Glossary of Fly Fishing Terminology

Action: A term to describe the flex of a fly rod. This is determined by how dense the graphite composite in the rod is. A fast-action rod feels stiff except near the top where it flexes, a medium action will flex in the middle and a slow rod flexes all the way to the cork grip.
Arbor: The center of a fly reel where the line is held. Today’s reels are typically large arbor, which means they will pick up more line in a single turn, yet cannot hold as much line capacity as a traditional small arbor reel.
Attractor Fly: A fly that doesn’t imitate one particular insect, but “looks good to eat” to most fish based on its size, shape and color. Royal Wullfs are a perfect example of an “attractor fly.”
Back Eddy: Places in rivers where the effect of the bank’s contours makes the current turn and go back upstream in a circular motion. Lots of surface debris, foam, and insects collect in these areas. These are favorite homes for tricky trout.
Backing: Braided line that runs between the reel and the fly line and resembles kite string. Backing fills out a reel, keeping the line near front, and more importantly gives anglers a way to fight fish that have pulled out all the fly line.
Baitfish: Fish that are the prey of larger fish. A herring may be bait to a tuna, and a tuna may be bait to a Marlin.
Bank: The dry ground that runs contingent to any body of water.
Bar: A raised area under the water that may be caused by currents washing gravel, sand or silt to a particular spot making that spot shallower than the surrounding bottom. Bars may be recognized by abstract current lines.
Barb: The raised piece of metal immediately behind the point of the hook. The barb makes it difficult for the fish to come unhooked but it can also damage the fish’s mouth. You can “pinch” the barb down by squeezing it with a pair of pliers and make the fly “barbless”.
Belly: The weighted portion of the fly line, that is found near the front of the line, behind the tapered section. It is the thickest section of a fly line.
Brackish Water: A mixture of fresh water and salt water that is more often than not, off color. Often called “Tea colored water,” it is home to many kinds of juvenile fish and a favorite feeding area of larger fish. Brackish water can be found at the mouths of rivers meeting the ocean, in backcountry bays and tidal rivers.
Butt: The end of a fly rod below the cork grip, or a thick piece of monofilament used to connect a leader to a fly line, thus keeping the fly line from being cut back when an attachment is necessary.
Caddis Flies: Moth like aquatic insects that are prey for trout. They may be identified by a pair of flat wings over their body and are often associated with low light periods. They come in a variety of sizes and colors, but most retain their “tent” shaped appearance.
CDC: Stands for the French words that mean “butt of the duck.” CDC feathers come from the rear end of the duck where the highly buoyant preen oil is discharged from a gland. In recent years fly tiers have found many creative uses for these feathers. CDC feathers are remarkably buoyant by themselves and should only be treated with a powdered form of floatant.
Chalk Stream: A term for a highly alkaline, gently flowing body of water, often associated with spring creeks.
Channel: The main path of water down a river. It is a depression, usually formed by the strongest currents, on the bottom of a stream or tidal area and is often the deepest area.
Chum: A combination of natural baits, oats, blood, fish oils and an assortment of anglers “secret ingredients” usually chopped or ground, and thrown in the water to attract fish. It is often frozen in blocks and allowed to thaw over the side of a boat in a chum bag, creating a scent highway for fish to follow to the source where an angler awaits.
Cove: A protected area along a shoreline that forms it’s own bay or small lake, but is still connected via an inlet, channel, or mouth to a bigger body of water.
Cripple Fly: An imitation of a stillborn or crippled insect during its transition from nymph to winged insect. Often the wings have emerged, yet the body remains captive in the nymphal shuck. They are then stuck in the water, unable to fly off and become easy meals for hungry trout.
Damselfly: Resembling a small Dragon Fly, Damsels are a relatively large aquatic insect found in very slow moving and still waters. They are often bright blue as well as green and brown.
Dead Drift: The act of getting one’s fly to float down a current lane with no pulling effect of the line and leader. The artificial should float exactly like the natural: not too fast or slow and not pulling across current lines.
Double-Taper: A fly-line design in which both ends of the line are tapered so that when one end wears out the angler may reverse the line on the reel and have anew section to work with. Double Tapers also have shorter tapers allowing for a more delicate and quieter presentation. They are effective for short casting situations often found on spring creeks.
Drag (Fly): The unnatural movement of an artificial fly caused by the line pulling the fly across currents instead of naturally down a single current line. Drag often causes fish to reject an artificial fly.
Drag (Reel): The mechanism inside a reel that slows the outgoing line when a fish runs. Drag can usually be adjusted with a knob or dial allowing anglers to keep steady pressure against a hard fighting fish without the line going slack or back lashing on the reel.
Dressing: A substance, generally an oil, grease or powder that seals the fur and feathers of an artificial fly, allowing the fly to float for long periods of time.
Drift: The path of an artificial fly as it moves with the current. A good drift is normally drag free, while a bad drift means the fly is being influenced by the line.
Dry Fly: An insect imitation representing the fully emerged winged insect sitting on the waters surface as it dries its wings.
Dun: The “birth” of the winged insect. The dun is the freshly emerged aquatic insect that will leave the water once its wings are dry and hardened.
Emerger Fly: An imitation of a nymph that is transitioning into a winged insect. This may take place anywhere or everywhere in the water column, depending on the type of insect. Fish key on specific stages of a bug’s life, and during a hatch situation the emerger becomes very important.
False Cast: The act of feeding line out while casting, or positioning the fly for the presentation. False casting also keeps dry flies dry.
Film: The thin membrane that is formed when water meets air. Insects concentrate just below, in, and on top of the film.
Fingerling: The juvenile stage of a fish when it is often opaque and about the size of a persons finger.
Flat: A shallow area in a stream, lake, or tidal water. Flats are usually mud, sand or turtle grass and may be exposed to the air at a low tide. They are favorite feeding areas of fish when water levels permit them access.
Floatant: A grease or powder that may be applied to a dry fly to keep it floating. Grease is most often used as a sealant, while the powders are used to dry a fly after it’s been wet. Powders may also be used to float specific parts of flies for greater visibility.
Freestone Stream: A river or stream that flows unimpeded from its source which is snow melt or glacier runoff.
Guides (Rod): The fixed loops aligned along the length of a fly rod that the line passes through. The guide closest to the reel is the stripping guide and is often lined with a ceramic material to reduce wear on the line.
Hackle: Feathers from the neck and back of a bird. Hackle may be dyed different colors and when wound onto a fly the hackle becomes the surface area on which a fly normally floats.
Hatch: The emergence of any given group of aquatic insects from the water to the air. A hatch may last a few hours a day, but may go on for weeks, months or throughout the year.
Haul: A tug on the fly line to increase its speed during the pickup, the back cast, or the forward cast. The speed translates to weight, thus loading the rod with more flex and propelling the line further and easier.
Hook Eye: The circle at the front of the hook where the line is attached.
Hook Shank: The long straight area of a hook. It is the longest part of the hook, from the eye to the beginning of the bend in the hook.
Inlet: The area of a lake, bay or the ocean where water enters from a source like a river or stream.
Larva: The grub-like stage of an aquatic insect after being hatched from an egg.
Leader: The section of line between the fly and fly line. The leader is tapered from a larger to a smaller diameter.
Loop: The loop of a fly line is found when casting and the line comes over the top of itself forming a big “C” in the air over the fly rod, eventually straightening to a perfect line. Loops are described as open or closed. Open loops mean slow casts and delicate presentations, while closed loops mean a quick line and hard landing, but effective for casting under structure.
Loop to Loop: A quick connection joining two sections of line together with two loops.
Marabou: A fluffy type of feather that is very soft and undulates in the water, adding action to the fly.
Mayflies: Any of various fragile winged insects of the order Ephemeroptera that develop from aquatic nymphs and live in the adult stage no longer than a few days.
Mend: To manipulate the fly line in the water during a drift in order to make the fly act a certain way depending on what the angler is trying to accomplish with his or her artificial imitation.
Midge: aka; “Snow Flies.” Gnat like flies of the family Chironomidae. This family includes the mosquito and is often associated with the mosquitoes cold weather relatives that hatch in the winter months, but without the bight of their cousins.
Monofilament: Single-strand nylon fishing line used for fly leaders and tippet.
Mudding: A term used by anglers to describe the heavy feeding of fish on the bottom creating a cloud of mud or sand as they try to root their prey from it.
Nymph: The stage of an aquatic insect life between hatching from the egg and shucking its armor as it emerges from the water to become an air born adult.
Nymph Fly: An artificial imitation of an aquatic insect underwater. It is normally fished on a dead drift with a strike indicator or on a tight line swing underwater.
Outlet: The stream or river draining a lake or pond often found opposite the inlet.
Pickup: The first stage of an overhead cast, when the fly line is lifted from the water to begin the back cast.
Pocket Water: Water in a river that is broken up by a large amount of rocks, boulders and other debris, forming small holding areas for fish. It is often associated with rapid sections of water and small streams.
Polarized Lenses: A type of lens for sunglasses that removes the glare from the water so the fisherman can see below the surface.
Pool: The main body of water in a river that slows and deepens between rapids or quick moving riffled water.
Popper: A fly usually made from foam or cork that floats on the surface and creates a “pop” when the angler strips the line in.
Presentation: The act of laying a line down on the water and presenting the fly to a fish or spot.
Pupa: The stage in the life cycle of a caddis fly or midge between larva and adult, or the artificial that imitates the stage.
Rapids: A stretch of stream where water flows quickly over boulders and small rocks. Often called white water.
Reach Cast: A cast performed by reaching the rod across one’s body or away from one’s body, effectively turning the direction of ones line. Reach casting is a way to mend the fly line before it hits the water.
Riffle: The appearance of surface water as it runs over gravel and shallow spots. It is not quite whitewater but not flat water, either. Often pyramid shaped on the surface and sparkling.
Rip: A stretch of water in a river, estuary, or tidal channel made rough by waves meeting an opposing current.
Rise: The movement when a fish comes to the surface to take an insect.
Roll Cast: A technique for moving the fly line in tight places, using the water’s resistance instead of a back cast to load the rod.
Run: An entire length of water in a river from the top of one rapid, to the top of the next rapid.
Running Line: The level, non tapered section of line found behind the belly and taper of a fly line. Most running lines are about 60 feet in length and are attached to the backing on a fly reel.
Selective Feeding: Occurs when fish key in on a certain food source because of its abundance, rejecting other foods.
Shoal: A shallow area in a body of water.
Shock Tippet: A heavy piece of monofilament or wire that is attached to the end of a leader and which the fly is tied to. Shock tippet protects the fly from breaking off in the mouth of fish with rough lips or teeth, yet allows an angler to fish leaders that can still taper and turn over properly when cast.
Shooting Head: A short, weighted section of fly line that is heavier than normal, allowing an angler to cast a long length of line with one good false cast.
Sinking Tip: A fly line designed to sink below the surface at a specified rate to present the fly at a choosen depth.
Spent Wing: An aquatic insect that has died after spinning and whose wings have gone flat on the water.
Spillway: The place where water flows over a dam after a reservoir has filled to capacity.
Spinner Fall: Takes place when the insects return to the water. The insects mate in the air, lay their eggs in, on, or above the water; and die shortly thereafter.
Splice: The connection of two pieces of line.
Split Shot: Small balls of either lead or tin that are split so an angler can pinch them onto the leader of line to make it sink.
Spring Creek: A stream fed by a subterranean water source.
Stoneflies: Any of numerous weak-flying insects of the order Plecoptera, whose flat, elongated nymphs live under stones along the banks of streams.
Streamer: A style of subsurface fly designed to imitate a small fish, leech, or eel.
Strike Indicator: A piece of buoyant material attached to the leader that bobs or hesitates in the current to indicate that a fish has taken a subsurface fly.
Strip: To retrieve the fly by pulling the line back in short strokes.
Structure: Submerged objects like logs or boulders.
Tailwater: A river or stream that flows out from a dam. Tailwaters are very good fisheries as the water is released from the bottom of the reservoir, keeping the temperatures cool and consistent all season long.
Tailout: The back end of the run before the water pours into the next downstream rapid. A usually calmer section of water where fish go to eat on smaller, hard-to-see insects.
Take: The moment a fish strikes.
Taper: The narrowing of a rod, line, or leader.
Terrestrials: Land based insects that occasionally fall into the water and become prey for fish, such as grasshoppers, bees, ants and beetles.
Tippet: Spools of monofilament with even diameters; designated as an X, such as 5Xor 6X tippet. Tippets are used to build leaders per specific angling situations, allowing anglers to quickly change the diameter of the line where it meets the fly.
Trailing Shuck: The nymphal shuck that is still attached to the back end of an aquatic insect as it attempts to wiggle free from it into a fully emerged dun. Cripple flies may never shed the trailing shuck, and it is not uncommon for fish to key in on this.
Weed Guard: Stiff monofilament or wire, attached to artificial flies to prevent snagging.
Weight Forward: A fly-line design in which the heaviest portion of the line is very close to the tip and elongated for casting longer distances.
Wet Fly: An artificial fly designed to sink and to simulate aquatic life below the water. Most wet flies are the “attractor patterns” of the subsurface variety.
Wind Knot: A knot in the leader or line caused by a fault in casting.

Glossary of Fly Fishing Terminology

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