or mahi-mahi, for instance. Shrimp nets have a bycatch of at least a hundred species of fish and crab, discarded overboard.
Caddis (Fishing)
A general name for the dozens of subspecies of caddis flies found in trout streams all over the world. Also known as a "sedge," they are characterized by a tent-like wing. Caddis have four stages of development, from egg to larva to pupa to adult.
Cape (Fishing)
Also referred to as a "neck," the cape consists of skin from a chicken's head and neck that yields "hackles." Dry fly hackle comes from a rooster cape; wet fly hackle from a hen cape.
Carolina rig (Fishing)
A rigging method designed to present a soft plastic lure along the contour of the bottom. This rig consists of a main line with a heavy sinker, bead, then swivel. The swivel has a leader (1-6ft) to which a plastic lure is tied. Best lures include lizards, centipedes and French fries.
Cast net (Fishing)
A circular net thrown by hand. The outer perimeter is lined with lead weights. Great for catching shrimp and baitfish.
Catch-and-release (Fishing)
Term that refers to releasing the fish you catch so that they can live to fight another day, and thus insuring a productive fishery.
Centipede (Fishing)
Four-inch straight plastic worm used for Carolina rigs.
cfs (Fishing)
Abbreviation for "cubic feet per second," the term is a means of measuring the flow of a stream. A small stream might carry 40 cfs and offer good trout fishing, while a large river like the Colorado might reach 30,000 cfs in the Grand Canyon during flood stage.
Char (Fishing)
A trout-like species of fish whose subspecies include brook trout, Dolly Vardens, and arctic char, among others.
Charger (Fishing)
Device used to charge the boaters trolling motor batteries.
Chine (Fishing)
The "running edge" of a boat. The chine is the edge made by the joining of the bottom and the sides of a boat.
Chugger (Fishing)
A general term for any number of floating lipless topwater lures that "push" water. Some have cupped faces, while other are rounded.
Chum (Fishing)
Chopped up fish, shellfish or even animal parts (for sharks), dropped overboard to attract gamefish.
Chum bag (Fishing)
A mesh bag left hanging overboard, filled with chum. Trollers sometimes drag the bag alongside the boat. Smaller bags can be trolled deep while attached to downrigger balls.
Chunk (Fishing)
Plastic or pork trailer commonly used on jigs.
Cigar minnows (Fishing)
A yellow-tailed member of the scad family, sold most often as frozen bait in five-pound boxes, caught along the Florida Panhandle. Widely regarded for their firm texture and appeal to offshore fish. Cigar minnows can also be caught on tiny fly hooks, called Sabiki Rigs.
Circle hook (Fishing)
Hook with a decreasing radius bend design, originally used by commercial fishermen because it requires no hookset. If a fish swallows the bait and swims away, increasing tension will pull the hook back out through the throat without sticking until it lodges in the corner of the jaw. Many sport fishermen now use this hook because bait-caught fish may be safely released with almost zero mortality.
Clacker (Fishing)
A metal device added to certain brand buzzbait in order to make additional noise.
Classic (Fishing)
Better known as The BASS Masters Classic, the year-end championship of bass fishing. This is where the top 45 anglers meet to crown a world champion angler.
Clicker cork (Fishing)
A thin Styrofoam cork, 3 inches long, mounted on an 8-inch wire. Yanking on it produces a clicking sound that imitates shrimp snapping their tails underwater. These corks are great for suspending a plastic shrimptail jig above a grass bottom, and below troublesome floating grass.
Clinch knot (Fishing)
Very popular knot for tying directly to lures, flies or bait hooks.
Clouser minnow (Fishing)
A very popular all-species streamer design. It utilizes metal barbell eyes to cause the fly to ride with the hook point on top, reducing hang-ups.
Clown (Fishing)
Now a wide range a lure colors, the original clown color sported red, pink and blue airbrushed spots over a white and yellow background and was employed by steelhead anglers.
Coastal pelagic (Fishing)
An offshore fish that migrates along the coastline, but isn't a true, ocean-going pelagic. Examples are kingfish, Spanish mackerel, cobia.
Colorado Blade (Fishing)
Lobe shaped spinner blade design.
Cover (Fishing)
General reference to physical features above and below the water surface that fish relate to. Boat docks, submerged timber, weedbeds, brushpiles and boulder fields are all examples of cover. Cover may provide relief from the view of predators, or from bright sunlight, or merely a hiding/resting place. In general, many fish such as bass prefer relating to cover or structure, over free-swimming in open water.
Crankbait (Fishing)
A plastic or wooden lure with a diving bill, that dives downward when retrieved or "cranked."
Crawfish (Fishing)
Small fresh water crustaceans similar to lobsters only smaller. A favorite food of bass. Also describes a reddish color used in all sorts of lures.
Crimp sleeve (Fishing)
Used rather than a knot to create a loop in larger monofilament or wire leaders. Sleeves are sold by size, according to the diameter of the leader material being crimped.
Cross chop (Fishing)
Wind-driven waves and ocean swell colliding from two directions. Also caused by waves bouncing off a seawall and going back out, colliding with incoming waves.
Cul de Canard (Fishing)
French for "butt of the duck." These downy feathers come from around the oil gland of ducks and geese. When the oil is removed, these feathers resist absorbing water, making them useful for tying certain types of flies.
Culling (Fishing)
Refers to releasing a smaller fish when you have a limit and have now caught a larger fish that will weed out one of the smaller ones. "This big fish will cull that small one" is a phrase heard on The Bassmasters TV show often.
Culprit worm (Fishing)
Although there are several similar worms, Culprit is the manufacturer of the original ribbon tail plastic worm, thus it is often referred to as a "Culprit" style worm.
Cut (Fishing)
A narrow body of water cutting through land. For instance, a boat cut gouged through a barrier island, for boater access.
Cut bait (Fishing)
Fish cut into chunks to fit the hook.
Cuttbow (Fishing)
a rainbow/cutthroat hybrid, the cuttbow has both the rainbow's stripe and a cutthroat's "slash" under its jaw.
Cutthroat trout (Fishing)
A native to many Rocky Mountain rivers, the cutthroat has a crimson "slash" under its jaw and black spots concentrated near the tail.
Cutting board (Fishing)
Plywood surrounded by a lip of wood, sealed and painted. Or just an old piece of plywood. Used for cutting bait, and preventing knife cuts on expensive boat gunnels.
Deep-drop (Fishing)
Bottom fishing in deep water, from 500 to 1,100 feet and sometimes deeper. Usually, a sash (window) weight is required to reach bottom. Circle hooks are a necessity.
Delta (Fishing)
Sediment deposited at the mouth of a major river, pushing shallow water offshore, as in the Mississippi Delta.
Do-nothing rig (Fishing)
Western, clear water technique generally applied in deep water and on light line. Consists of main line with a small brass sinker, then a bead, and light wire hook. Baits are usually small 4-inch worms. The rig is dropped to desired depth and then just slightly jiggled or left to "do nothing."
Dock lines (Fishing)
Ropes used to moor the boat.
Doormat (Fishing)
Large flounder, roughly the length and weight of a doormat.
Double haul (Fishing)
A casting technique where the angler pumps the fly line with the non-casting hand on the forward and backward segments of the cast. The pumping motion accelerates the line and gives the cast additional length. Double hauling is an essential technique for long casting.
Double Taper Fly Line (Fishing)
A tapered fly line that has the belly in the middle and tapers down at both ends. When one end is worn out, the line can be "flipped," and the other end used. Double taper lines have the advantages of being easier to roll cast at distance, easier to mend at distance, and easier to accurately do a "pickup and laydown" at distance than with a weight forward line.
Downrigger (Fishing)
Used to slow troll most commonly for kingfish and grouper. Standard equipment on the kingfish tournament boats.
Downrigger ball (Fishing)
Cannonball-shaped device with a fin, used to keep a trolled bait far beneath the boat.
Downstream drift (Fishing)
The act of allowing the fly to drift past the fisherman and rise to the surface on the river below him, particularly on a nymph drift.
Drag (Fishing)
1. The mechanism in a fishing reel that produces friction when a fish is pulling line from the reel.
2. An unnatural drift of a dry fly, due to current acting on a taut leader.
Dredging (Fishing)
Retrieving a crankbait so that it continually digs or dredges up the bottom. This causes reflex strikes from fish.
Drift anchor (Fishing)
Used most commonly in windy areas, by fishermen who drift all day. This anchor is more of an underwater kite that slows the boat's drift in order to thoroughly fish a productive area.
Drift boat (Fishing)
Also known as a Mackenzie river dory, it's a river fishing craft ranging between 14 and 18 feet long with a flat bottom, upswept prow and rigid hull.
Drift fishing (Fishing)
Taking advantage of current or wind to move a boat through a targeted fishing area with minimum use of motor power.
Drift sock (Fishing)
A large sock shaped like airport wind socks. This is dropped over the side of the boat to help control the boat in rough water.
Drip bag (Fishing)
Very similar to an IV drip bag used by doctors, this device releases a constant drip of pogey oil over the side, attracting fish.
Drop shot rig (Fishing)
Japanese designed technique in which the main line is tied to a sinker. The lure is tied to a leader which is tied above the sinker. This allows the lure to sit a the exact depth of suspended fish.
Dropper (Fishing)
The secondary fly tied on the leader somewhere between the lead fly and the fly line.
Dry fly (Fishing)
A pattern designed to imitate an adult insect, floating on top of the water.
Dubbing (Fishing)
A fly-tying technique that involves creating a yarn by applying a raw material directly onto the fly tying thread. Animal furs and various synthetics can be employed.
Eddy (Fishing)
A place adjacent to the main current where water "stacks" up, slows and reverses direction. Eddies provide excellent places for fish to hold with very little effort, while insects and other food items are swept in as if on a conveyor belt.
Egg Sinker (Fishing)
A sliding sinker shaped like an egg. Generally, the main line is threaded though the hole in the sinker, then a barrel swivel attached below it. A leader is tied below the swivel. When fished with a slack line, the fish can move off with the bait without feeling the sinker dragging along.
Electronics (Fishing)
Commonly refers to the depth finders, and fish locaters used by anglers.
Emerger (Fishing)
The stage of an aquatic insect's life cycle when it rises to the surface, sheds its nymphal shuck, and "emerges" as a winged insect.
Estuary (Fishing)
The transitional area in a river's delta where the flow is dissipated and tidal surge becomes an influence. These nutrient rich areas support diverse ecosystems and provide habit and nursery grounds for fish and a wide range of other organisms.
Evening hatch (Fishing)
When many insects choose to emerge from under the water.
FADs (Fishing)
Fish Attracting Devices were first used centuries ago. Any large, floating object like a tree that attracts pelagic fish. Some are anchored; others are allowed to drift.
False casting (Fishing)
The act of aerializing fly line in preparation for delivering the actual cast.
Fan Casting (Fishing)
Systematically covering the water by visualizing numbers on a clock, making casts to each number in a fan like pattern.
Fathom (Fishing)
Six feet of depth. Many nautical charts are marked in fathoms, not feet.
Felt soles (Fishing)
Most wading shoes for flyfishing are soled with thick felt for good traction on slick rocks.
Ferrule (Fishing)
The joint where different sections of a rod fit together.
Fiberglass (Fishing)
A material made from extremely fine fibers of glass. When woven into a cloth, it can be used to fabricate boat hulls and fishing rods. Fiberglass has been surpassed in popularity by graphite for rod manufacturing; however, it is still employed in big game saltwater rods for strength and in crankbait rods for its flexibility.
Finesse (Fishing)
Commonly refers to slowing down and using smaller lures, line, and rods. Also a style of small lures used for this technique.
Finning (Fishing)
The wasteful, immoral practice of removing sharks' fins, dumping the carcass (often while still alive), and selling the dried product for Asian soup.
Fire tiger (Fishing)
Color scheme that involves a lure with green back, chartreuse sides, orange belly and black vertical lines on the sides.
Fish pass (Fishing)
A cut dredged through a barrier island, created to allow better fish traffic and tidal flushing.
Flats (Fishing)
Very shallow water, easy to wade, usually with a sand bottom. This water is so thin, anglers equipped with polarized glasses can visually spot and cast to various fish, such as bonefish, redfish and tarpon.
Flies (Fishing)
Artificial imitations of the aquatic and terrestrial insects found in and near trout streams. Flies are tied of many and various materials, such as feathers, fur, thread, tinsel, and even space-age materials. Patterns imitating minnows, baitfish and other fish and crustacean species are also called "flies."
Flipping (Fishing)
A short line bass fishing technique developed for penetrating heavy cover. A fixed length of line is managed by the rod and by the off hand. An underhand swing delivers the jig or worm quietly and much more accurately than a conventional cast.
Flipping stick (Fishing)
A heavy-action casting rod, between seven- and eight-feet long, employed specifically in the technique of flipping.
Float tube (Fishing)
A one-man fishing floatation device for lake and slow river fishing that looks like an inner tube covered with a cloth mesh liner, seat, and back rest.
Floatant (Fishing)
Substance applied to a dry fly to resist water absorbsion.
Floater (Fishing)
Style of lure that floats rather than sinks at rest. Example wooden crankbaits.
Floating worm (Fishing)
Plastic worm used to catch spawning bass that actually floats on top of the water. Common colors include pink, yellow, and sherbert.
Florida rig (Fishing)
A worm sinker that has a metal cork screw in the base so that the angler can screw in the worm. This keeps the sinker and worm together and reduces tangles.
Fluorocarbon (Fishing)
A material composed of a bond between fluorine and carbon atoms. Fishing line manufactured of this material can take a lot of damage without losing strength, as opposed to monofilament, which is compromised by even the smallest nick. In addition, it has a faster sink rate for it's diameter than mono. The raw material has a lower light refraction index than water. This has lead manufacturers to claim that fluorocarbon is less visible than monofilament.
Fly pattern (Fishing)
Generic term for "version" or "variation" when referring to artificial flies.
Flying bridge (Fishing)
A permanent raised steering platform on an offshore sportfishing boat. From this elevated platform, the captain has a better view of everything, including the trolling baits and any approaching fish.
Flying gaff (Fishing)
A long handled gaff with a detachable head tied to a rope.
Football head (Fishing)
Design refers to the shape of certain jigs that resemble a football mounted side ways. Normally used in very rocky locations.
Freestone river (Fishing)
A natural river with an undammed channel that allows free movement of stones rolling down the river course over time.
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