Alright, nerds. Grab your “hand-tied” streamers and your overly complicated vocabulary because we’re diving deep into the ridiculous rabbit hole of fly fishing terminology and B.S.
Ever wondered why we can’t just say “bobber”? Or why every tiny trout gets a fancy name?
Prepare for a reel good laugh as we cast light on the most absurd lingo in the fishing world.
Absurd Terms Fly Fishers Say
Indicator: This is our fancy name for a bobber. Why say ‘bobber’ when we can sound like we’re using specialized equipment?
Because everyone knows that an ‘indicator’ is so much more sophisticated.
And that’s what we are: Sophisticated dorks who prefer to catch fish with thousands of dollars worth of gear instead of the easy way that can be done for $59.98 in the Walmart sporting goods section.
Wink wink.
Dead-Drift: This is when your flies just lazily float downstream. Sounds simple, right? But saying ‘dead-drift’ makes us sound like we’re mastering an ancient art, not just letting our line go with the flow.
It’s like calling a nap a “horizontal life pause.” Good on you, Mr. Fancy Pants.
Steelhead: The nomadic cousin of the rainbow trout who lacks the ability to settle down.
They were nicknamed ‘Steelhead’ because ‘Wandering Rainbow Fish’ wasn’t cutting it for our macho image. There’s nothin’ more masculine than STEEL!
Chironomid: Don’t even try to pronounce it. I don’t.
But if you’ve mastered it, we bet you use it in every other sentence. “Oh, look at that Chironomid!” It’s the fly fishing equivalent of flaunting a vocabulary word you learned last week.
In all seriousness, it’s just a midgey-wormy-looking subsurface insect.
And if you ask Google about it, you’ll learn it’s pronounced “Kr-aa-nuh-I-don’t-give-a-damn.”
Loading Your Rod: Making the rod bend. Some say “loading,” we say “make your rod bendy-like before you cast it.” Potato, potahto.
Hand-Tied Flies: Yes, we get it. All flies are hand-tied. But adding “hand-tied” gives it that extra artisanal flair. It’s like calling a sandwich hand-crafted when we all know someone just slapped it together at Subway.
Drop shot or split shot: These are merely more expensive weights for our line. You could buy some weight from the sporting goods store for $3.99 that’ll work just fine.
But why would you do that when you can spend $14 for the same thing at a fly shop?! Because your a fly fisher — that’ why.
Regardless, it’s silly to be mundane when we can make it sound like high-tech gear.
“Oh, yes, I’m using the drop shot technique,” sounds so much more impressive than, “I added some pieces of metal to my fly line to make it sink real good.”
Fingerling: It’s a small trout, folks—a minnow. Enough is enough.
Lunker/Namer/Pig/Monster/Slab: We get it. You caught a larger-than-average-sized trout. Good for you.
Nymphs: Okay, fly fishers, we’re literally fishing with immature imitations of bugs.
Let’s cut the crap and start calling it dangling baby bugs with a 9-foot stick.
And opposed to fishing with emergers, I like to use flies that imitate a teenage bug going through puberty who sometimes sneaks whiskey from dad’s liquor cabinet.
That bug absolutely deserves to be eaten. Teenagers suck.
Tight Loops: Brace yourselves. When a fly-fisher-dude-bro talks about throwing a tight loop, they’re saying their cast is so sexy, the line slices through the air in a fancy, wind-resistant path, looking a whole lot like a letter “U” that had a night out and couldn’t quite stand upright.
But hold on! A ‘loop,’ by definition, circles back and connects to where it started. Our fly line? Not so much. See the problem here?
So, instead of sounding all posh, why don’t we call it what it is? A “decent looking skinny sideways U.”
Open Loops: Just… don’t.
Streamer: It’s a lure, plain and simple. But hey, it took 45 minutes to hand-tie this “streamer.”
Terrestrial: These are land-based bugs. But saying, “I’m using a terrestrial,” makes us sound like we’re fishing on Mars.
Instead, tie on a dry fly with purple foam and fluff-white-cotton-ball-stuff to be the best land-bug-fly-fisher around.
Thanks for reading. And remember, it’s only fishing. Have a great day out there.
Dan