Florida Keys Fishing Glossary

Florida Keys Fishing Glossary

No one has tried this before us and we find it to be a great tool to help our fishing visitors to gain some local knowledge before coming to the Florida Keys and Key West.
We assembled this word list by request of past customers asking us - what is a ? So feel free if you do not see a term you would like a definition for here in our little list. Drop us a line and tell us.
This list is the Intellectual Property of Fishing The World Inc. Any use without our permission will result in a serious pain in the ass. Just ask.
flakeyscharters@bellsouth.net

Thanks for coming and we look forward to fishing with you.

• Fishing Guide
  • A person who is knowledgeable enough to take a hired charter out and help them, teach them how to catch fish.
    Not a magician although sometimes the two are confused.
• Fishing Charter
  • As a unit A hired captain, crew and a boat that carries customers or anglers out for a day of fishing for a set period of time as described in the charter details.
• Angler
  • person of any age that goes fishing to catch fish.
    • Great angler - see above.
• Fly Fishing Guide
  • A fishing guide that has taken it upon him or herself to cater to the people who enjoy fly fishing should be an expert in this very complicated trade. Also see Pincushion
• Fly Fishing
  • The art of angling with a fly rod. Mostly consists of very difficult casting techniques in the Florida keys.
• Double Haul
  •  Most areas of saltwater fly fishing require the double haul. A casting technique with the fly rod that creates line speed through a series of striping hand strokes that load the fly rod better for a long distance, accurate, or power full up wind cast. Weight forward line is suggested for this technique.
• Flats
  • Area of 3ft or shallower water. Flats make up most of the backcountry. May be sand, hard rock or grass covered also see Grass Flats
• Grass Flats
  • Area of shallow water with grass on it.
• Flat Boat
  • Boat that is designed to fish on the flats. generally light weight and shallow drafted less than 12 inches. most have outboard motors for power in deeper water but use a push pole for shallow waters to be more stealthy and sneak up on unsuspecting fish. See Also- Flats skiff, Push Pole, Flats Fishing, Outboard motors.
• Flats Skiff
  • General term used for flats boat. mostly a local or guide term. See flats boat.
• Marquesas Keys
  • Circular Chain of islands 26 miles west of Key West offering the most picturesque flats fishing to found anywhere. Many books and articles have been written about the Marquesas Keys, here is a link to one.
• Patch Reefs
  • Isolated coral formations that are nearer to shore than the reef itself.  Laying in between 15 - 25 feet of water the coral formations come up to within just feet of the water's surface.  They hold a plethora of fish from baits to tropical's, grouper, snapper, sharks, barracudas, and much more.  These areas get very little pressure from divers and fishermen and they are very numerous. 
• Backcountry
  • An area of shallow water and islands close to shore which is home to several species of fish such as Permit, Tarpon, Bonefish, Sharks, and more.  
• Spinning Reel
  • A type of fishing reel mounted below the rod handle. A bail is opened prior to casting to pull line out of the spool and snaps back closed after the cast.  Spinning reels work particularly well with distance casting.
    
• Bait caster
  • A type of fishing reel mounted on top of the rod handle.  These have revolving spools to cast bait.  A button must be pressed prior to casting to disengage the spool.   

• Conventional Reel

  • Similar to a bait casting reel, these reels are able to hold more line.  Anglers must manually direct line onto the spool during the retrieve with this type of reel.

• Live Bait

  • A variety of living creatures such as fish, shrimp, and crabs that are attached to the end of a hook in such as that they appear to be swimming and unimpeded in order to attract and catch fish.

• Cut Bait

  •  A variety of creatures that are no longer alive that are cut up, attached to a hook in order to attract fish.  

• Natural Bait

  • Live or dead creatures used to attract and catch fish by fastening them to a hook, which can include fish of various sizes such as mullet, pilchards, pinfish, and ballyhoo, shrimp, crabs, eels, squid, and worms.

• Artificial

  • Any bait used to catch fish that is not nor never was alive.  These are typically made out of some type of metal, plastic, and/or rubber which come in a multitude of different colors.  Some examples of artificial baits include: flies, jigs, plugs, spoons, and lures.  These can be scented or unscented.  

• Chumming

  • Utilizing chum to attract fish to an area.

• Chum

  • A foul mixture or fish blood and cut up fish pieces thrown into the water to attract fish to the area.  

• Casting

  •  A technique used to throw the fishing line out to where the fish can get to it.  

• Treble Hook

  • A series of three hooks attached together back to back. Common on artificial plugs.

• Single Hook

  • The most versatile hook type.  

• Double Hook

  • Least common in the hook family. Two Hooks back to back and affixed..

• Cast Net

  • A large net with weights at the ends of it that is thrown into the water onto schools of baitfish to catch them and pull them up to the beach or the boat.

• Push Pole

  • A long fiberglass pole that flats guides utilize to stealthily push their vessels over the flats in pursuit of fish.  The pole is also used to steak out or keep the boat on a particular spot to head off the fish that come by.

• Tower

  • A structure in which a person can climb up to gain greater sight, especially when spotting fish.

• Poling Platform

  • A platform typically located on the back of flats skiffs or boats on which the captain stands to sight fish and push the boat stealthily over the flats in pursuit of fish for his clients to cast to.  

• Light Tackle Fishing

  • Fishing utilizing light tackle gear.  

• Swivels

  • A small device used to attach two lines, a line to a lure, or similar in order to prevent the monofilament to twist.  

• Monofilament

  •  A relatively inexpensive type of fishing line that is most widely used in saltwater fishing and has a great amount of stretch which helps to prevent breakage but it is susceptible to abrasion that other line types.  

• Fluorocarbon

  • A fishing line that has low visibility, strength, and is fairly resistant to abrasion.  However, it is among the most expensive of the fishing lines. Used mostly for Leader material.

• Braided Line

  • Fishing line consisting of multiple strands of material such as Kevlar.  These lines possess great strength relative to their diameter but is not as able to stretch as other types of fishing line and it can also damage rod guides if put under extreme pressure.

• Wire

  •  Heavy metal line with no stretch and high visibility mostly used in deep sea and shark and barracuda fishing.  

• Leaders

  • A  section of line, usually monofilament, typically between 6 and 15 feet, used between the hook and the rest of the line in order to make the section the fish fights stronger.

• Wading

  • A type of fishing in which you are walking in shallow water as opposed as fishing from land or from a boat.  

• Test

  • A grade of the strength of fishing line determined by how much pressure can be applied before the line breaks.  The higher the number test the stronger the line.

• Tackle

  • Rods, reels, lines, hooks, weights, swivels, and other equipment utilized in the pursuit to catch fish.

• Bait well

  • Also known as live wells, these are containers used to keep fish alive.  

• Live well

  • See Bait well.

• Downrigger

  •  A system used to catch fish consisting of a base mounted to the back of a boat onto which a cable spool is attached. The cable is placed through the downrigger arm with a pulley system and moves down into the water. Heavy weights are often attached to the cable to anchor it at a fixed depth which is determined by how much cable is released from the spool.

• Outrigger

  • Long poles made out of metal or fiberglass used for trolling baits far to the sides of a boat.

• Aerator/Pump

  • A pump that pulls fresh water into a baitwell and old water out to help keep the water clean and of a consistent temperature.  An aerator is used in conjunction with a baitwell to pump air into the water and maintain oxygen levels needed to keep the fish alive.

• GPS

  • (Global Positioning System) a machine that utilizes satellites to help people determine their exact location.  These machines also allow an angler to mark and revisit areas such as underwater structures, reefs, or other areas of interest.  

• Sonar

  • (Sound Navigation And Ranging) a machine that provides boaters with information such as water depth and schools of fish by emitting a series of pulses that travel in one direction through the water, bouncing off of whatever they hit and sending a return signal back to the unit.

• Transducers

  • Instruments used to emit and process sound signals for electronic Fish finding devices.

• Chart Plotter

  • A device that is superimposed over GPS data onto marine navigational charters.

• Fighting Chair

  • Chair used to help an angler pull in a fish.  Some chairs are fixed to the boat while others are not.  Many have rod holders attached and foot pedals for extra leverage.

• Fighting Belt

  • Device worn around an angler’s midsection and used to hold the butt of a rod while protecting an angler’s midsection while reeling in large fish.  

• Fighting Harness

  • Often used with a fighting belt, this is worn around an angler’s shoulders and back and is connected to the reel allowing more leverage for an angler pulling in a large fish.  

• Split Shot

  • Round balls of lead with a cut down the middle used to secure on a line by pinching the sides together.  These are used for light tackle fishing to weight the line slightly.

• Sinkers

  • See Weights.

• Weights

  •  Piece of metal, typically lead, which comes in various shapes and sizes which is affixed to a line to sink a bait into a deeper depth.

• Eye

  • A hole at the upper end of the hook shank through which line is secured.  

• Shank

  • Part of the hook that extends from the bend to the eye.

• Bend

  • The bottom round part of the hook.

• Point

  • The sharpened end of the hook.

• Barb

  • The part of the hook that projects backwards from the point which helps prevents hooks from coming loose from the bait affixed to them or from a catch.

• Trolling

  • A type of fishing in which baited lines or lures are towed through the water behind the boat typically at speeds of around 2-10 knots.