Fishing Glossary

Do you come across words and phrases you don't understand? You are not alone. Many specialised activities cloak themselves in a cloud of terminology that's familiar to its participants but a mystery to others. Of course, we all know what a 'hook' is and might even make a stab at understanding 'live bait', but what about 'leadhead' or 'flattie bashing'?

Don't worry. If anything looks fishy to you, this is the place to look.

Anal fin:  To avoid any risk of offence, best described as being the fin on a fish's belly closest to the tail.

Artificial bait:  In fishing terms, a synthetic bait that looks like, feels like and sometimes smells like the real thing - but isn’t.

Artificial lures:  Contraptions designed to imitate something a fish might want to eat, used for spinning, trolling and jigging.

Backlash:  A loop of line trapped under successive coils on the spool of a multiplier reel caused by allowing the spool to overrun.

Bait Ball:  A densely packed shoal of baitfish just asking to get hit by predators.

Baitcasting:  Casting a lure with a multiplier reel, as opposed to a spinning (or fixed spool) reel.

Baitcasting reel:  A small multiplier reel designed specifically for casting lures.

Baitfish:  Any fish that's regularly used by anglers as bait for a larger fish. Usual candidates include ballyhoo, sprats, mackerel, herring and flyingfish. And if you consider a squid to be a fish, then squid too.

Beachcasting:  Unsurprisingly, a fishing term meaning casting a lure, or more often a baited hook, from the beach. See also surfcasting.

Bird:  A device designed to splash around on the surface ahead of your trolled lure, imitating the disturbance caused by a shoal of baitfish. See also teaser.

Bird's nest:  A monumental tangle of line on your reel resulting from a spectacular overrun. A fishing term that's often preceded by an expletive.

Bivalves:  Molluscs that have a two-part hinged shell, such as clams, oysters, mussels and scallops.

Bottom fishing:  A fishing term describing the technique of placing a baited hook on the sea bed, held there by a lead weight.

Brit:  Not just a statement of nationality, but a general description of small fry destined to be pillaged by bass and mackerel. Found around the UK during the summer months.

Bucktail:  A jigging lure comprising a metal head and fixed hook, traditionally embellished with hairs from the tail of a buck but, to the delight of deers everywhere, synthetic strands are now used.

Butt Pad:  A plastic cup on a waist belt to take the load of the rod butt when playing a large fish. Worn around the front not - as our American friends might surmise - around the back.

Catch and Release Scheme:  The practice of using equipment least likely to harm fish - eg circle hooks - and releasing them after capture. Billfish caught in this way are normally tagged as part of an international study.

Caudal fin:  A fish's tail.

Chartplotter:  An electronic navigation system combining electronic charts and a GPS positioning system.

Chaser:  The lure at the end of a daisy chain - the one with the hook in it.

Ciguatera toxin:  A toxin that attacks the nervous system, sometimes found in reef-associated predatory fish. Affected fish then become poisonous to humans - always serious, sometimes fatal.

Continental shelf:  A area of relatively shallow water surrounding a land mass. The UK has a substantial one, including much of the North Sea, the Irish Sea and the English Channel. OK my French friends, La Manche.

Crankbait:  An American fishing term describing a plug designed specifically for casting, that dives below the surface on the retrieve. To UK anglers, it's just another plug.

Crimps:  Also known as sleeves or swages. Used to form connections in heavy mono or multi-strand cable where a knot is impractical.

Crimper:  A tool used to compress the crimps described above.

Crustaceans:  Shrimps, prawns, crabs, lobsters and the like.

Daisy chain:  A trolling item this, comprising a string of decoy lures, only the end one of which contains a hook, the others acting as teasers.

Demersal:  Fish species that feed on creatures that live on the sea bed.

Dock:  An American term for jetty or pontoon, for mooring a boat up to.

Doggie:  Any member of the dogfish family.

Downrigger:  A fishing term describing the cranelike device often seen on the sterns of sport-fishing boats, which lowers a planer on a wire line to a pre-determined depth.

Drift fishing:  Fishing when just drifting with wind and current.

Dropper:  A short hook link attached above a weight or lure.

Ebb tide:  A falling tide.

FAD or Fish Aggregation Device:  A floating platform under which fish congregate - used by commercial fisherman.

Fishfinder:  An electronic device used to detect fish and display their distribution on a screen.

Fixed-spool reel:  A reel type primarily intended for casting where the in-line axis spool doesn't rotate and a bale arm winds the line around the spool.

Flattie:  Any small member of the flatfish family.

Flattie bashing:  Fishing for flatfish.

Flood tide:  A rising tide.

Fluoro-carbon line:  A hi-tech monofilament line that is virtually invisible when submerged.

Gaff:  A tool comprising a handle and a sharp hook for boating your catch. Also a word describing the event of poking one through an inflatable fishing dinghy, when a landing net may have been a better choice.

Game fish:  Any large fish sought by anglers for sport.

Gastropods:  Marine snails and slugs.

Gear ratio:  The relationship between the number of times a reel spool turns for each revolution of the handle.

Gill:  The breathing organ of a fish that extracts oxygen from the water.

GPS:  The Global Positioning System, a satellite navigation system.

Handline:  The simplest rig of all. No rod or reel, just a line with a hook at one end and a hopeful angler at the other.

Handlining:  Not just using a handline, but also the technique of getting a large fish to the boat when no further line can be wound onto the reel. Serious stuff, this - tough gloves must be worn and great care taken not to get a line wrap around your hand.

Head pin:  The short length of wire pushed through the head of a baitfish as part of the procedure of rigging it for trolling.

Head spike:  See head pin.

Hokkai (or hokki) lures:  A string of small shrimp-like lures on short snoods.

IGFA:  The International Game Fishing Association.

Inshore fishing:  A fishing term generally used to describe fishing that takes place within sight of land.

Invertebrate:  Any animal that doesn’t have a backbone.

Jellyworm:  A soft plastic lure designed to imitate a swimming sand worm, often a ragworm.

Jerkbait:  A type of lure resembling a bait fish that is typically fished in a series of quick jerks to resemble a darting baitfish.

Jig:  An artificial lure designed primarily to be fished vertically in the water column, a method known as jigging.

Joey:  An immature mackerel.

Lanyard:  A short length of rope or a strap used to secure an item and prevent its loss.

Leader:  A length of line to which a hook or lure is attached, of different breaking strain and/or material than the main line.

Leadhead:  A lure comprising a metal head and fixed hook, to which soft-plastic bodies are attached.

Ledger:  A fishing term describing a bottom fishing rig incorporating a sliding weight.

Line guide:  Rod rings or rollers through which the line passes.

Livewell:  Compartment in a boat designed to hold water and keep fish alive. Typically have some means for recirculating water to keep it oxygenated.

Mantle:  The body part of a squid from which the head and tentacles emerge.

Molluscs:  Invertebrate animals that include clams, mussels, and oysters (bivalves), snails and slugs (gastropods), and cuttlefish, squids, and octopuses (cephalopods).

Monel:  A pliable and corrosion-resistant wire.

Mono:  Nylon monofilament line

Monofilament:  A single, untwisted, synthetic filament.

Multiplier reel:  A reel type with a transverse-axis spool which relies on internal gearing to increase the spool/handle rotation above 1:1. See also baitcasting reel.

Muppet:  A soft-plastic imitation squid.

Natural bait:  Live or dead hook bait.

Neap tides:  The smallest tidal ranges, meaning the least difference between daily high and low water marks. Neap tides occur every 28 days, 14 days after spring tides, with a direct correlation to the phase of the moon.

Offshore fishing:  A fishing term generally used to describe fishing that takes place out of sight of land.

Operculum:  The gillcover of a fish.

Outrigger:   A big-game fishing term meaning the long poles mounted either side of a boat to spread trolling lines outboard, and enable the deployment of multiple lures.

Paddle-tail:  The flat endplate design on a soft-plastic that makes it wriggle.

Paravane:   A plastic device designed to dive when dragged through the water. Used instead of a weight when trolling, to fish at increased depth.

Paternoster:  A fishing term describing a rig designed to be fished on or close to the seabed, comprising a lead weight and one or more hook snoods attached to droppers above it. Originates from rosary beads used while reciting the Lord's Prayer.

Pectoral fin:  The fin usually found on each side of the body immediately aft of the gill cover.

Pelagic:  Describes any fish of the open ocean, not resident to any specific area or feature.

Pelvic fin:  The pair of fins on the belly of a fish, between the pectoral fins and the anal fin.

Pennel Rig:  A two hook rig for long baits like marine worms, and large baits such as whole squid.

Pirk:  A heavy chrome-plated jig designed to descend quickly. Often used with great success when fishing over deepwater wrecks.

Planer:  A large paravane, often fashioned in stainless steel.

Plug:  A hard-moulded trolling or casting lure designed to imitate - in appearance and action - a small baitfish.

Popper:  Topwater plug with a dished-out head designed to make a splash when pulled sharply to imitate a wounded baitfish struggling on the surface.

Pushpit:  See Stern Rail.

Quick-Release (QR) Clip:  A device designed to grip the line lightly, then to release it under a suddenly applied load.

Rotten Bottom:  A weak link connecting a sacrificial sinker that will break if you get hung up, thus minimising the loss to your tackle.

Sand spike:  A rod holder pushed deep into the sand to support a surf rod or beachcasting rod vertically.

Shad:  A small soft-plastic fish-shaped lure.

SINK:  Not the inevitable consequence of inversion and immersion, but an acronym for a design of fishing kayak - a Sit IN Kayak.

SOT:  The other type of fishing kayak - the Sit On Top.

Secondary Port:  Any port which is not a Standard Port, but for which tidal data can be derived by reference to a Standard Port.
Sinker: A weight attached to the line.

Sink-and-draw:  A fishing term describing a technique used in lure fishing where the rod is slowly raised during retrieval, then lowered, giving the lure the appearance of a wounded fish - or at least one in a spot of bother.

Skirted lure:  A trolling lure designed to imitate a squid or octopus.

Slack water:  The period at high or low tide when the tidal stream has no strength or direction.

Sleeves:  See crimps.

Snood:  A short hook link. See also dropper.

Snubber:  A shock-absorber incorporated in a trolling handline.

Spinner:  A small rotating metal lure.

Spinnerbait:  An artificial bait consisting of a leadhead and one or two rotating blades, and a shaft dressed with a skirt.

Spinning:  Casting a lure with a spinning (or fixed spool) reel , as opposed to a multiplier (or baitcasting) reel.

Spinning reel:  See fixed-spool reel.

Split shot:  Small weights squeezed onto the line, used with light float tackle.

Spoon:  A metal lure designed to wobble and flutter, rather than rotate like a spinner.

Spreader bar:  An array of soft-plastic or skirted lures attached to a metal bar, designed as a decoy imitating a small shoal of fish.

Spring tides:  The top end of tidal ranges, with the greatest difference between daily high and low water marks. Spring tides occur every 28 days, 14 days after neap tides, with a direct correlation to the phase of the moon

Standard Port:  Any one of a number of ports around the coast for which tidal data is published.

Standing part:  A knot-tying term, referring to the part of the line that remains above the knot and leads back to the boat.

Stern Rail:  The rail at the after end of a boat. See Pulpit.

Stinger:  A secondary hook, intended to catch short-striking fish.

Stromboid toxin:  A form of poisoning caused by eating fish that has started to 'go off'.

Surfcasting:  An alternative fishing term to beach casting.

Swages:  See crimps.

Swimming lures:  Sinking plugs designed to resemble a swimming baitfish. Such plugs vibrate or wobble during retrieve, some having built-in rattles. Also called lipless crankbaits.

Swimbaits:  Soft-plastic lures, normally sporting a 'paddle' tail.

Swivel:  A small metal rotating device incorporated in the fishing rig to allow any line twists to unwind.

Tackle:  The all-inclusive fishing term to describe the equipment that goes to make up a fishing outfit.

Tag end:  A knot-tying term, meaning the short length of line remaining after tying the knot - usually snipped off.

Teaser:  Any device designed to attract fish to your lure, and induce them to strike.

Terminal tackle:  The part of your fishing rig that is attached to the end of your main line, or leader.

Tidal Range:  The difference in height between Low Water and the next High Water. At its maximum at the top of spring tides and its minimum at bottom of neap tides.

Topwater lures:  Floating hard baits or plugs that create surface disturbance during the retrieve, typically mimicking a wounded baitfish.

Trace: The length of line to which a hook is tied.

Trolling:  Dragging a lure (or several of them) astern when underway.

Trolling ball:  A spherical lead weight for getting your trolling line down deeper, normally used as part of a downrigger set-up.

Up-and-down rig:   A fishing term describing any rig intended for deployment vertically.

Waypoint:  A GPS position marked on an electronic chart, often as a planned course change on a route, or as an event marker.

Yo-Yo:  A circular plastic line holder, often used for handlines.

Zander:  A freshwater fish with no right to be in this glossary at all, other than to mark its end.