Fishing Terms Glossary and Definitions
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• Falldown (or Laydown) - A tree that has fallen into the water.
• Fancast - A systematic series of casts to a specific area of water.
• Farm Pond - Small manmade body of water.
• Feeder Creek - A tributary that runs into a larger stream, lake or river.
• Feeding Cycle - Certain regular intervals during which fish satisfy their appetites. Examples: Major or Minor Solunar periods; sunrise, sunset.
• Filamentous Algae - Type of algae characterized by long chains of attached cells that give it a stringy feel and appearance.
• Fillet - In fish, a slice of meat without bones, cut out for human consumption.
• Finesse Fishing - An angling technique characterized by the use of light tackle - line, rods, reel and artificial baits (often tube worms, grubs, or other small-sized soft-plastic lures); often productive in clear, fairly uncluttered water.
• Finfish - A term used to separate true fish from shellfish, crayfish, jellyfish, etc.
• Fingerling - A young fish of about 10 cm length.
• Fins - Folds of skin supported by cartilaginous tissue in elasmobranchs and by bony rays in bony fishes. Used for locomotion, display, and sometimes specialized functions such as fertilization.
• Fish - Literally, a vertebrate (animal with a backbone) that has gills and lives in water, but generally used more broadly to include any harvestable animal living in water. Fishes refers to more than one type of fish; finfish refers to sharks, some rays and bony fishes, and scalefish refers to fish bearing scales
• Fisherman - One who engages in fishing for sport or occupation.
• Fishery - Term to describe the collective enterprise of taking fish, usually used in conjunction with reference to the species, gear or area involved
• Fishfinder - A sonar device, either a flasher unit or LCR recorder, used to read the bottom structure, determine depth, and in some cases actually spot the fish; also called a Depth Finder.
• Fishhook - A barbed or barbless hook used for catching fish.
• Fish Ladder - A series of pools arranged like steps that fish utilize to move upstream over a dam.
• Fish On! - A shout that indicates the angler has hooked a fish, as in "a fish is on the line"
• Fishout - To exhaust the supply of fish in a body of water.
• Fishway - A contrivance that allows fish to pass around a dam.
• Flat - A bottom that does not change more than a couple feet in depth. The flat can be near the shore or far away from it. A topo map shows the contour lines very far apart.
• Flipping - Basically a long-rod technique where a lure, such as a jig or worm, is dropped - rather than cast - into heavy cover at close range. Also called "Flippin'."
• Flipping Stick - Heavy action fishing rod, 7 to 8 feet long, designed for bass fishing.
• Floating (float fishing) - to transverse a river or stream by some type of watercraft while fishing, most commonly in a tube, raft, canoe, or kayak.
• Floss - Material for tying flies.
• Fly - A hand-tied artificial lure made of various material tied to a hook.
• Fly Dope - A dressing that makes artificial flies water resistant so they float.
• Fly Fishing - A method of fishing that utilizes an artificial fly, a long flexible rod, a reel, and line.
• Fly Rod - A light springy rod used in fly fishing.
• Flytier - One who makes his own artificial flies for fishing.
• Forage - Something eaten; the act of eating.
• Freshwater - In a broad sense 'freshwater' is used for all continental aquatic systems such as rivers and lakes. In a technical sense it refers to water with less than 0.5 grams per liter of total dissolved mineral salts.
• Front - Weather system that causes changes in temperature, cloud cover, precipitation, wind and barometric pressure.