Glossary
Fishing talk, plainly put.
- Slab
- A big crappie — usually one over a pound.
- Bream
- Southern name for bluegill and other sunfish (said "brim").
- Bed / bedding
- Shallow nests sunfish fan out to spawn; bluegill nest in colonies.
- Elephant tracks
- Clusters of round, light-colored bluegill nests visible in shallow water.
- Spider rig
- Many long rods fanned out from the front of a boat, pushed slowly to cover water for crappie.
- Long-lining
- Trolling small jigs well behind the boat; depth set by jig weight, line length and speed.
- Dock shooting
- Slingshot-casting a small jig far back under docks and boat stalls for crappie.
- Vertical jigging
- Dropping a jig straight down over brush and holding it at the fish's depth.
- Santee rig
- Catfish drift rig: egg sinker, swivel, leader, peg float and circle hook (from Santee Cooper lakes in South Carolina).
- Three-way rig
- Drift rig with a sinker on a short dropper and the bait on a longer leader.
- Circle hook
- Hook with the point turned in; it hooks the corner of the mouth as the fish swims off. Don't jerk — reel.
- Cut bait
- Pieces of fresh shad or other baitfish; the top blue catfish bait.
- Shad kill / die-off
- Threadfin shad die when water drops below about 40–45°F; big blue cats feed on them.
- Gizzard shad / threadfin shad
- The two main baitfish in Texas lakes — prey for crappie and blue cats alike.
- Brush pile
- Sunken trees or brush — natural, angler-placed or TPWD habitat structures — that hold crappie.
- Ledge
- Where a flat drops off into a creek or river channel.
- Creek channel
- The old streambed running under the lake; fish follow it like a highway.
- Thermocline
- The summer boundary between warm surface water and cold, low-oxygen water below. Fish stay above it.
- Turnover
- Fall mixing of a lake's layers; the bite often scatters for a while.
- Front
- The leading edge of a new air mass. Cold fronts in Texas bring a wind shift to the north, falling temperatures and a rising barometer.
- Bluebird day
- Clear, bright, high-pressure day right after a front — often tough fishing.
- Solunar
- Old tradition timing feeding to the moon's position: majors when the moon is overhead or underfoot, minors at moonrise and moonset.
- Full pool
- A reservoir's normal full level (conservation pool). Readings show feet above or below it.
- Tailrace
- The river right below a dam, where release current stacks baitfish and catfish.
- Release
- Water let out through a dam; the current turns on tailrace fish.
- Stained / muddy water
- Water colored by rain runoff; changes bait color and where fish hold.
- Drift sock
- A small parachute dragged off the boat to slow your drift.
- Spot-lock
- Trolling motor GPS setting that holds the boat in one place.
- Livewell
- Aerated tank in a boat to keep fish or bait alive.
- Big Fish Award
- TPWD award for catching a fish over a set length (bluegill 10 in, crappie 15 in, blue catfish 36 in).