Fishing glossary.

A quick reference of the fishing terms you'll hear on Captain Skippy Charters — Long Island Sound edition. If Skippy calls out a term you don't know mid-trip, you can either ask him (he'll explain) or check back here later.

A

Aft: the back of the boat (a.k.a. stern).
Angler: anyone fishing on the trip.

B

Bail: the wire arm on a spinning reel that flips open to let line out.
Bight: a curve or loop in the line.
Blitz: a feeding frenzy where fish (usually stripers or blues) push bait to the surface — you'll see splashing and diving birds.
Bluefish: Atlantic bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix). Toothy, aggressive predator. Fun to catch, decent smoked, otherwise best released.
Blackfish: tautog (see T). Rocky-structure fall specialty.
Bunker: Atlantic menhaden — the primary forage fish on the LI Sound. When bunker are around, big fish are too.

C

Chum: ground bait broadcast to attract fish.
Chunk: a cut piece of bait (usually bunker or mackerel) fished on a hook.
Cow (cow bass): a large striped bass, generally 30 lb+.
Current: water moving with the tide. Fish position based on current.

D

Drift: fishing while the boat moves with wind and current, no anchor. Standard for fluke.
Drop: lowering bait or jig to the bottom.
Drop-off: where the bottom depth changes sharply — key structure for stripers and fluke.

F

Fluke: summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus). Left-eyed flatfish, drifted on light tackle.
Fork length: a fish's length measured from the tip of the snout to the fork in the tail. Used for slot regs on stripers.

G

Gaff: a hook on a stick for landing big fish (rarely used on our boat — we net most fish).
Gunwale: the top edge of the boat's side. Where you brace your rod when the fish pulls.

H

Head boat / party boat: a large open-deck boat that charges per person; you fish alongside 30+ strangers. Not what we do.
Hookup: the moment a fish is on.
Hump: underwater rise where fish stack up.

J

Jig: a weighted hook fished vertically or on a retrieve. Bucktail jigs are classic for stripers; blackfish jigs are the modern approach for tautog.

L

Ledge: a hard-bottom shelf or step — prime striper and blackfish structure.
Line class: the pound-test rating of your fishing line.
Live-lining: fishing a live bait fish (usually bunker) on a bare hook or rig, drifting.

M

Moon tide: stronger tides around full/new moon. Fish typically feed harder on moon tides.

O

Over-slot: a fish larger than the legal keep window — must be released. Perfect fish for tagging with Gray FishTag Research.

P

Plug: a hard-body lure that imitates a bait fish. Poppers, swimmers, spooks.
Porgy: scup (Stenotomus chrysops). Panfish of the Sound — hard-fighting on light tackle, great table fish.

R

Rig: the terminal tackle assembly (hook, leader, weight) below your main line.

S

Schoolie: a schoolie striped bass, generally sub-slot or barely legal size.
Scup: another name for porgy.
Slack tide: the pause between incoming and outgoing tides — usually the slowest fishing.
Slot: the legal keep window (currently 28"–31" fork length for NY striped bass).
Snap: a metal clip that lets you change lures quickly.
Structure: anything on the bottom that fish relate to — rocks, wrecks, humps, ledges.
Sinker: the lead weight that takes your rig to the bottom.
Striper: striped bass (Morone saxatilis).

T

Tautog: blackfish (Tautoga onitis) — the fall structure specialty.
Teaser: a small dropper fly or feather tied above the main hook to imitate a smaller bait.
Trolling: pulling lures behind the boat at slow speed.
Trolling motor: an electric motor on the bow for precise low-speed positioning. The Christina M II has a Minn Kota.
Tube-and-worm: the classic Long Island Sound striper rig — a colored surgical-tube lure trailing a live sandworm, trolled behind wire line.

W

Wreck: a sunken vessel on the bottom. Holds sea bass, blackfish, and cod.

Have a term you'd like added? Email [email protected].