Backlash:  The situation where an angler's line flies off their quickly spinning reel while the forward motion of the terminal tackle has ceased.  This causes a terrific tangle, and often provokes Swearing (see also).

Baitfeeder:  A spinning reel which has a freespool setting, where a fish can take out line with very little resistance.  Other trade names describing this function include Baitrunner, and Liveliner. 

Baitfishing:  A method of fishing which uses organic indigenous baits that are the natural food of fish. 

Bank Stick:  A synthetic Forked Stick (see also).

Bowfishing:  A so-called sport where people shoot fish for no good reason and throw them in the garbage. 

Bushed: 1)  The state of being extremely tired, particularly after strenuous outdoor activity like fishing or hunting.  2)  Becoming tangled in a submerged tree (see also: Snag)

Chuck-and-Duck:  A method of drift-fishing in moderate to strong current developed by Great Lakes Steelhead anglers.  Most often a flyrod and flyreel are used, the flyreel being loaded with monofilament line.  A slinky or split-shot are used as weight, and it is critical to use just the right amount of weight to keep your offering ticking along bottom.  Short, precise casts of 10 to 40 feet are made across-stream, more "flips" than actual casts.  Often used to present egg patterns or spawnbags.

Clicker:  Any fishing reel with a freespool setting that makes an audible, mechanical clicking noise when line is taken out.  Although a baitfeeder spinning reel with an especially loud line-out sound could qualify as a clicker, this term is generally reserved for levelwind-type reels. 

Creel:  1) A fancy wicker basket, worn on the belt, into which fish can be placed to keep them fresh before eating.  2) The act of keeping a fish to eat it later.

Criminy:  A fairly mild expletive used in angling, often when sensitive non-anglers are present, to express frustration and disappointment without resorting to actual full-bore profanity.  (see Swearing)

Doink: The sound that is made when a large fish breaks your line.  A perfect opportunity for Swearing (see also).

The Dutchman: .

Eddy: A section of current in flowing water, moving contrary to the direction of the main current, especially in a circular motion.

Flyfishing:  A method of fishing that allows you to easily use cheap home-made lures, and allows you to cast unweighted lures that other types of rods and reels cannot easily cast. Although many roughfishers will use fly tackle when it is effective, it is also often exclusively used by Greenhorns, Snaggers, and Orvis Boys who think they are better than other anglers because of their fancy equipment, and by slick salesmen who want you to give them your money.

Forked Stick:  Also called a "Y-stick".  A branch of a large tree, or an entire main trunk of a small tree, shaped like a Y and sharpened, which is cut and thrust into the ground to support the rod while bottom-fishing.  This allows the angler to detect strikes by light-biting fish.

Greenhorn:  A hunter or angler who is ignorant of the woods and waters, but is eager to learn and needs to be guided by a true outdoorsman.  Often prone to hilarious folly.

Grouper Fishing:  A method of fighting fish, commonly used in the pursuit of grouper, where the reel's drag is tightened so that no line can be pulled from the reel no matter how hard the fish pulls. (see also Horsing, Doink)

Guide:  1)  The circular devices attached to a fishing rod which collectively force the line down the length of the rod.  2)  A personal servant paid to catch fish for you, often used by wealthy Greenhorns (see also).

Horsing:  Putting too much pressure on a fish, in a vain attempt to bring it in quickly.  Often results in a broken line.  (see also: Greenhorn, Doink)

Jetski: A diabolical machine, expertly designed to ruin every positive aspect of the outdoor experience.  Also called a wetbike or a waverunner.  Invariably piloted by Yahoos (see also).

Lifelist: A list of all the species of fish you have caught while fishing, sometimes subdivided by geographical area.

Lodge: A business designed to replicate the wilderness experience, at great expense, for people who have no business being in the wilderness.  Usually populated by Guides, Greenhorns, Yahoos, and Orvis Boys (see also).

Orvis Boy: 1) An angler with more money than sense 2) An angler more concerned about how they look on the stream, or how much their equipment costs, than how many fish they catch 3) Anyone who thinks that they are better than other fisherman because of the equipment or methods they use.

Pole Manniquin:  

Pregnant Slinky:  A slinky which has been forcibly stuffed with shot that are larger than the diameter of the hollow rope used to make it.  (see Slinky)

Real Fishing: Fishing on foot or in a human-powered craft, without a guide, near your home, with under five pounds of tackle.

Remote Lake: A mythical location, generally described as being in the state of Minnesota, which is used as a purely metaphorical device to describe any out-of-the way wilderness lake with good fishing.

Roughfish: 1) An undesirable fish (pre-1998). 2) Any respectable, hard-fighting fish you caught using your own wits and skill, preferably in difficult conditions with minimal gear - especially if it is a species that is seldom caught by, or completely unknown to, the average angler.

Roughfishing:  A method of angling where you seduce the fish not with technology or money, but with your brains and your skill as an outdoorsman.  (see also: Real Fishing).

Scumfoot:  (noun) A great urban roughfishing spot on the Mississippi River in Minnesota.

Scumfooting:  (verb) Crawling around in an urban environment, over rough terrain, to find great fishing near your home.

Skunked:  Not catching jack.  In most cases, this means you went fishing and caught no fish at all, although in some circumstances this could mean not catching what you intended to.  For example, if were trying to catch Longnose Gar but caught nothing but walleyes, you could be considered "Skunked on Gar".

Slinky:  A completely snagless sinker manufactured using a chunk of parachute cord and a variable number of spherical weights which is clipped on a snap-swivel and threaded onto your line.

Slinky-rigging:  Using a slinky to present a live bait, usually in current, to the fish.  A form of drift-fishing. (see also: Slinky)

Snag: 1) To hook, or attempt to hook, a fish in the body by impaling it with a hook while it is not feeding on your bait or lure - an activity unrelated to Angling, where the fish must be tricked into inhaling your bait or hook.  2)  Any object which your fishing tackle becomes entangled in or hooked on.  

Snagger:  An angler who does not understand the meaning of the word Angling, and intentionally foul-hooks fish which have not inhaled their bait or lure.

Spooled:  The situation an angler finds themselves in after a fish has run out all of their line against the drag, leaving nothing but an empty spool.  This is possibly the most appropriate time for extensive Swearing (see also).

Strip-Strike:  A method of setting the hook with a flyrod when a fish takes your fly.  You jerk the rod back, while at the same time stripping in line with your off hand.  The result is a very solid hookup - , even at long distances - with a flexible flyrod.

Swearing:  The end result of angling misfortune.  This may or may not include the extensive use of profanity.  While unacceptable in polite society, anglers often use swearing to regain prestige after losing a large fish, because fellow anglers are invariably impressed by outbursts of creative and passionate swearing.

Terminal Greenhorn:  An obstinant Greenhorn who refuses to learn, and thus, despite many years of instruction and success, remains forever a Greenhorn. 

Toxic Creek:  A beautiful little trout creek in Wisconsin that is so polluted by radioactive waste, and effluent from a nearby chemical plant, that you would never want to go there.  Ever.  Stay away.

Whackandleaver:  A strike, while still fishing with bait, where the fish strikes your line very hard, and does not steal your bait, but never returns.

Yahoo:  A person who thinks the water is there for their own personal enjoyment, and don't care about how their behavior detracts from everyone else's enjoyment of the outdoors. (See also:  Jetski)