Thanks to Paul Sharman for contributing today’s excellent guest post poking a little fun at fly fishing phraseology!
Paul is a freelance writer & photographer and currently editor at Fish&Fly in the UK. You can catch up with him at www.paulsharmanoutdoors.com.
Alternative Fly Fishing Dictionary
Fly Fishing, like all great sports/hobbies/obsessions, is littered with its own collection of words and phrases that have evolved to describe specific circumstances or a particular event or item. If you do not live in ‘our’ world and even if you do, it is not always totally obvious what some of this strange language might mean.
Therefore fishing friends, I give to you the Alternative Fly Fishing Dictionary featuring some different interpretations of some of our best known words and phrases…
Trout Bum – An unfortunate affliction that only seems to target guides who sit in a drift boat all day
Mending the fly line – A flat-fisher’s nightly ritual after casting around coral heads and mangroves all day
Scuds – What you get if you drink the wrong water in Mexico
Belly in the line – an impedance to casting often caused by lodge meals
Wide Gape – The fully extended positions of your upper and lower jaws after losing that 10lb bonefish/20lb steelhead/insert your own disaster
Arbor – That place where the boats are parked
FishPimp – The guide in the 70’s flares and floral shirt
Single-haul – A destination that is only one flight away
Double-haul – What do you think?
Deceiver – That guy who sold you his leaky waders as “nearly new”
Tippet – A small financial reward for services rendered
Weakfish – The runt of the litter
Gink – The sound made by a bead-head hitting your fly rod
Mosca – Fly fishing’s greatest prize
Pescador – What you must pass through to go fishing in Mexico
Crazy Charlie – What you get for turning up late when they allocate the guides
Bonefish – Any species that elicits a strong physical reaction from male fly anglers
Tarpon – See above – as in if an angler shouts “I’ve got a tarpon” you’d better hope he’s wearing loose fitting pants
Weight Forward – Typical mid-Western angler with a centre of balance issue
Spey – Self-castration by constant immersion in icy water
Got your own suggestions? Leave a comment and help us build the dictionary!
Awesome! That is hilarious.
Hey I thought of another….
Debarb = De part of de hook that gets stuck in de finger.
False cast – not a real one
Boobies – self explanatory
Damsel – nice looking woman the other side of the lake/river
Tadpole – what “it’s” like when you fall in freezing water
Ghillie – something on the end of your nose
Bass bag – a place to keep your beers
Steelhead – a thick necked trout fisherman (sorry about that!)
Fast action – legging it quickly when the bailiff turns up
Slow action – getting caught
Dumbells – weight’s for keep fit fish
Danville – a french fly tying vice, you put zee fly in de D’anville
Tool Caddy – a guy who carries your fly tying tools
Grizzle – to have a good moan (true)
Wet fly hook – the only hook you can put in water
Dry fly hook – not allowed to get it wet under any circumstance
Permit – the thing some people forget to buy
Bonefish – the cheapest piece of Cod on the menu
Two Hander – a tough beer to open
Single Hander – someones already opened it for you
Wading – a small town in China
Wading staff – Chinese servants
Nippers – small children
Neil – you cracked the Fast/Slow action conundrum – knew there was one in there somewhere.
Simon – Wading – ROFLMAO!
Stragglefritz – what the wife looks like first thing in the morning
Zonker – referred to someone who always looks zonked out
Rod tube – a clever device designed to stop your thingy ending up like a Tadpole.
Vice – I have three vices, sex, drinking and smoking, but not necessarily in that order
Fishing bag – wife of a fisherman ( ouch she just hit me)
Fly reel – Scottish flies dancing
Fly rod – Scottish device for beating off midges
Ferrule – Fisherman that’s gone back to the wild.
KlinkHaemer – tool for breaking out of jail
Czech nymphing – late-night web surfing when no one’s looking
bucket – a run full of nice fish…or a useful home to ice and beer apres fsihing
Like it.