Fishing Glossary

Anadromous: Pertaining to fish that are born in fresh water, live in salt water, then return to fresh water to spawn.

Backlash: A tangle of line on a bait-casting reel caused when the spool is allowed to overrun because it is not thumbed.

Bait-Casting: A fishing method which uses a short, stiff rod and a multiplying reel with revolving spool and handle.

Barbel: A whisker or feeler growing from the corner of the mouth of certain fish species, such as Catfish and Carp.

Bobber: A small float used to hold a baited hook off the bottom and to   indicate to the angler when a fish bites.

Brackish: Water which is a mixture of salt and fresh, such as that found near the mouths of rivers emptying into a bay or ocean.

Chum: Bait thrown into the water to attract fish.

Chum Slick: A trail of chum in a current of water.

Dipsey: A type of sinker shaped like a drop, heavy at the base. Dorsal: Top fin of a fish.

Drag: Device to hold firm the line spool on a spinning or spin-casting reel; adjustable to protect the line against a fish's pull.

Drop Line: A hand line, consisting of line, bobber, sinker and hook without a rod or reel; fish is pulled in by hand.

Dry Fly: An imitation fly that floats. Feather Jig: A salt-water lure with a metal head and a feather body intended to imitate a minnow.

Ferrule: The joint by means of which two sections of a fishing rod are joined.

Fly-Casting: A fishing method designed to cast an almost weightless artificial fly and leader.

Gaff: A long-handled, large barbless hook used to spear and land large fish when a regular landing net would be too small.

Guides: Rings on a rod through which the line passes. Gunwale: The inside strip around the top of a boat.

Hellgrammite: Large black insect with nippers, larva of the Dobson fly; good bait for fresh-water panfish, Black Bass, etc.

Jig: When still-fishing, to work a bait up and down a short distance continually to attract fish.

Larva: Beetle-like form of an insect before it turns into a flying form. Leader: A strand of thin nylon used as an invisible connection between a line and its lure; also, a short wire connection between line and lure to resist a fish's teeth.

Lunker: Any especially large fish that might be considered a trophy. Lure: A bait or decoy to fool fish.

Monofilament: Single-strand nylon line.

Nymphs: Underwater larva forms of insects.

Panfish: A small fish of frying-pan size.

Plugs: Wooden or plastic lures which imitate (at least vaguely) some minnow on which the fish feeds. Rig: Equipment.

School: A crowd offish of the same species. Shiners: Live bait; minnows; small bait-fish. Shoal: Shallow area in a body of water.

Silt: Fine earth or sand carried and deposited by a current of water. Sinker: A lead weight which can be added to line for casting, carrying a lure deeper, and anchoring a baited hook for still-fishing.

Snell: A short leader (10 to 12 inches) tied to a hook with a loop on its other end.

Snelled Fly: A fly with a snell attached.

Spin-Casting: A casting method that uses a special spin-cast reel; not spinning.

Spinning: A method of casting light lures using a fixed-spool reel and a light nylon line (thread-line).

Split-Shot: A type of sinker which is a lead BB or buckshot split almost in half; it is squeezed together to hold line.

Stink Bait: A smelly bait of various materials (old cheese, insides of animals and chickens, animal blood, etc.) used as bait for Catfishing.

Stone Fly: A type of nymph, or insect larva.

Tippet: The end, and finest, section of a tapered leader, the weakest and most invisible part which is tied to the fly.

Torpedo Taper: A line which consists of three widths: narrowest at the end that is tied to the fly, followed by the thickest section which provides weight for the cast, then by the rest of the line which is slightly heavier than the light section.

Trolling: A fishing method in which a lure or bait is towed behind a boat.

Wet Fly: An artificial fly designed to resemble a drowned insect. Wobbler: A lure that wobbles, or zig-zags, through the water.

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