Birding - what anglers are usually doing when they miss strikes in the boat.  e.g. "Are you birding or fishing today?"

Groupy - Somebody who takes too much advice from magazines, books, and tv.  Some things you just need to test, discover, and learn for yourself. 

OId Timer - a term used by guides to get their guests to take them seriously.  "An old timer showed me this", that will get anyone to listen close and believe you.

Midge Cluster - A clusterf*&#k! Well that is what midge do isn't it?

Long Rod - Spey Rod.

Fire Chicken - Red spawned out salmon, they have beaks like a chicken don't they?

Boot - Tired old Chinook that doesn't fight but is really heavy.

Dime, Nickel, Penny  - Used to describe the brightness of a fish, usually steelhead.  Dimes are the best.

Nugget - Any rock that larger than the ones around it.  Usually a big boulder with a trout behind it.

Nervous Water - Water that is choppier than the other water around it.

Mud Snake - San Juan Worm, or a just worm.  Well they are kind of like snakes.

Snappy - Demeanor of fish, usually a steelhead, that is willing to come to the fly.  Esp. a swinging or skating fly.

Drag Queen - Somebody who just cannot get a drag free drift to save their life.

Eight Second Rule - Same as an LDR but better.  If you fight a fish for 8 seconds, it is as good as landing it.

Leg Counter - Anal retentive fly tier and fisherman.  Somebody that actually thinks that having the exact number of legs, antennas, tails, or perfect color matches is critical.  They can be spotted on the river as the fisherman who are always digging into their fly boxes rather than fishing.  Anybody that uses numbers for colors of tying material, rather than a name is also a leg counter.

Hook shot - putting an aggressive hook mend into your line during the cast.  It should happen at high speed.  Works great with big flies against the bank.  It can also be used to hook your fly in behind brush that you cannot lay your line over the top of.

Love boat - Any boat with a couple fishing out of it. 

Dave Krieg - fisherman who fumbles a fish just prior to a picture being taken.  e.g.  "nice job Dave Krieg, we could have gotten a really nice web shot of that fish!"

On the up - fishing a river that has a rising volume.  On the drop would be fishing a river that is currently dropping.

Trout Accountant - a person who counts each fish moved, hooked, and landed.  They typically keep the tally evenly separated into those three subcategories.

Orvis Boy - somebody that has all the newest and latest fly fishing gadgets.

Mailing it in - a term for not working very hard at catching fish.  e.g. "we're mailing it in today, lets relax"

Atkins Diet – the favored meal plan of large fish that eat mostly other fish.  esp. when you are fishing streamers and trophy hunting.  e.g. ”these big boys are sticking to the atkins program today”

L.D.R. – an acronym for “long distance release” also a synonym for a 'rocky release'  used when a fish comes unhooked prior to being landed.  e.g. “Burgess is the master of the L.D.R.”

Wind Knot - actually a casting knot.  where the term the '"wind" came from we are not sure.

Amputation - a tangle so bad that it must be cut off in order to fix.

Bobber – strike indicator. esp. yarn e.g.  “its called a bobber, its one less syllable and I don’t like cute names for tackle”

Bomb - an ugly cast made over spooky rising fish that puts them down.  e.g. "that was bomb, those fish aren't coming back""

Marathon Bug – a fly that is tied on with the intention of fishing it and only it all day long. esp. a big dry fly during the summer time.  e.g. “this baby is a marathon bug, no need to change”

Flossed ‘em – used to describe the scenario of fish eating a dry fly on a dry dropper set up, being missed on the set, but hooked with the dropper as the tippet pulls through the trout’s teeth.  e.g. “Oh my…. you flossed ‘em!”

Dry Dropper – a setup that uses a dry fly with a small nymph off the back of the big dry fly.  the dry fly acts as a bobber and a fly.

Dropper – a fly that is attached off the back of another fly. esp. a small nymph.

Snake – a trout with anorexic characteristics. e.g. “that old boy is a snake, maybe we should him a hopper”

Tuck Cast – a cast made with the intention of forcing your flies to water first and your leader or bobber shall land directly over the flies allowing for slack line between the flies and bobber.  e.g. “tuck cast behind the second boulder will yield fish”

Low Fastball – a low fast delivery of the fly.  esp. underneath overhanging limbs or into a headwind.  e.g. “how about a low fastball underneath the second limb”

Stick ‘n Move – presentation strategy that involves shooting your fly into a spot for a brief time and quickly skipping to the next spot.  esp. in fast water from a drifting boat.  e.g.  “stick ‘n move now, this water is fast”.

Lo Pro – low profile drift boat. e.g. “Joe rows a lo pro”

Knuckle Buster – a high speed run causes your reel handle to spin fast enough to cause potential harm. esp. with Klickitat Steelhead.  e.g.  “that was almost a knuckle buster”

Tank – a large, healthy, trout.  esp. one with heavy features other than its stomach.  big shoulders and a hard body are prerequisites to being a ‘tank’. 

Piglet – a small but obese trout. e.g.  “that piglet looks like he must have eaten his friends”

Hawg – a large trout - esp. one with obese proportions. e.g. “Keller caught a hawg yesterday”

Stick – a synonym for a fly rod. generally reserved for guide use only or an angler fishing a minimum of 100 days per year.  e.g.  “that is a fast stick”  Not to be confused with "sticks" which means oars.

Bug - synonym for a fly. e.g.  “that is a cool bug”

Rocket - an exceptionally fast fish.  esp. steelhead. e.g.  that fish was a rocket!

Hand Grenade - an explosive fish that displays angry behavior.  esp. one that leaps immediately after being hooked.  e.g. that thing was hand grenade!

Chuckin’ Meat - a term used to describe streamer fishing. esp. large beefy streamers.  “this evening we’ll be chuckin’ meat.

Long Ball - a long cast. esp. in a circumstance where most of your casting is short and you need to reach out.  e.g.  “go for the long ball”.

Shooter - a good caster. esp. with dry flies and streamers.  e.g.  “I have some shooters coming tommorow”

Jedi - an exceptionally skilled angler.  esp. a guide with an extreme mastery over high speed presentation casting.  e.g.  “someday Johnny will be a jedi’

Yoda – an old and very experienced angler.  note: there are very few yodas out there because they must also have been a jedi at some time and have a mastery of the ‘force’ as it relates to fly fishing.  e.g. yoda will teach you all you need to know.

Daniel Son - an impatient fly fisherman esp. younger anglers. e.g.  “be patient young Daniel Son, Mr. Miagi would whip your butt if he saw you recast that fly”

Big Girl - a large brightly colored trout or steelhead with feminine appearances.  esp. fat ones. e.g. “when you are dancing with a big girl you have to let her lead”.

Holy Water – sections of river reserved for special occasions.  esp. remote and pristine sections of river.  e.g.  “on my day off I am heading to the holy water”.

High Quality H20 – describes productive water. esp. when the high quality H20 is surrounded by mediocre water.  e.g. “the high quality H20 is between the pyramid shaped rock and the log pile”.

Refusal – when a fish blatantly refuses your fly.  esp. when you are fishing dries and the trout comes within inches of your fly and rejects it.  e.g.  “tough fishing down that bank.. only a couple refusals”

Chuckin’ and Duckin’ – used to describe casting heavily weighted flies. esp. tungsten cone headed buggers or streamers.  e.g. “get your hard hat, time for some chuckin’ and duckin’.

PT – acronym for pheasant tail nymph.  Term was made popular by fishing guides that just want to limit the amount of syllables they have to say. e.g. “it ate a PT”

Stuck 'em – used to describe a fish that was hooked an on for at least a second but came off.  esp. when you had a good bend in the rod momentarily.  e.g.  “I don’t think he’s coming back, I stuck him”

Stung him – describes just barely nicking a fish with your hook.  esp. when you did not feel anything but a slight tension during the hook set.  e.g.  “I stung him but he might eat again”

Farmed it – used to describe the process of hooking a fish, playing it briefly and making errors that result in the fish being lost.  esp. when the errors are blatant.  origin:  minor league baseball term that started because players that make errors are going to end up back on a farm team somewhere.

Sharkin’ – fish that are feeding suspended just under the surface and are barely underneath leaving their dorsal fins exposed at times.  esp. during heavy mayfly hatches in slow water.  e.g. “there are six pigs sharkin’ in the back eddy”

Power float – floating fast and long, minimizing fly changes and any strategies that might prevent you from covering lots of water.  not for the faint of heart because power floats can be feast or famine.  e.g.  “boys get ready… it is going to be a power float today!”

Death march – a long drift trip when the fish are not reacting and the river seems lifeless.  The death march is simply a power float combined with poor fishing.  e.g.  “it was a death march on Tuesday”

Heavy water – sections of river that are both very fast and relatively deep.  esp. water that is unfishable or perhaps dangerous.  e.g. “hold on boys, heavy water coming up”

Death grip – the act of an angler gripping the rod too tight. esp. an angler that complains of their hand cramping after only a couple hours of fishing.  e.g.  “quit giving that rod the death grip and loosen up a little bit”