King.Of.Anglers.Jeremiah
Fishing ? Instructor!
Lots of folks, beginners and seasoned fishermen alike have asked me questions on what things are and what different terms mean, so I decided I would start a list! Everyone feel free to add anything I may leave out. This list will be free for viewing and is timeless. Add anything at any time that may be of use to someone! I have separated them all by category from freshwater, saltwater and fly fishing and boating terms. Enjoy!
FRESHWATER AND GENERAL TERMS....
Dink - a small fish, commonly used for
bass
Backlash/Bird's Nest/Rat's Nest - a failed cast with a baitcasting reel where the spool of line explodes into a gnarled and tangled mess.
Cage - a floating fish basket used to keep fish alive in the water that are being harvested
Bank stick - a forked stick or plastic rod holder in a "Y" shape used for bank fishing
Finesse fishing - using light tackle
Choked - when a fish eats a bait and gets it to the back of the throat
Hammer Handle - a small fish of the esox family of fish, namely muskie, northern pike, or pickerel.
Slaunch - a large fish
Toad - a large fish
Pig/Hawg - a large fish
Stud - a large fish
Tank - ANOTHER term for a large fish along with about a dozen others
DNR - Department of Natural Resources
IGFA - International Game and Fish Association. The folks responsible for keeping records and recording fishing history.
Rig - the way terminal tackle such as hooks, swivels, sinkers and beads are attached to a line
Sac-A-Lait - Another word for black or white crappie, not referencing size
Slab - a large Panfish, usually crappie
Man in the striped suit - a striped bass
White fish - any temperate or "true" bass species. (Striper/hybrid/white bass)
Jigging - the act of twitching, hopping or snapping a lure off the bottom in a vertical position
A-Rig - Castable Umbrella Rig
C-Rig - Carolina rig
T-Rig - Texas rig
Wacky rig - hooking a bait right through the middle, letting the ends hang
Ditch Pickle - a largemouth bass
Greenfish - Largemouth Bass
Bucketmouth - a very big Largemouth Bass who's head is big enough for you to fit your fist in it's mouth, which resembles a bucket.
Mudfish - another term for Bowfin
Broomstick/Telephone pole - commonly used terms to describe an overly stiff fishing rod
Fairy Wand - commonly used term to describe an overly limp fishing rod, or just finesse spinning gear in general if you're a snarky bass fisherman because baitcasters are life and spinning rods are for children and pansies.
Milt - The uhhhh, male contribution to the eggs during the spawning cycle.
Bream/Brim - a term used by mainly southerners to describe any member of the sunfish family regardless of species. Bluegill, flier, shellcracker, etc
RedBelly - a redbreast sunfish
Whisker fish - a catfish
Dinner plate - a large bream
Burning - quickly reeling in a lure
Slow Rolling - slowly reeling a lure on bottom
Stitching - slowly hopping a bait softly across the bottom
Topwater - a surface lure
Spoon - a shiny fishing lure normally in the shape of a cupped dinner spoon without the handle, though other shapes have been made
Blank - raw fishing rod material that all the other components are built on.
Butt - end cap or section of a fishing rod.
Lunker - a large freshwater fish
Noodling - an act crazy people do during spawning time of large catfish in which they get in the water, stick their hands into a catfish hole or nest in shallow water, feel around for it's head and then grab it by the lower jaw and wrestle it out of the water and into the boat.
SALTWATER TERMS...
Drumming - a sound/ability that members of the croaker and drum family can produce by vibrating muscles against their swim bladder to make sounds that sound like croaking or drumming.
Puppy Drum - a small redfish
Snapper Blue - a small bluefish
Bull Red - a large redfish ("bull" is normally used to describe any large member of several species or just a male specimen)
Chopper - a large bluefish
Grander - a large Marlin in excess of 1,000 pounds
Tonner - the holy grail of Saltwater sportfishing, a Marlin in excess of 2,000 pounds. (Largest on record was over 1,800)
Peanut - small dolphinfish/mahi
Cow - female fish of certain species such as striped bass and mahi
Bull - male fish of certain species
Gator - a large speckled trout
Doormat - a large flounder
Barn Door - a large halibut
Smoker - a large kingfish (king mackerel)
Poon' - a tarpon
Silver King - also a tarpon
Ling/Lemon fish - a cobia
Slammer - a large mahi (NOTE: THIS FISH HAS DIFFERENT NAMES DEPENDING ON GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION. On the east coast, they're Dolphinfish or simply "Dolphin." On the west coast and in Mexico, they're Dorado. In Hawaii they're mahi-mahi which sounds better on a dinner plate than "dolphin" which is why they call them that at restaurants and in the seafood section at the store)
Reef Donkey -name given to describe an amberjack or almaco jack for their stubbornness and unbelievably hard fight at the end of a line.
Flag - a large Yellowtail Snapper
Hour Jack - a large Jack Crevalle, normally taking 45 minutes to 1 hour to land once hooked
Convict Fish - a sheepshead. Name given to them because they're known as highly skilled "bait thieves" and they're colored in what resembles jailhouse stripes.
Wire Trace - a section of wire or steel cable leader material used for fish with sharp teeth
Chum - ground and frozen bait or fish parts used to attract game fish as it melts and disperses in the water. There is also dry chum that normally comes in the form of pellets.
Sabiki - a Japanese fishing rig with about 6-10 hooks on it used for catching baitfish.
Slam - a "slam" is a variation of catching a certain few species, normally consisting of 3 main game fish based on your location, typically in one day. For example, the northeast slam is a striped bass, bluefish, and a bonito. The Florida inshore slam is a redfish, snook and speckled trout.
Grand Slam - Catching 5 or more certain species of fish in a certain location, typically in one day. For example, if you took the Florida inshore slam of a redfish, snook, and speckled trout and you threw in a tarpon and flounder as well, you'd have a grand slam.
Billfish - any species of saltwater gamefish with a "sword" or "bill" including Swordfish, Marlin, Sailfish and Spearfish.
Tailwalking - a fish who jumps from the water, with everything but the tail in the air as it glides across the surface. Commonly seen in billfish species.
FLY FISHING TERMS....
Dry - a floating fly designed to imitate an adult insect
Wet - a sinking fly designed to imitate several things, but commonly larval stages of insects
Nymph - a fly that imitates an aquatic insect larvae such as a stonefly
Spinner - Drowned adult insect or insect fly, normally with wings spread and laying flat.
Terrestrial - an insect or fly that imitates an insect which does NOT breed or originate from the water and is purely a land creature such as grasshoppers, crickets and beetles.
Rising/Riser - a trout or other fish sitting in the water who comes to the surface to slurp bugs
Tailing - feeding fish that are nose down on the bottom, often with their tails sticking out of the water
Stalking - sneaking up on unsuspecting fish to present your fly
Grain - weight class of a sinking fly line.
Ips - inches per second of a sink tip fly line
Dry-Dropper - a fly fishing rig in which a dry fly or high floating terrestrial fly is use as the main lure, and a smaller wet fly is tied with a piece of tippet to the bend of the main fly and is used as the "dropper" fishing two presentations at once.
BOATING TERMS....
Bow - nose/front of the boat
Stern - back of the boat
Forward - moving to the front of a boat
Aft - moving to the back of a boat
Cabin - compartment for passengers
Port side - left side of boat
Starboard side - right side of boat
Trolling - fishing lures or bait out behind a moving boat
Transducer - part of a fish finder or gps unit that sends frequency to the bottom of the water and reads the feedback that shows on screen.
PFD - Personal Floatation Device
Drift - Letting the current, wind, or other method carry the boat across the water without interference
Drift Sock - a large hat shaped cloth used to slow the drift speed of a boat
Swells/Rollers/Breakers - Large waves
Knot - measurement of wind speed. 1 knot is equal to about 1.15 mph and may be abbreviated with "kt" or "kts".
FRESHWATER AND GENERAL TERMS....
Dink - a small fish, commonly used for
bass
Backlash/Bird's Nest/Rat's Nest - a failed cast with a baitcasting reel where the spool of line explodes into a gnarled and tangled mess.
Cage - a floating fish basket used to keep fish alive in the water that are being harvested
Bank stick - a forked stick or plastic rod holder in a "Y" shape used for bank fishing
Finesse fishing - using light tackle
Choked - when a fish eats a bait and gets it to the back of the throat
Hammer Handle - a small fish of the esox family of fish, namely muskie, northern pike, or pickerel.
Slaunch - a large fish
Toad - a large fish
Pig/Hawg - a large fish
Stud - a large fish
Tank - ANOTHER term for a large fish along with about a dozen others
DNR - Department of Natural Resources
IGFA - International Game and Fish Association. The folks responsible for keeping records and recording fishing history.
Rig - the way terminal tackle such as hooks, swivels, sinkers and beads are attached to a line
Sac-A-Lait - Another word for black or white crappie, not referencing size
Slab - a large Panfish, usually crappie
Man in the striped suit - a striped bass
White fish - any temperate or "true" bass species. (Striper/hybrid/white bass)
Jigging - the act of twitching, hopping or snapping a lure off the bottom in a vertical position
A-Rig - Castable Umbrella Rig
C-Rig - Carolina rig
T-Rig - Texas rig
Wacky rig - hooking a bait right through the middle, letting the ends hang
Ditch Pickle - a largemouth bass
Greenfish - Largemouth Bass
Bucketmouth - a very big Largemouth Bass who's head is big enough for you to fit your fist in it's mouth, which resembles a bucket.
Mudfish - another term for Bowfin
Broomstick/Telephone pole - commonly used terms to describe an overly stiff fishing rod
Fairy Wand - commonly used term to describe an overly limp fishing rod, or just finesse spinning gear in general if you're a snarky bass fisherman because baitcasters are life and spinning rods are for children and pansies.
Milt - The uhhhh, male contribution to the eggs during the spawning cycle.
Bream/Brim - a term used by mainly southerners to describe any member of the sunfish family regardless of species. Bluegill, flier, shellcracker, etc
RedBelly - a redbreast sunfish
Whisker fish - a catfish
Dinner plate - a large bream
Burning - quickly reeling in a lure
Slow Rolling - slowly reeling a lure on bottom
Stitching - slowly hopping a bait softly across the bottom
Topwater - a surface lure
Spoon - a shiny fishing lure normally in the shape of a cupped dinner spoon without the handle, though other shapes have been made
Blank - raw fishing rod material that all the other components are built on.
Butt - end cap or section of a fishing rod.
Lunker - a large freshwater fish
Noodling - an act crazy people do during spawning time of large catfish in which they get in the water, stick their hands into a catfish hole or nest in shallow water, feel around for it's head and then grab it by the lower jaw and wrestle it out of the water and into the boat.
SALTWATER TERMS...
Drumming - a sound/ability that members of the croaker and drum family can produce by vibrating muscles against their swim bladder to make sounds that sound like croaking or drumming.
Puppy Drum - a small redfish
Snapper Blue - a small bluefish
Bull Red - a large redfish ("bull" is normally used to describe any large member of several species or just a male specimen)
Chopper - a large bluefish
Grander - a large Marlin in excess of 1,000 pounds
Tonner - the holy grail of Saltwater sportfishing, a Marlin in excess of 2,000 pounds. (Largest on record was over 1,800)
Peanut - small dolphinfish/mahi
Cow - female fish of certain species such as striped bass and mahi
Bull - male fish of certain species
Gator - a large speckled trout
Doormat - a large flounder
Barn Door - a large halibut
Smoker - a large kingfish (king mackerel)
Poon' - a tarpon
Silver King - also a tarpon
Ling/Lemon fish - a cobia
Slammer - a large mahi (NOTE: THIS FISH HAS DIFFERENT NAMES DEPENDING ON GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION. On the east coast, they're Dolphinfish or simply "Dolphin." On the west coast and in Mexico, they're Dorado. In Hawaii they're mahi-mahi which sounds better on a dinner plate than "dolphin" which is why they call them that at restaurants and in the seafood section at the store)
Reef Donkey -name given to describe an amberjack or almaco jack for their stubbornness and unbelievably hard fight at the end of a line.
Flag - a large Yellowtail Snapper
Hour Jack - a large Jack Crevalle, normally taking 45 minutes to 1 hour to land once hooked
Convict Fish - a sheepshead. Name given to them because they're known as highly skilled "bait thieves" and they're colored in what resembles jailhouse stripes.
Wire Trace - a section of wire or steel cable leader material used for fish with sharp teeth
Chum - ground and frozen bait or fish parts used to attract game fish as it melts and disperses in the water. There is also dry chum that normally comes in the form of pellets.
Sabiki - a Japanese fishing rig with about 6-10 hooks on it used for catching baitfish.
Slam - a "slam" is a variation of catching a certain few species, normally consisting of 3 main game fish based on your location, typically in one day. For example, the northeast slam is a striped bass, bluefish, and a bonito. The Florida inshore slam is a redfish, snook and speckled trout.
Grand Slam - Catching 5 or more certain species of fish in a certain location, typically in one day. For example, if you took the Florida inshore slam of a redfish, snook, and speckled trout and you threw in a tarpon and flounder as well, you'd have a grand slam.
Billfish - any species of saltwater gamefish with a "sword" or "bill" including Swordfish, Marlin, Sailfish and Spearfish.
Tailwalking - a fish who jumps from the water, with everything but the tail in the air as it glides across the surface. Commonly seen in billfish species.
FLY FISHING TERMS....
Dry - a floating fly designed to imitate an adult insect
Wet - a sinking fly designed to imitate several things, but commonly larval stages of insects
Nymph - a fly that imitates an aquatic insect larvae such as a stonefly
Spinner - Drowned adult insect or insect fly, normally with wings spread and laying flat.
Terrestrial - an insect or fly that imitates an insect which does NOT breed or originate from the water and is purely a land creature such as grasshoppers, crickets and beetles.
Rising/Riser - a trout or other fish sitting in the water who comes to the surface to slurp bugs
Tailing - feeding fish that are nose down on the bottom, often with their tails sticking out of the water
Stalking - sneaking up on unsuspecting fish to present your fly
Grain - weight class of a sinking fly line.
Ips - inches per second of a sink tip fly line
Dry-Dropper - a fly fishing rig in which a dry fly or high floating terrestrial fly is use as the main lure, and a smaller wet fly is tied with a piece of tippet to the bend of the main fly and is used as the "dropper" fishing two presentations at once.
BOATING TERMS....
Bow - nose/front of the boat
Stern - back of the boat
Forward - moving to the front of a boat
Aft - moving to the back of a boat
Cabin - compartment for passengers
Port side - left side of boat
Starboard side - right side of boat
Trolling - fishing lures or bait out behind a moving boat
Transducer - part of a fish finder or gps unit that sends frequency to the bottom of the water and reads the feedback that shows on screen.
PFD - Personal Floatation Device
Drift - Letting the current, wind, or other method carry the boat across the water without interference
Drift Sock - a large hat shaped cloth used to slow the drift speed of a boat
Swells/Rollers/Breakers - Large waves
Knot - measurement of wind speed. 1 knot is equal to about 1.15 mph and may be abbreviated with "kt" or "kts".
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