D

Dangle When a fly has swung around in the current and is directly downstream of the rod it is said to be 'on the dangle'.

Dapping The art of playing an artificial fly in such a way as to make it look as though it has just fallen on to the water from the branches of bankside trees or other natural obstacles.

Deadbait Dead fish or other creatures used as bait for predators

Dead drift A fly-fishing technique in which the fly (dry or wet) is allowed to drift freely along in the current.

Deer Hair Body hair from deer which is used in many fly patterns to supply body and floatation.

Delivery An alternative term to 'covering' the term used to describe the action of casting the fly to a fish or into a promising-looking area of water

Deoxygenation Reduction in the dissolved oxygen content of a water, caused by hot weather or the introduction of pollutants such as sewage. Excessive deoxygenation is fatal to fish.

Detached body Fly bodies tied not around the hook shank but attached only at the head of the fly as found in Daddy long legs (Crane) Dry flies

Detritus Accumulated silt and organic debris on the bed of a river or still water

Dibble The art of attracting fish by skimming and bouncing a wet-fly leader or bushy dry fly across the surface of the water.

Disturbance pattern A wet- or dry-fly pattern that creates a fish-attracting disturbance when retrieved or worked across the current

Dorsal fin The fin on the back of a fish, sometimes divided into two or three partly or entirely separate sections. Drainage A drainage basin or a drainage system; the process of draining

Downstream The direction the current of a river or stream is moving.

Drainage basin The catchment area of a river system

Drainage system A river and its tributaries

Drogue A cone-shaped bag, usually made of canvas, which can be trailed behind a drifting boat to slow it.

Dropper A short length of leader connected to the main leader with a fly attached..

Dry Flies A fly designed to float on the surface.

Dubbing A primary body ingredient in both dry flies and nymphs, dubbing is a chopped-up fibrous material pinched and twisted onto the thread for wrapping onto the fly. Also refers to the process of applying the dubbing material.

Dubbing Rake Tool used to tease out dubbing on a fly to give it an enlarged appearance.

Dun Term used to describe an adult aquatic insect following emergence from the water.

Eddy A patch of water that is less disturbed than the surrounding water, found for instance on the edge of a current or where two streams converge

Electrofishing Passing an electric current through the water to stun the fish, so that they can be collected unharmed for tagging or scientific examination or for relocation to another water.

Elk Hair Body hair from elk which is used in many fly patterns to supply body and floatation.

Emerger An aquatic insect in the process of rising to the surface and changing to a flying adult form. Often will have an attached trailing shuck which feeding fish may key upon.

Estaz Trade name for a chenille which uses colored fine plastic strips for the barbules. Can be found at many craft shops and yarn stores.

Ethafoam A synthetic material used for making floating flies like a suspender buzzer or nymph

Euryhaline fish Fish, such as most species of salmon and trout, that can live in both freshwater and saltwater.

False Casting A forward casting action used to gauge the ideal distance of real cast, to dry a fly, or to increase the speed of a line.

Fanny Pack American term for a bum bag. A small bag worn around the waist. The word 'fanny' in the US is slang for bottom and not a woman's sexual organ as in the UK. American fishermen if you go fishing in Ireland or the UK do not use the word 'fanny'.

Federation of Fly Fishers A non-profit organization dedicated to teaching the sport of fly fishing and the improvement of fisheries.

Figure-of-eight retrieve A type of line retrieve where the fly line is bunched in the palm of the hand after being wrapped around the fingures in a figure of eight retrieve.

Fighting chair A swivel chair bolted to the deck of a boat from which a big-game angler can fight marlin and other large, powerful fish that can take a long time to subdue. The angler is strapped in by a harness, and either the harness or the chair is equipped with a butt pad or rod socket

Filter feeder A fish that feeds by filtering plankton from the water.

Fingerling A small, immature fish, such as a juvenile trout.

Fish Hair Synthetic hair used in tying streamers and salt water flies.

Fish ladder A series of interconnected pools created up the side of a river obstruction, such as a weir, to allow salmon and other fish to pass upstream.

Flashabou Commercial name for a colorful synthetic filament material used in fly tying for adding flash to streamers as well as other patterns

Flashback A nymph pattern that has a flashy material substituted for the wing case, such as reflective mylar. Have a look at out Pheasant tail range..

Floatant Material applied to flies and leaders in order to cause them to float on the surface of the water. Typically sold in liquid or paste form, although dry shake crystals have recently been found on the market.

Floss Multi-strand silk or synthetic substitute Material for tying flies.

Fluorescent Material that emits light of a visible color when ultra violet light falls upon it in the water.

Fly An artificial lure hand tied with "stuff" on hooks.

Fly Casting The process of casting a flyline out onto the water.

Fly Line A weighted line which is cast out onto the water to deliver the fly to the desired location. Can be found in many densities and tapers.

Floating Line A flyline design to float on the surface of the water along its entire length. Typically used for dry fly fishing and shallow water nymphing.

(Sinking Line) A flyline design to sink below the surface of the water for getting a wet fly or streamer down deeper. Can be found with different sink rates for different fishing styles.

(Sinking-Tip Line) A hybrid flyline design which is floating for most of its length except for a short section of sinking line at the end.

Fly Pattern Recipe used for tying a specific fly.

Fly Reel A reel used to store line, provide smooth tension, or drag, and to counterbalance the weight of the fly rod during the casting process. Can be found in many different weights and with different drag mechanisms.

Fly Rod The type of fishing rod used to cast the flyline to the desired position. Historically built with bamboo canes and fiberglass, but now almost exclusively with carbon graphite.

Fly Tying The process of building fishing flies using thread and various materials.

Foul-hook To hook a fish anywhere but in the mouth.

Fresh-run fish A migratory fish, such as a salmon, that has just left the sea and is travelling up a river to spawn.

Freshwater The water of rivers and most stillwaters, containing little or no dissolved salt

Fry Very young fish, especially those that have only recently hatched.

H

Hackle Any soft-stemmed neck feather with non-adhering barbules. Typically used to refer to hen or rooster chicken feathers. Tied to represent the legs of an insect.

Hatch The time when a large number of nymphs or pupas become fully winged flies, often producing frantic feeding activity among trout.

Hen Hackle Hackle feathers from a hen chicken characterized by soft, wide feathers. Since these feathers readily soak up water, they are usually used on nymphs and streamers. Jungle Cock A type of hackle with prominent singular white dot patterns often used to suggest eyes. Neck Feathers from the neck of the chicken which are shorter and tend to have a wider selection of sizes on a single skin. Saddle Feathers from the back of the chicken which are longer and have thinner stems. Best choice for most dry flies.

Herl Feathers used for tying with long individual barbules each having short dense fibers. Used as tails and to make fly bodies. Typically from Peacock and Ostrich.

Hook Pointed wire hook tied into a fly to catch fish (hopefully).

Horror flies see Inverted hook Bonefish patterns

Ice fishing A specialized form of angling for fishing through holes cut in the ice of frozen-over waters. The species sought include crappies, walleye, northern pike, pickerel, and perch, and the principal techniques are jigging and tilt (or tip-up) fishing. Jigging involves working a natural bait with a short stick, which has especially shaped handle around which the line is wound. In tilt fishing, the bait is fished static from a rig incorporating an arm or flag that tilts up to signal a bite.

Ichthyology The scientific study of fish and their habits.

IGFA The International Game Fish Association, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It maintains lists of record fish and also sets technical standards for fishing tackle.

Introperculum In bony fish, the front lower bone of the gill cover

Invertebrate A creature that has no backbone, for instance an insect or a worm

Inverted hook bonefish flies This type of fly was designed so that the hook rode above the shank in the water so that the hook would not get caught on the bottom. By adding relatively stiff wing material near the hook eye which covered the hook point, the fly became nearly weedless. Hooks are dressed to create inversion by bending the hook, by adding weighted eyes on the hook shank opposite the point and/ or by using relatively buoyant materials to cover the hook point. Any of these three techniques can cause the fly to ride inverted. If tied with sparse materials these flies can be made to sink very fast. Bonefish pattern should match the color of the bottom in the area you are fishing. Flies that hit the water with little impact are more effective than those that strike heavy and spook the fish. Clouser Minnow, Horror and Crazy Charlies are all examples of this tying style.

Jig A small artificial lure with a metal head, often dressed with feathers.

Jigging Fishing by jerking a jig or other bait up and down in the water; an ice-fishing technique

Jungle Cock An Indian game bird whose hackles have a distinctive cream 'eye' markings. Now illegal to use in the UK and other countries to protect this endangered bird. Artificial material available.

Keeper ring A small ring just above the handle of a fly rod, to which the fly can be hooked when not in use.

Kelt A salmon or trout that has spawned

Key style tarpon flies These flies are used in clear water where ever tarpon are found and you are sight fishing. A fisherman called Syu Apte was one of the first people to use this design in the 1950's and the Key guides in Florida have used just about every colour combination since.

Kipper A smoked fish

Krill Tiny, shrimp like crustaceans, of the family Euphausiidae, that form an essential part of the marine food chain.

Mark An area of the sea that offers good fishing, usually one that can be located by taking the bearings of shore features.

Marabou Turkey feather fibers used extensively as wings and tails of lures/streamers

Marrow spoon A long, slender spoon that can be passed down the gullet of a dead fish to remove its stomach contents. It is used mainly by trout anglers to find out what the fish are actually feeding on at a given time.

Maxillary The rear bone of the upper jaw of a fish

Mayfly Term used to describe a common aquatic insect which has a life cycle containing four stages; pupae, larva, dun and spinner. Many, if not most fly patterns are used to imitate this type of insect in its various stages of development. Various species can be found in both moving and still waters, being a staple food in the diet of trout and other fish species. Typically used to refer to the family Ephemerella.

Mend The term used to describe throwing a loop of line upstream to sink a fly down in the water and avoid drag.

Milt The semen of a male fish; a term for the semen-filled testes and sperm ducts of a male fish, also known as soft roe

Mylar Metallic plastic available in sheet or plaited tube form. The tubing can be used to simulate scales on the flanks or fry imitating lures/streamer flies

Nail Knot A knot used to tie together two lines of significantly different diameters.

Nail Knot Tool A tool used to simplify the process of tying Nail Knots.

Neap tides The tides that occur midway between spring tides. They have smaller rises and falls than those at other times of tire month

Nictitating membrane A thin membrane that can be drawn across the eyeball to protect and clean it. Found on many fish species, including some sharks.

Nymph A general term used to describe the subsurface forms of aquatic insects prior to emergence. Also used as the name of flies imitating these insect forms.

Oesophagus The gullet of a fish. Operculum In bony fish, the uppermost and largest of the gill cover bones

Osmosis The process by which a fish takes in or excretes water through its skin in order to maintain the correct balance of salts and fluids within its body tissues.

Otoliths Oval, stone like structures within the ears of a fish or other vertebrate, which help it to maintain its balance; they are also known as ear stones.

Ova The eggs of a fish or other creature. The mass of eggs within the ovarian membranes of a female fish is termed hard roe

Ovaries The reproductive glands (gonads) of a female fish, which are responsible for the production of eggs

Oviducts The ducts between the ovaries and vent in most female fish, along which the ripe eggs pass during spawning.

Oviparous fish Fish that lay eggs from which the young later hatch. All skates, some sharks and rays, and most bony fish are oviparous

Ovoviviparous fish Fish whose eggs are fertilized and hatched within the female's body. The eggs are enclosed in separate membranes and the embryos within them receive no nourishment from the mother. Most sharks and rays are ovoviviparous

Quadrate The bone that joins the upper jaw of a fish to its skull

Rays The soft or spiny supporting elements of fish fins.

Redd A hollow scooped in the sand or gravel of a riverbed by breeding trout or salmon as a spawning area.

Retrieve The recovery of a cast fishing line by pulling it in, by one means or another.

Reversed-taper handle A rod handle that tapers towards the butt end.

Riffle A small rapid in a river or stream (see also Eddy, Pool, Run, Scour, Slack).

Riparian A term that describes anything of, inhabiting, or situated on a riverbank; often used in connection with ownership and fishing rights.

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 action of a fish coming to the surface to take an insect; the taking to the air of a large hatch of mayflies or other insects on which trout feed (see also Hatch).

Rod Socket See Butt pad

Roe A collective term for fish milt and ova

Roll-cast The method of casting the fly from the side, when there is now room behind you for a back-cast.

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.

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) more than 3%. Normal seawater contains 3.433% salts - 2.3% sodium chloride (common salt), 0.5% magnesium chloride, 0.4% sodium sulphate, 0.1% calcium chloride, 0.07% potassiumchioride, and 0.063% other salts.

Saltwater Water containing a high level of dissolved salts.

Scour Erosion caused by flowing water; a shallow, fast-flowing, gravel-bottomed stretch of river.

Scud Term used for freshwater shrimp.

Sea Trout A migratory brown trout

Sedges Waterside plants or flies which belong to the Trichoptera order of insects.

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

Seminal vesicle A small gland that adds nutrient fluid to the milt of a male fish during spawning

Shooting Head A shorter fly line with a heavy belly section used to gain extra distance..

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.

Sink-tip A floating fly line with a sinking tip, used to fish flies just below the surface. Slack Tidal water where there is little surface movement during the interval between the ebbing and flowing tides; a stretch of river with very little current, for instance above a weir.

Slip A narrow strip of feather. Slips are widely used in fly tying.

Smolt A young salmon or sea trout, silver in color on its first journey to the sea.

Spinner A spent adult aquatic insect following laying its eggs on the surface of the water.

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.

Steelhead A migratory rainbow trout

Streamer flies An American word for the British term 'Lure'. It describes flies that imitate small swimming fish.

Stock Fish fish that are reared in captivity and stocked into fisheries are known as 'stock fish'.

Stonefly Family of aquatic insects commonly imitated in flyfishing. Many species are found in western streams.

Strike To tighten the line to set the hook when a fish bites, usually by raising the rod tip or lifting the rod.

Strip The term used to describe taking in the line by hand, as opposed to reeling it in.

Suboperculum In bony fish, the rear lower bone of the gill cover.

Supracleithrum A bone at the upper rear of the skull of a fish. It is one of the bones that support the pectoral fin.

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.

Swim The stretch of a river, or the part of a pond or lake, that is being fished in at a particular time.

Tag The short, thick tail on an artificial fly, generally made out of silk or colored filaments of nylon.

Take The action of a fish in picking up or grabbing a bait or lure.

Tandem fly A fly consisting of two or more in line hooks connected by a short length of strong line.

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.

Tarpon Flies There are basically three types of Tarpon Streamer flies: (see Keys style, Seducers and Whistlers.)

Terrestrial Term used to describe land-based insects which are often food for fish

Terminal tackle The tackle, including the hook or lure, attached to the end of the reel line (main line).

Thorax The front portion of the body of an insect to which the wings and legs are attached.

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.

Tilt fishing A technique used in ice fishing; is also known as tip-up fishing

Tinsel A metallic filament used in fly tying to provide flash and color.

Tippet The thin end section of a fly leader, to which the fly is tied. Also a term used for a small orange and black barred feather from the Golden Pheasant game bird

Trailing Shuck A section of synthetic yarn tied to the back of a fly to imitate a case being shed from an emerging insect.

Troll The term used to describe the action of towing a fly behind a boat.

Trout Unlimited 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 and threaded onto the line. The hook, usually a treble, is then attached to the end of the line.

Undercurrent The flow of water beneath the surface which can be opposite the surface flow on stillwaters..

Upstream Against the current of the river or stream.

Upwing flies The The Ephemeroptera order of flies, whose wings are nearly vertical and who possess two or three tails or setae.

Upwind Into the wind

Vas deferens The duct that carries sperm from the testis of a spawning male fish

Vent The anus of a fish. It is also the orifice through which a spawning female fish lays her eggs (or, in the case of a viviparous fish, gives birth) and through which a male fish discharges his milt during spawning

Ventral fins See Pelvic fins

Vertebra An individual segment of the backbone of a fish.

Vertebrate A creature that has a backbone, for instance a fish or a mammal

Vest A piece of clothing used to hold various tools, fly boxes and other equipment while fishing.

Vise The tool used to hold a hook in place while tying the fly.

Viviparous fish Fish whose ripe eggs are fertilized and hatched within the female's body; they give birth to live young. Unlike those of ovoviviparous fish, the developing embryos receive nourishment from the mother. Some sharks and some bony fish, such as surf perch, are viviparous

Vomerine teeth Teeth on the vomer, a bone at the front of the roof of the mouth of bony fish

Waders Protective outer clothing used to keep the fisherman dry when standing or float-tubing in water. Typically made of neoprene, nylon, or a Goretex-like material. Can be insulated to supply warmth.

Wake fly A dry fly that creates a splashy, fish-attracting wake when pulled across or through the surface of the water.

Wet Fly An artificial fly designed to swim beneath the surface.

Whip Finish A knot used to tie off the thread when finishing a fly.

Whip Finishing Tool A tool designed to make whip finishing quick and easy.

Whistler flies These are used after dark, in deep water, or where visibility is not very good. The large bead-chain eyes and the bulky dressing, create underwater vibration. The bead-chain eyes make the fly dip every time the angler pauses on the retrieve. This gives the fly a jigging motion on the retrieve. It was developed by American West Coast Fly fisherman Dan Blanton. The large wing and bulky body generate sound waves in low-visibility water so tarpon and other species can find it.

Windward The direction the wind is blowing

Wobbling A freshwater spinning technique using a lure, or a small, dead fish mounted on treble hooks, for bait. The bait is cast a long way out and retrieved in an erratic fashion by making side4o-side movements of the rod tip and at the same time varying the speed of the retrieve.

Yolk sac The membrane-covered food pouch found on the belly of a newly hatched fish. It nourishes the growing fish until it is able to feed itself.

Zinger A retractable string clip used to connect tools to ones fly vest.

Z-Lon Trade name for a synthetic yarn used in making carpeting. Can be used for many purposes in fly tying such as nymph bodies, spent wings, and trailing shucks.