Fishing rod, reel and a tackle box of lures on a dock at a misty mountain lake at sunrise — Tom's Fishing

Reference

The Fishing Glossary

Every term our guides use, explained in plain language. 206 entries covering rods, reels, line, lures, hooks, tackle, waders, sonar and the water itself. Each one has its own page with what it means, why it matters, and where it comes up.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W

206 terms, A to Z. Tap any one for the full explanation.

A

Aberdeen hook: A long-shank, light-wire hook, the classic choice for panfish on live bait.
Action: Where along the blank a rod bends. Fast action bends near the tip, moderate action bends deeper toward the middle.
AIS: Aquatic invasive species. Organisms like didymo, whirling disease spores and zebra mussel larvae that move between watersheds on damp gear.
Anti-reverse: The one-way clutch that stops the handle spinning backward, so the rod loads instantly when you set the hook.
Arch: The upside-down U a fish leaves on a 2D sonar screen as it passes through the cone.
Aught: How hook sizes above size 1 are spoken. 2/0 is 'two aught', and bigger aught numbers mean bigger hooks.

B

Backbone: The lower, stiffer half of the rod that does the heavy lifting once a fish is hooked.
Backing: Thin braided line wound onto a fly reel underneath the fly line, to fill the spool and give you reserve line on a long run.
Backlash: The tangle that forms on a baitcaster when the spool spins faster than line is leaving it, piling loose loops on the spool.
Bail: The thin wire arm on a spinning reel. Flip it open to cast, close it to retrieve.
Baitcasting reel: The reel that sits on top of the rod with a spool that spins as the line leaves it. More power and accuracy, and it will backlash on you.
Baitfeeder: A spinning reel with a second, much lighter drag you can switch on, so line leaves the spool almost freely while the rod sits in a holder.
Ball bearings: The bearings that let a reel's moving parts spin smoothly. Quality and sealing matter far more than the count on the box.
Bank fishing: Fishing on foot from the shore rather than from a boat. It rewards walking and accuracy over gear.
Barb: The backward-facing spur cut behind a hook's point that stops the hook backing out once it is in.
Barometric pressure: Air pressure. It falls ahead of a rain front and rises behind it, and the trend lines up with how aggressively fish feed.
Bibs: Waterproof trousers that continue up over the chest with shoulder straps, so water cannot find your waistband.
Bill: The plastic or metal blade on the nose of a hard bait. Its size and angle set how deep the lure dives and how it bounces off cover.
Blade bait: A thin, heavy metal lure with treble hooks, fished by lifting it sharply off the bottom and letting it flutter back down.
Blade coating: A titanium-nitride or non-stick layer on a blade that fights corrosion and helps fillets release instead of sticking.
Blank: The bare tapered shaft of the rod before guides, grip and reel seat are added. Everything a rod does well or badly starts here.
Blowup: The explosive surface strike when a fish comes up and hits a topwater lure.
Bobber: A float clipped to the line that suspends the bait at a set depth and signals a bite when it goes under.
Boning and fillet knives: Close cousins. A boning knife is stiffer and made for meat and poultry; a fillet knife is thinner and more flexible, built to skin and bone fish.
Bootfoot: Waders with the boots permanently attached. Pull them on and wade with nothing else to buy.
Braided line: Line woven from several strands of synthetic fibre. Far thinner than nylon for the same strength, with essentially no stretch.
Braking system: The mechanism that slows a baitcaster's spool during the cast so it does not outrun the line. The most beginner-friendly feature on the reel.
Breathability: How fast sweat vapor escapes through a fabric, usually quoted in grams per square metre over 24 hours.
Breathable waders: Waders made from a layered fabric that blocks water from outside while letting sweat vapor escape. The all-season default.
Buzzbait: A topwater wire bait with a large aluminum propeller that planes the lure across the surface, leaving a noisy churning trail.

C

Cadence: The rhythm and speed of your retrieve, including twitches and pauses. Often the difference between follows and hookups.
Casting plug: A small rubber or plastic weight with no hooks, tied on for casting practice on grass.
Catch and release: Returning fish to the water alive rather than keeping them. Survival depends almost entirely on how you handle them.
Channel catfish: The most widespread catfish in North America and the one most bank anglers catch. It takes prepared baits readily, unlike flatheads.
Chatterbait: A jig with a hexagonal metal blade on the line tie that makes the whole bait shake hard on a straight retrieve.
CHIRP: Sonar that sweeps a range of frequencies instead of firing one, producing sharper arches and better separation.
Circle hook: A hook whose point curves back toward the shank, so it slides to the corner of the jaw and turns as the fish moves away. You never strike it.
Combo: A rod and reel sold together and already matched, usually with line on the spool.
Cone angle: How wide the sonar beam spreads as it travels down. Wide covers more water with less detail, narrow sees a sharper slice.
Conservation net: A net built around knotless or rubber mesh and a deep bag, designed to land and release fish with the least harm.
Countdown: Counting seconds while a sinking lure falls so you can fish a chosen depth on purpose and repeat it.
Cover: The objects fish hide in and around: wood, weed, rock, docks and lily pads. Distinct from structure, which is the bottom's shape.
Crankbait: A hard-bodied diving lure with a plastic or metal lip, fished by casting it out and reeling it back at a steady speed.
Crawfish: The freshwater crustacean that bass eat more of than anything else in rocky water. The reason jigs and craw trailers exist.
Crimping slot: A notched recess in a plier's jaws for squeezing metal sleeves closed on a line connection.
Cut-resistant fabric: Woven material, often with hard particles bonded into it, built to resist a blade, a tooth or a spine rather than to insulate.

D

Deflection: The moment a lure ricochets off a rock, stump or grass stalk and veers off course. The biggest strike trigger in crankbait fishing.
Dip bait: A thick, strongly scented prepared bait for channel cats, too soft to stay on a bare hook.
Down imaging: High-frequency sonar that draws near-photographic, top-down detail of whatever is directly below the boat.
Drag: The reel's slip system. Set right, a strong fish pulls line out instead of snapping it.
Drop shot: A finesse rig with the hook tied above a weight on the end of the line, so the bait hovers off the bottom at whatever height you set.
Drop-off: Where the bottom falls away sharply from shallow to deep. One of the most reliable places to find fish in any water.
Dry fly, nymph and streamer: The three fly categories a beginner meets. A dry fly floats, a nymph sinks and imitates larvae, a streamer is retrieved like a baitfish.
Dual-fuel: A lamp that runs on either its rechargeable pack or standard disposable batteries.
DWR: The surface treatment on a jacket that makes rain bead up and roll off. It wears out, and it can be renewed.

E

EVA and cork grips: The two materials rod handles are made from. Cork is lighter and warmer, EVA foam is cheaper and survives more abuse.

F

Felt sole: A thick pressed wool-style pad on a wading boot. It grips wet algae-covered rock better than anything else, and it is banned in several states.
Ferrule: The joint where two sections of a multi-piece rod fit together, either a spigot plug or a sleeve over the lower section.
Fiberglass: The older, heavier, far tougher rod material. Slower and less sensitive than graphite, and much harder to break.
Flex: How much a fillet blade bends. A flexible blade follows the fish's contours; a stiff one gives more control and power.
Flipping and pitching: Short, accurate underhand casts that drop a bait quietly into tight cover at close range.
Flood and spot: Flood is a wide beam lighting everything in front of you. Spot is a narrow beam that throws far.
Fluorocarbon: Single-strand line made from a dense polymer that refracts light almost like water, so it is much harder for fish to see.
Fold-back and convertible gloves: A glove whose fingertips or whole mitten hood folds away and clips back, giving you bare fingers without removing the glove.
Football head: A wide, football-shaped jig head that will not roll onto its side, built for dragging deep rock and gravel.
Four-way stretch: Fabric that stretches along both axes and recovers its shape, usually a polyester and spandex blend.
Freestone: A river fed by runoff and rainfall rather than a spring or a dam, typically running over loose rock and cobble.
Full tang: The blade steel runs the full length of the handle as one piece, rather than being a short stub pinned into it.

G

Gaiter or buff: A fabric tube worn around the neck that pulls up over the nose and ears for sun protection.
Gap: The distance between a hook's point and its shank. It sets the largest thing the hook can bite through.
Gear ratio: How many times the spool rotates per handle turn, written as something like 6.2:1. Higher reels faster, lower cranks harder.
Graphite: The stiff, light carbon fiber material most modern rod blanks are made from. Sensitive and quick, but more brittle than fiberglass.
Gravel guard: An elastic cuff on the wader leg that pulls down over the top of a wading boot to keep sand and gravel out.
Guides: The rings mounted along the blank that carry the line from the reel to the tip.

H

Hard box and soft bag: The two ways to carry tackle. A hard box is a rigid plastic case; a soft bag is a fabric carrier holding removable trays.
High-back: A vest cut that keeps the foam above the level of a seat back, so it does not push you forward while you sit.
High-carbon stainless: Steel that blends the hard, sharp edge of high-carbon with the rust resistance of stainless. The usual choice for a knife that lives wet.
Hollow-body frog: A soft hollow topwater with the hook points tucked against the body, built to be fished over matted grass and lily pads.
Hookset: The motion that drives the hook point into the fish once it has taken the bait.
Hoop: The frame that holds a landing net's bag open, measured across its widest point. It sets the biggest fish you can comfortably land.

I

Improved clinch knot: The standard knot for tying line to a hook or lure eye. Five twists, back through the loop, then through the big loop you just made.
Inflow: Where water enters a pond or lake, from a pipe, a stream or a fountain. It carries food and oxygen, so it concentrates fish.
Inherently buoyant: Flotation that comes from foam and works the instant you put it on, with nothing to trigger, service or replace.
Interchangeable soles: A boot design that lets you swap the entire outsole, so one pair covers felt, rubber and studded configurations.
IP rating: A two-digit code for dust and water resistance. For a headlamp the second digit is the one that counts.
IPT: Inches of line recovered per handle turn. A more honest speed comparison between reels than gear ratio.

J

Jerkbait: A long, slender minnow-shaped hard bait fished with sharp rod twitches and long pauses. A cold-water specialist.
Jig: A weighted hook with a skirt and a weed guard, fished on the bottom. The bait that catches the biggest bass and the one most anglers skip.
Jig head: A weighted hook with the lead or tungsten molded at the eye, used bare with a soft plastic body threaded onto it.

K

Knit and woven: The two fabric constructions. Knit is looped so it stretches and dries fast; woven is crosshatched so it holds its shape.

L

Lanyard: A coiled cord or tether that keeps a tool attached to you or the boat, so it cannot be dropped overboard.
Leader: A separate length of line tied between your main line and your lure, usually to hide the main line or to resist abrasion.
Lens tint: The base color of the lens. It shapes contrast and matters more for actually seeing fish than any other feature.
Light wire and strong wire: How thick the steel in a hook is. Light wire is sharper and bends free of snags, strong wire resists a heavy fish straightening it.
Line rating: The range of line strength a rod is built for, printed on the blank as something like 6 to 15 lb.
Line weight: The number from 1 to 12 that grades fly line by mass. The rod and the line have to share it or the outfit will not cast.
Lipless crankbait: A flat-sided sinking bait with no lip, tied on at the back so it hangs nose-down and vibrates hard on the retrieve.
Low-profile: The flattened, palmable baitcaster shape most bass anglers use, as opposed to a taller round reel.
Lug sole: A molded rubber outsole with deep tread blocks, like a hiking boot. Legal everywhere and better on banks and trails.
Lumens: A measure of total light output. More lumens is brighter, but beam shape and a usable low setting matter more for fishing.
Lure rating: The weight range of lures a rod casts and works properly, printed on the blank as something like 1/8 to 5/8 oz.

M

Match the hatch: Choosing a lure that resembles what the fish are already eating, in size, shape and color.
Medium-heavy: The most common bass rod power, one step up from medium, with the spine to drive a worm hook and pull a fish out of cover.
Mirror coating: A reflective layer on the outside of a lens that bounces away extra light before it reaches the filter.
mm rating: A waterproof rating measured by how tall a column of water a fabric holds back before leaking, in millimetres.
MOLLE webbing: Rows of stitched nylon straps on the outside of a pack that let you clip on extra pouches and tools.
Monofilament: Single-strand nylon line. Stretchy, cheap, easy to tie and the most forgiving line to learn on.

N

Ned rig: A short stubby piece of buoyant soft plastic on a light mushroom-shaped jig head, which stands the bait up nose-down on the bottom.
Needle-nose pliers: Long tapered jaws that reach into a fish's mouth to back a hook out while keeping your fingers clear of the points.
Neoprene: Closed-cell synthetic rubber, the material wetsuits are made from. It insulates when wet and blocks wind.
Net depth: How far the net bag hangs below the hoop. A deeper bag cradles a fish so it cannot flip back out while you free the hook.
No-roll sinker: A flattened weight designed to stay put in current instead of rolling along the bottom with the flow.

O

Offset: A kink in a hook's shank just below the eye that grips the head of a soft plastic and stops it sliding down.
Omni-Shade: Columbia's in-house name for its UV-blocking fabric treatment and construction. A label, not a specific rating.

P

Panfish: The catch-all for bluegill, sunfish, crappie and perch. Named for fitting in a frying pan, and the easiest fish to catch.
Performance level: The labelling system phased in from January 2025. The number is roughly the buoyancy in newtons, so higher means more flotation and more bulk.
PFD: Personal flotation device, the umbrella term covering life jackets, vests, belt packs and throwable cushions.
PFG: Performance Fishing Gear, Columbia's fishing sub-brand. A product line rather than a technical specification.
Polarized: A lens filter that blocks the horizontally reflected light bouncing off a water surface, letting you see beneath it instead of a sheet of glare.
Polycarbonate: A light, shatter-resistant plastic lens material. Cheaper and tougher than glass, slightly less optically sharp.
Popper: A topwater lure with a cupped or concave face that spits water and makes a loud pop when you twitch the rod.
Post-spawn: The weeks after bedding, when bass are recovering and reluctant to chase. Traditionally the toughest fishing of the year.
Pound test: The rated strength of a line, meaning roughly the straight pull in pounds it should hold before breaking.
Power: How much force it takes to bend the rod at all, graded from ultralight through heavy. It is the headline spec on the blank.
Pre-spawn: The stretch when water climbs through the 50s and bass move from deep winter areas toward the shallow flats where they will spawn.
ProLatch and cam latch: The locking mechanism on a utility box lid. A good one closes with an audible click and does not pop open in a bag.
PU and PVC coated: A waterproof layer applied directly to fabric rather than a breathable membrane. Cheap, completely waterproof and clammy.
Punch bait: A stiffer relative of dip bait. You push the hook down into the tub and lift it out loaded, without touching the bait.

R

Rain cover: A stowable waterproof shell that pulls over an entire pack in a downpour.
Reaction strike: A bite triggered by reflex rather than hunger, usually when a bait suddenly changes direction or rips free of cover.
Rearming kit: The replacement CO2 cylinder and trigger an inflatable PFD needs after it fires or expires.
Red mode: A red LED setting that preserves your dark-adapted night vision and spooks fish far less than white light.
Reel seat: The threaded collar on the rod handle that clamps the reel foot in place.
Reel size: The number on a spinning reel, roughly 500 to 6000, that sets line capacity, drag power and weight.
Rod holder: A molded slot or strap loop on a pack that secures a rod upright so your hands are free.
Rod length: How long the rod is, measured tip to butt. Longer casts farther and controls line better, shorter is more accurate and easier to handle.
Rubber-coated mesh: Netting dipped in or molded from soft rubber. Gentle on a fish's slime coat and it sheds treble hooks instead of grabbing them.
Running true: A bait that swims straight and upright instead of veering to one side. A crankbait that runs off course will not go where you cast it.
Runtime: How long a lamp runs on a given setting before the battery fades. Always check the number for medium, not maximum.

S

Sealed drag: A drag stack closed off from water and grit so it stays smooth instead of going notchy over a season.
Senko: A plain, salt-impregnated soft-plastic stick worm whose only action is a slow, shimmying fall. One of the most effective bass baits ever made.
Shad: The silvery baitfish that most predator fish in southern and midwestern reservoirs feed on. What the majority of lures imitate.
Shank: The straight section of a hook between the eye and the bend.
Sight-fishing: Spotting individual fish in the water and casting to them, rather than blind-casting to likely water.
Silicone palm print: Raised dots or lines of silicone bonded to a glove's palm and fingers, which grip a wet rod handle and a slick fish.
Skirt: The bundle of silicone or rubber strands tied around a jig or spinnerbait head, which flares on the fall and pulses on the pause.
Slime coat: The layer of mucus on a fish that keeps infection and parasites out. Dry hands and knotted nylon nets strip it off.
Sling bag: A single-strap pack that rides on one shoulder and rotates around to your chest for access without taking it off.
Slip rig: A bottom rig where the main line runs through the sinker instead of being tied to it, so a fish can move off with the bait without feeling the weight.
Snell: A knot tied around the shank of a hook rather than to its eye, so the pull rotates the point up into the fish.
Soft plastic: Any lure molded from soft PVC plastisol: worms, craws, creature baits, grubs, flukes and paddle-tail swimbaits.
Spare tip: A second interchangeable tip section shipped with a rod, either as a backup or in a different power so one handle covers two jobs.
Spawn: The period when bass move onto shallow gravel beds to lay and guard eggs, usually as water settles into the mid-60s.
Spincast reel: The push-button reel with the line hidden under a nose cone. Press, swing, release. The easiest reel to learn on.
Spinnerbait: A bent wire lure with a skirted, weighted head on one arm and one or two spinning blades on the other.
Spinning reel: The reel that hangs below the rod with an open spool and a wire bail. The most common and most forgiving freshwater reel.
Split ring: A small doubled metal ring, like a tiny keyring, that attaches a treble hook or a snap to a lure.
Split shot: A small round weight with a slot in it, pinched onto the line with pliers. The simplest way to sink a bait.
Spool: The cylinder the line winds onto. Its size sets line capacity and, on a baitcaster, how easily light lures cast.
Spool tension: The knob beside the handle on a baitcaster that sets how freely the spool turns. The first thing to adjust on a new reel.
Squarebill: A shallow crankbait with a wide, square lip built to bang off wood and rock without snagging, usually running two to five feet down.
Stained water: Water you can see roughly a foot into. Not clear enough for subtle natural colors, not dirty enough to need a rattle on everything.
Stockingfoot: Waders that end in a snug neoprene sock rather than an attached boot. You wear separate wading boots over them.
Storm flap: A strip of fabric covering the main zip. Zips are the weakest waterproof point on a jacket and a flap over one does more than a fancier zip.
Structure: The shape of the bottom itself: points, humps, channels, ledges and drop-offs. Distinct from cover, which sits on top of it.
Studs and cleats: Small carbide or aluminum spikes that thread into a rubber outsole, digging into wet stone the way tire studs dig into ice.
Sun sleeve: A separate UPF tube covering the forearm from wrist to bicep, worn with short sleeves.
Swimbait: A soft-plastic baitfish imitation with a paddle-shaped tail that kicks on a steady retrieve.
Swivel: A small two-ended connector that spins freely, used to stop line twist and to join a leader to the main line.

T

Taped and sealed seams: Waterproof tape heat-bonded over the stitch lines inside a garment. Without it, water walks straight through the needle holes.
Telescoping handle: A net pole that slides out to extend reach and collapses short for carrying.
Terminal tackle: Everything tied on at the business end of the line: hooks, weights, swivels, snaps, floats and leaders.
Texas rig: A soft plastic rigged weedless on an offset worm hook with a bullet weight sliding free above it. The most reliable way to fish cover.
Thermocline: The band in a summer lake where warm surface water meets cold, oxygen-poor water below. Fish hold above it.
Thumb hole: A slit in the cuff you hook your thumb through so the sleeve cannot ride up your forearm.
Tippet: In fly fishing, the level section of line added to the thin end of a tapered leader, replaced as fly changes eat it away.
Titanium-bonded: Stainless steel with a bonded titanium layer for extra corrosion resistance and edge hardness, at a fraction of solid titanium's price.
Topwater: Any lure fished on the surface, where the strike happens in full view. Best at dawn, dusk and low light.
Trailer: A soft-plastic bait threaded onto the hook behind a jig's skirt, adding bulk, action and a slower fall.
Transducer: The puck that sends and receives sonar pings. Without it a fish finder is a blank screen.
Treble hook: Three hook points brazed onto one shank, hung from a lure by split rings. Standard on crankbaits, jerkbaits and topwaters.
Tungsten: A dense metal used in place of lead. Smaller for the same weight and far better at transmitting the feel of the bottom.
Tungsten carbide: An extremely hard material used for cutter inserts. It slices braided line cleanly where softer steel crushes and frays it.
Turnover: The autumn point where the cooling surface layer sinks and the lake mixes top to bottom, scattering fish for a week or two.
Two-piece, four-piece and telescopic: How a rod breaks down for transport. Two-piece splits in half, four-piece into short sections, telescopic collapses into its own handle.
Type I to Type V: The older U.S. life jacket classification being replaced by performance levels. Type III was the standard calm-water vest.

U

Ultralight: The lightest rod power, built for tiny lures and small fish, typically rated for 2 to 6 pound line and lures under a quarter ounce.
Universal sizing: One adult size with a wide adjustment range, typically around a 30 to 52 inch chest.
UPF: Ultraviolet Protection Factor, the rating for fabric. UPF 50+ means the material passes less than one fiftieth of the UV that hits it.
Utility tray: A flat clear plastic box with adjustable dividers, sized 3600 or 3700, that slides into a bag, pack or rack.
UV400: A rating meaning the lens blocks essentially all ultraviolet light up to 400 nanometers, which covers full UVA and UVB.

V

Vent yoke: A mesh panel across the upper back, usually hidden under a flap, that lets hot air escape at the top of a shirt.

W

Wacky rig: A stick worm hooked through the middle so both ends hang free and quiver as it sinks.
Wading belt: A strap cinched around the waist outside the waders that limits how fast water can fill them if you fall.
Wake and prop wash: The trail of disturbed water a surface bait leaves behind it, which helps fish find the lure in chop or stained water.
Walk-the-dog: The side-to-side gliding action of a cigar-shaped topwater, produced by rhythmic slack-line twitches of the rod tip.
Water-resistant and waterproof: Water-resistant shrugs off spray and light rain. Waterproof keeps water out under sustained exposure. Most fishing packs are the former.
Waypoint: A GPS pin dropped on a spot worth remembering, like a brush pile, a drop-off or the boat ramp.
Weed guard: The fan of stiff fibers over a jig's hook point that lets it slip through wood and grass without snagging.
Weedless: Rigged so the hook point is shielded or buried and cannot catch cover. A way of rigging more than a type of hook.
Weightless rig: A soft plastic fished with nothing but a hook, so it sinks slowly and almost horizontally.
Wetting out: When a jacket's outer fabric soaks through and goes dark and heavy. The membrane may still be dry inside, but breathability stops.
WF floating line: Fly line whose first thirty feet are thickened to load the rod, with the whole line sitting on the surface. The right starting line for nearly everyone.
Wicking: Fabric pulling sweat off your skin and spreading it across the outer surface where it can evaporate.
Wobble: The side-to-side rolling motion of a hard bait as it swims. Wide and thumping, or tight and shimmying.
Worm-proof and Zerust: Tray plastic that soft baits will not melt, and rust-inhibiting strips or additives that stop steel hooks corroding.