Marabou: Fluffy and soft down or underfeathers from most birds, but particularly for fly tying, marabou comes from chickens, turkeys or other domestic fowl.
Matching the hatch: An attempt by a fly angler to select an artificial fly that imitates the color, size, shape and behavior of natural insects that fish are feeding on at a particular time. Often when a hatch is happening, fish become very selective and refuse insects that are not the most abundant.
Mayfly: An aquatic insect found throughout the world, in both still water and rivers. It is most easily identified by its sail-like upright wings and long graceful tails. Many classic trout flies imitate mayflies. Mayflies vary in size from the 3 mm tricos to the 30 mm hexagenia.
Mend: Throwing an upstream curve into your fly line as it floats down the stream to avoid having water currents pull on it and cause unnatural movement of your fly (unnatural drift or line drag). Fish and especially trout are exquisitely sensitive to (and turned off by) movement of a insect that moves at a different rate or in a different direction than the current.
Midge: A very small (non-biting), two-winged insect, related to deer flies, mosquitos and craneflies.
Monofilament: A single filament or strand of nylon, primarily used for tippet material or if tapered for leaders.
Nail knot: A knot tied with a nail as a prop and often used to attach the fly line to the backing. Also used less commonly to tie the leader to the fly line. Also called a tube knot.
Nymph: An underwater stage of aquatic insect. It is an important source for all varieties of warmwater and coldwater fish.
Palmered: A term used to describe feathers wound perpendicular to the shank of the hook and apparently based upon appearance of pilgrims bearing palms.
Parachute style fly: A dry fly with the dry fly hackle wrapped horizontally under the hook or at the base of the wings, providing a type of outrigger floation.
Parr: A young trout, salmon or char, usually in the so-called fingerling stage.
Perfection loop: This is a knot often used to create a loop in a piece of monofilament, frequently at the butt end of a leader for the loop to loop connection.
Polarized sun glasses: Sunglasses with iodized lenses that block incident light (glare) and thus allow anglers to better see beneath the surface glare of water.
Kick boat: A personalized, one-person fishing boat, usually with a seat between two pontoons at a level that allows the anglers feet to be in the water. It is propelled by swim fins, oars, or a even a small electric motor. Also called a kick boat.
Pool: A reach or segment of a river or stream with greater depth and slower current, making it safer from predators bird and animal and where swimming against the current is reduced.
Popper: A topwater lure, made of painted balsa wood or deer hair, with a flat face that causes it to make a popping sound when retrieved. It is commonly used for warmwater panfish, bass and some saltwater species.
Presentation: A term referring to the placing of a fly to the feeding region of a fish. While appears to be a pretentious term, it reflects the precision and elegance of casting a fly in a manner that it perfectly imitates a natural insect.
Pupa: An intermediate stage of certain insects, generally the stage between the larva and adult form of caddis flies or midges. Also refers to the fly imitation of these insects.
Reach cast: A cast used for adding extra slack in the line, or when fishing downstream, in order to provide a more natural float.
Reel seat: The section of a fly rod below the grip where the fly reel is attached. Reel seats often are constructed of attractive wood, including many exotic woods.
Redd: The hollowed out nest in a streambed where a fish deposits its eggs, a behavior typical to most salmonids.
Reel seat: The part of the fly rod - made of aluminum, wood, or graphite and located just behind the grip - where the fly reel is attached.
Retrieve: The method of stripping in the fly line that gives the fly action. Also, a term used in describing fly reels, as to whether they are left hand or right hand retrieve.
Rise: The action of a fish as it comes to the surface of the water to feed. Different kinds of rises (splashy, dimpled, etc.) suggest different kinds of feeding and may suggest different kinds of insects.
Roll cast: This is a casting technique that is used when a back cast is not possible. The line is made to loop in front of the angler and if properly executed it "rolls" out to present the fly.
Run: This term has two meanings in fly fishing: (1) A section of stream where relatively shallow water goes over a rough or gravel bottom and then into a pool. (2) The pulling out of line a hooked fish makes in trying to escape.
Running line: A thin line made of monofilament, Dacron braid or thin fly line that connects on one end to a shooting head and on the other end to the backing and indirectly the reel.
Scud: A small freshwater scrimp-like crustacean that is present in most trout waters and serves as a food source for trout.
Sea-run: A term describing brown, cutthroat and rainbow trout that hatch in fresh water, migrate to the sea to mature, and return to fresh water to spawn. Rainbow trout (in the Pacific Northwest and Great Lakes) are the best known sea-run trout; these are called steelhead.
Setting the hook: To make sure the hook penetrates the fish's mouth, an angler must apply an upward motion of the fly rod or some sort of quick tension on the fly line. When fishing with artificial lures and flies, fish often do not hook themselves because very soon after they "mouth" the fly, they are aware that it does not feel, taste or smell like it should. They will spit it out! This puts a premium on setting the hook a the right time!
Shooting head: Part of a special fly line used for long distance casting. The shooting head is a heavy section of line attached to a thin running line (made of monofilament, Dacron or fine fly line). The Shooting head has almost all of the weight of a normal line, but obviously is it almost totally concentrated in that first 30 feet. Shooting heads are used for making long casts in fishing saltwater, warmwater and steelhead.
Shooting line: The process of extending the length of your fly cast be releasing an extra length of fly line (usually held in your non-casting hand) during the forward/presentation part of the cast. This technique allows a fly angler to false cast a shorter segment of line and then only at the time of the final forward cast to bring a longer segment of line into play.
Single action: The typical fly reel wherein a single turn of the handle causes one turn of the reel spool. This is distinguished from the multiplier reel where a single turn of the handle causes multiple turns of the spool and makes it easier to retrieve line. Almost all high quality fly reels are single action.
Sink Tip: A fly line that has both a floating segment (say the first 95 feet) and a sinking section (the last 10 feet). This style of line is used for underwater presentation of flies in fast water or in some still water fishing situations.
Spawn: The behavior of fish where females deposit eggs (also called spawn) on various surfaces (varying with species) and the male produces necessary milt to ultimately turn the eggs into fry.
Spey: A particular casting technique using special two-handed rods and a modified roll cast. It is named after a river in Scotland where it was developed.
Split cane rods: Fly rods constructed of six pieces of split cane bamboo, which are triangularly shaped, tapered and glued together. Split cane rods appear to have originated in the U.S. in the middle of the 19th century. While used by some modern anglers, graphite/fiber glass rods offer less expensive and easier-to-care for options.
Spinner: The last stage of a mayfly, based upon the fact that the wings are spread horizontally as it falls to water surface after mating. The spinner is of significance because the spinner is an easy target for feeding fish.
Spinner fall: When mayfly of a particular sub-species go into the spinner stage they do so over a relatively short period of time, sometimes creating a feeding frenzy during what is called a spinner fall.
Spring creek: A creek or stream that gets its water from a ground flow or spring sources, rather than glacier/snow melt or surface run off. Spring creeks are generally at a temperature of the average rainfall temperature over the course of the year (the source of most ground water) and hence usually do not warm significantly in the summer nor freeze in the winter.
S-cast: An "S" pattern of the fly line on the water created by side-to-side movement of the fly rod during the forward cast. This cast is used to put slack in the fly line and hence to reduce the influence of the current on the fly line and thus to minimize drag.
Stonefly: An aquatic insect found throughout North America that generally requires higher water quality than most fish, including trout. It varies in size, but in the larger sub-species can reach 2 inches. It life stages vary from mayflies and caddis flies inasmuch as it crawls out of the water onto a rock, splits its outer covering and becomes a flying insect with wings that lay on its back.
