| Term |
Description |
|
Palmer
|
A term used to describe feathers wound perpendicular to the shank of the hook and apparently based upon appearance of pilgrims bearing palms. |
|
Palming
|
The use of the palm of the hand against the spool edge of a rimless fly reel as a means of applying drag against the release of line in fighting a fish. |
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Panfish
|
Any small American freshwater food fish, such as a sunfish or perch, that is fished for by anglers but is too small to be considered a true gamefish |
|
Parabolic Action
|
Another term for a through-action rod. |
|
Parachute
|
Dry flies where the hackle is wound horizontally around the base of the wing like a parachute instead of vertically around the hook of the fly |
|
Parr
|
A young trout, salmon or char up to two years, usually in the so-called fingerling stage. |
|
Pattern
|
The fixed design of material and position of parts which make up an artificial fly sometimes called its recipe. |
|
Peacock Sword
|
A feather from a peacock with bushy herl-like barbules, commonly used for tails |
|
Pectoral Fins
|
The pair of fins just behind the head of a fish |
|
Pelagic Fish
|
Fish that live at the surface, in the upper waters, open ocean fish |
|
Pelvic Fins
|
The pair of fins on the lower body of a fish; also called ventral fins |
|
Perfection Loop
|
A knot often used to create a loop in a piece of monofilament, frequently at the butt end of a leader for the loop to loop connection. |
|
pH
|
pH The pH number of a liquid, such as water, indicates its acidity or alkalkdty. Pure water has a pH of 7; water with a pH of less than7is acidic, and water with a pH of more than 7 is alkaline. |
|
Pickup & Lay Down
|
A cast using only a single back cast. The line is lifted from the water and a back cast made, followed by a forward cast which is allowed to straighten and fall to the water, completing the cast. |
|
Pisciculture
|
The breeding and rearing of fish, for example in hatcheries and fish farms. |
|
Point Fly
|
A fly fished on the point of the leader when a dropper holding another fly is used. In other words the first of a team of flies. |
|
Polarized Glasses
|
Sunglasses with iodized lenses that block incident light (glare) and thus allow anglers to better see beneath the surface glare of water. |
|
Poly Yarn
|
A synthetic yarn made from polypropylene. Used in fly tying, often for parachute posts and wings on dry flies. |
|
Pool
|
A section or reach of a river or stream with greater depth and slower current, making it safer from predators bird and animal and where swimming against the current is reduced. |
|
Popper
|
A topwater lure, made of painted balsa wood or deer hair, with a flat face that causes it to make a popping sound when retrieved. It is commonly used for warmwater panfish, bass and some saltwater species. |
|
Popping Bug
|
Bass bug made from a hard material. Usually cork or balsa wood,high density body foam, as these are high floating materials that can be made into a variety of shapes, can be made of a number of materials including deer hair |
|
Potamodromous fish
|
Fish that migrate regularly within large freshwater systems |
|
Power
|
A term generally describing the wrist and arm movement used during the casting sequence to energize the rod. |
|
Predatory Fish
|
Any fish that prey on other living creatures, particularly other fish. |
|
Presentation
|
The act of putting the fly on the water and offering it to the fish; the variety of presentations is infinite, and changes with each fishing situation, becoming a core element in the flyfishers art. The object is to present the fly in a manner similar to the natural insect or food form that you are imitating |
|
Pressure
|
A term used to describe the force applied by a fly fisher against a hooked fish during the fight to bring it to the net. |
|
Priest
|
A small club used for dispatching (killing) fish |
|
Pumping the Fish
|
A way of using the butt of the fly rod in a lifting motion to force the fish into submission to the fly fisher's will. Immediately after the lift, the rod is lowered and the slack line quickly recovered and placed back on the reel as you would with a spinning outfit. |
|
Pupae
|
The transition stage between the larvae and the adult stages of insects. |
|
Put Down
|
The result of a fly fisher's error in presence or presentation. Once alarmed, fish will scurry away and sulk. "Putting fish down" is a great way to assure yourself that you will not catch fish. |
|
Quill
|
The section of a primary or secondary feather used in fly tying. |
|
Rainbow Trout
|
Oncorhynchus Mykiss: Originally from North America it now populates many places all over the temperate and cooler parts of the world along with the Brown Trout. Along with the brown, the rainbow are a major target for fly fishermen. When it runs to the ocean it becomes a 'Steelhead'. |
|
Reach Cast
|
A cast used for adding extra slack in the line, or when fishing downstream, in order to provide a more natural float. |
|
Reach Mend Cast
|
A technique used on streams and rivers to provide a longer "drag-free" float to the fly. It's done by making the cast as normal, then laying the rod over in an upstream motion once the rod tip stops on the forward cast. The fly will continue on target but the line near the tip will "reach" or fall upstream. |
|
Redd
|
A hollow scooped in the sand or gravel of a riverbed by breeding trout or salmon as a spawning area. |
|
Redd
|
The hollowed out nest in a streambed where a fish deposits its eggs, a behavior typical to most salmonids. |
|
Reel Seat
|
The section of a fly rod below the grip where the fly reel is attached and has a mechanism that holds the reel to the rod, usually using locking metal rings or sliding bands. |
|
Retrieve
|
Bringing the fly back towards the caster after the cast is made (stripping); can be done in a variety of ways; important points of retrieving are to keep the rod tip low and pointed straight down the line and to be done in a way that gives the fly a life like movement in the water. |
|
Reversed-taper Handle
|
A rod handle that tapers towards the butt end. |
|
Ribbing
|
Tinsel or other material that is wound up the hook shank for decoration and/or to hold down other material on the shank. |
|
Riffle
|
A small rapid in a river or stream |
|
Rip-rap
|
Broken rock, deposited loosely on a riverbed or on the banks to help prevent erosion. It is also used to form breakwaters and embankments. |
|
Rise
|
The visible action of a trout as it rises to feed on the water's surface. Different kinds of rises (splashy, dimpled, etc.) suggest different kinds of feeding and may suggest different kinds of insects. |
|
Rod Flex
|
The manner in which the rod bends during the cast during the acceleration phase of the cast |
|
Rod Socket
|
A place to secure the butt of the rod near the waist when fighting large fish. |
|
Roe
|
Fish milt and ova. |
|
Roll Cast
|
One of the three most basic fly casts; allows a cast to be made without a back cast; essential for use with sinking lines, to bring the line to the surface so it may be picked up and cast in a normal manner. Often employed when a back-cast is not possible because of 'tight' conditions. |
|
Run
|
A fast-flowing stretch of river; the movement of fish inshore or upstream for spawning; the flight of a hooked fish trying to escape; a small stream or brook. |
|
Running Line
|
Running line A thin line made of monofilament, Dacron braid or thin fly line that connects on one end to a shooting head and on the other end to the backing. Usually 100 feet in length, it allows the fly fisher to quickly change the type of line being used by interchanging only the head section. |
|
S Cast
|
A cast used to put deliberate and controlled slack into a cast; used in getting a drag free float and in conjunction with mending line . |
|
Saddle Feathers
|
Feathers from the back of the chicken which are longer and have thinner stems. Best choice for most dry flies. |
|
Salinity
|
The level of dissolved salts in the water. Freshwater normally contains less than 0.2% salts, brackish water contains up to 3% salts, and saltwater (such as seawater) just over 3%. |
|
Saltwater Taper
|
A weight forward fly line that is similar to a bass bug taper |
|
S-Cast
|
An "S" pattern of the fly line on the water created by side-to-side movement of the fly rod during the forward cast. This cast is used to put slack in the fly line and hence to reduce the influence of the current on the fly line and thus to minimize drag. (see also Mending) |
|
Scour Erosion
|
Erosion caused by flowing water; a shallow, fast-flowing, gravel-bottomed stretch of river. |
|
Scud
|
A small freshwater Shrimp-like crustacean that is present in most trout waters and serves as a food source for trout. |
|
Sea Trout
|
Salmo Trutta: A migratory brown trout that comes back into the freshwater to spawn. |
|
Sea-Ducer
|
Sea-ducer (or seducer) flies This pattern is like the Key Style fly but the long hook shank is covered with palmered hackle, left upright to be less streamlined and create more disturbance in the water. It also has the attribute of falling to the surface more quietly and not spooking jumpy fish. It is also ideal for redfish, striped bass, snook and other species that prefer slow moving undulating flies with great action at slow speeds. Homer Rhodes is credited with developing this type of fly in the 1950's |
|
Sea-run
|
A term describing brown, cutthroat and rainbow trout that hatch in fresh water, migrate to the sea to mature, and return to fresh water to spawn. Rainbow trout (in the Pacific Northwest and Great Lakes) are the best known sea-run trout; these are called steelhead. |
|
Sedges
|
Flies which belong to the Trichoptera order of insects. |
|
Setting the Hook
|
The act of pulling the hook into the flesh of the fish's mouth by pulling on the line or lifting the rod. |
|
Shank
|
The long straight part of the hook between the eye and the bend |
|
Shooting Head
|
A shorter fly line with a heavy belly section used to gain extra distance.. |
|
Shooting Line
|
Shooting line is the process of extending the length of your fly cast be releasing an extra length of fly line (usually held in your non-casting hand) during the forward/presentation part of the cast. This technique allows a fly angler to false cast a shorter segment of line and then only at the time of the final forward cast to bring a longer segment of line into play. |
|
Shooting Taper
|
A short ( 30-38 feet long) single tapered fly line, shooting heads are designed for longest casts with minimum effort; shooting heads allow quick change of line types (floating, sinking, sink-tip, etc.)by quickly interchanging head sections. |
|
Shooting the Line
|
A term used to describe the act of releasing the fly line during the cast enabling the line to be carried out away from the line hand by the power or momentum of the rod. |
|
Single Action
|
The typical fly reel wherein a single turn of the handle causes one turn of the reel spool. This is distinguished from the multiplier reel where a single turn of the handle causes multiple turns of the spool and makes it easier to retrieve line. Almost all high quality fly reels are single action. |
|
Sink Rate
|
The speed at which a sinking fly line sinks; there are a number of sink rates measured in feet per second. |
|
Sink Tip
|
A fly line that has both a floating segment (say the first 95 feet) and a sinking section (the last 10 feet). This style of line is used for underwater presentation of flies in fast water or in some still water fishing situations. |
|
Sink-and-draw
|
A method of fishing in which the lure, fly, or bait is made to rise and fall alternately during the retrieve by raising and lowering the rod tip. |
|
Sinkant
|
A liquid applied to flies to make them sink. |
|
Sinking Fly Line
|
A fly line in which the entire length of the line sinks beneath the surface of the water |
|
Sinking Tip Line
|
A floating fly line with a sinking tip, used to fish flies just below the surface. |
|
Slip
|
A narrow strip of feather. Slips are widely used in fly tying. |
|
Smelt
|
Small bait fish |
|
Smolt
|
A young salmon or sea trout, silver in color on its first journey to the sea. As it embarks on it's seaward journey it goes through a physical change to survive in the salt (this change is called smoltifying) |
|
Snake Guides
|
A formed wire guide on a fly rod |
|
Spawn
|
The behavior of fish where females deposit eggs (also called spawn) on various surfaces (varying with species) and the male produces necessary milt to ultimately turn the eggs into fry. |
|
Spey
|
A Scotish name for a particular casting technique using special two-handed rods and a modified roll cast. |
|
Spinner
|
Spinner - the egg laying stage of the mayfly and an easy target for trout. |
|
Split Cane Rod
|
Fly rods constructed of six pieces of split cane bamboo, which are triangularly shaped, tapered and glued together. Split cane rods appear to have originated in the U.S. in the middle of the 19th century. While used by some modern anglers, graphite/fiber glass rods offer less expensive and easier-to-care for options. |
|
Spool
|
The part of the fly reel that revolves and which holds the backing and the fly line |
|
Spring Creek
|
A creek or stream that gets its water from a ground flow or spring sources, rather than glacier/snow melt or surface run off. Spring creeks are generally at a temperature of the average rainfall temperature over the course of the year (the source of most ground water) and hence usually do not warm significantly in the summer nor freeze in the winter. |
|
Spring Tides
|
The tides that occur around the time of full and new moons. They have larger rises and falls than those at other times of the month. |
|
Stalking
|
Creeping up on a fish, to surprise or not disturb it. |
|
Standing Line
|
The part of the line that is joined to another piece of line when tying the tag ends together |
|
Steelhead
|
Oncoryhnchus Mykiss: A migratory rainbow trout. |
|
Stock Fish
|
Fish that are reared in captivity and stocked into fisheries |
|
Stonefly
|
A very important aquatic insect; nymph lives for one to three years, depending on species; most species hatch out by crawling to the shoreline and emerging from its nymphal case above the surface, thus adults are available to trout only along shoreline and around midstream obstructions; adult has two pair of wings which are folded flat along its back when at rest; stoneflies require a rocky bottomed stream with very good water quality. |
|
Streamer
|
A fly classically made of long soft feathers or animal hair (like bucktail) to imitate a bait fish, leech or other non-insect . Modern streamers are made of many synthetic materials, including metallic film and even epoxy. An American word for the British term 'Lure'. See our Traditional Streamers. |
|
Strike
|
A fish trying to eat a fly. This term also refers to the movement of the rod a fly angler makes to set the hook. |
|
Strike Indicator
|
A floating object placed on the leader or end of the fly line to "indicate" the take of the fly by a fish or to indicate the path of the drift of the fly; used when nymph fishing with a slack line; very effective. They are made of such things as floating putty, poly yarn, foam, etc. |
|
Strip
|
The term used to describe taking in the line by hand, as opposed to reeling it in. |
|
Stripping Basket
|
A bag, box or clothes basket , either on the ground or attached to the waist, used to collect loose line when fishing, reduces tangles |
|
Stripping Guide
|
The guide nearest the reel on a fly rod, usually more substantial and larger in diameter than the snake guides nearer the tip. It is called a stripping guide because in bringing in the fly, the line is pulled over this guide with a fair amount a force. Some rods have two stripping guides, with the larger being nearer the reel. |
|
Surface Film
|
The apparent elastic like film on the surface of water - which is created by surface tension |
|
Surface Tension
|
The natural tendency of the surface of water (and other liquids) to behave like an elastic sheet. It is caused by forces acting between the water molecules: the molecules at the surface are much more strongly attracted to each other, and to the molecules below them, than they are to the molecules of air above them |
|
Surgeon's Knot
|
An excellent knot used to tie two lengths of monofilament together; the lines may be of dissimilar diameters. Often used to tie tippet material together. |
|
Tag
|
The end of the line that is used to tie a knot. Also the name for the short, thick tail on a fly. |
|
Tail
|
Part of the fly usually constructed of fine feather or hair, on the end of the hook |
|
Tail Out
|
The lower end of a pool where it becomes shallow again. |
|
Tailing
|
The behavior of fish in shallow water where it is possible to see the caudal fins as they feed. |
|
Tailing Loop
|
The result of an error in the casting technique. Tailing loops usually result when the rod tip following a concave path, such as it will do if the caster “jerks” the rod forward at the end of the backcast. Jerking the rod forward from the backcast applies power improperly and at the wrong time. The rod tip, in turn, dips sharply into a convex path. Since the line goes where the rod tip goes, the line is sure to follow the same concave path forming the tailing loop. The evidence of a tailing loop is a simple unwanted overhand knot somewhere in the forward part of the tippet. Sometimes called a "wind knot," the knot is anything but the result of the wind. When you begin to notice these little teeny-tiny knots, look for an error in the mechanics of your cast. |
|
Tailwater
|
The downstream section of a river or stream found below a large man-made dam. The most famous and productive tailwaters are from bottom-discharge dams, making the water relatively cold and constant in temperature. |
|
Tandem Fly
|
A fly consisting of two or more in line hooks connected by a short length of strong line. See our Tandems as examples. |
|
Taper
|
The narrowing in diameter, from butt to tip, of a rod, and the narrowing of the end section of a fly line. The rate of taper determines the action of the rod or line. |
|
Tapered Leader
|
A leader made of monofilament and used for fly fishing; the back or butt section of the leader is of a diameter nearly as large as the fly line, then becomes progressively smaller in diameter as you approach the tip end |
|
Tarpon Flies
|
Flies specifically designed for Tarpon - see our saltwater section on Tarpon Style flies for examples. |
|
Terminal Tackle
|
The tackle, including the hook or lure, that is attached to the end of the reel line |
|
Terrestrial
|
Term used to describe land-based insects (including grasshoppers, crickets, ants, beetles) which are often food for fish |
|
Thorax
|
The front portion of the body of an insect to which the wings and legs are attached. |
|
Throat
|
A throat, or beard, is at the front of a fly under the shank. |
|
Tight Loop
|
A narrow loop - see Narrow Loop |
|
Tighten
|
The act of rising the rod tip quickly to straighten the line and apply tension to it, in order to sink the hook into the mouth of a taking fish. |
|
Tinsel
|
Thin silver, gold or brass-colored ribbon used in adding shine ton flies, often as ribbing or for fly bodies. |
|
Tip Section
|
The top section of a fly rod, smallest in diameter and furthest from the rod grip. |
|
Tippet
|
The end section of a tapered leader; the smallest diameter section of a tapered leader; the fly is tied onto the tippet. Also a term used for a small orange and black barred feather from the Golden Pheasant game bird . |
|
Tip-Top
|
A guide for the fly line with a small cylinder attached that fits over the end of the fly rod. |
|
Toe Biter
|
A dobson fly larvae |
|
Topping
|
In Atlantic salmon patterns topping refers to Golden Pheasant crest feathers that are set above and below the 'wing', forming a sort of frame for the wing. |
|
Trailing Shuck
|
A section of synthetic yarn tied to the back of a fly to imitate a case being shed from an emerging insect. |
|
Triangle Taper
|
A special taper profile to a fly line designed by Lee Wulff, with 40 feet of continuous taper, with a thin running line. Particularly useful for roll casts. |
|
Troll
|
The term used to describe the action of towing a fly behind a boat. |
|
Trout Unlimited
|
A non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and improvement of trout fisheries, with an emphasis towards wild trout. |
|
Tube Fly
|
An artificial fly consisting of a metal or plastic tube, dressed with feathers, hair or other materials with the line threaded through it. |
|
Turn Over
|
How the fly line and leader straighten out at the completion of the cast |
