Tackle & Gear
This small plastic or cork tackle sits on top of the water and dips when a fish bites.
What is a bobber (or float)?
Known for its mouth size and aggressive strike, this is the most popular game fish in North America.
What is the Largemouth Bass?
Famous for leaping out of the water, this fast ocean predator has a long, sword-like bill.
What is a Sailfish, Marlin, or Swordfish?
The practice of returning a caught fish back into the water unharmed.
What is catch and release?
Fish use these organs to extract oxygen directly from the water.
What are gills?
This rod component holds the fishing line along the pole and directs it toward the tip.
What is an eyelet (or guide)?
This whiskered bottom-feeder relies on scent to find food in muddy water.
What is a Catfish?
This practice involves dragging a baited line or lure behind a slow moving boat to catch fish.
What is trolling?
The sharp, backward-facing point on a hook made to keep the fish from slipping off once hooked.
What is the barb?
Instead of hard bones, sharks, skates, and rays have skeletons made entirely of this flexible tissue.
What is cartilage?
This heavy weight is attached to a fishing line to help the bait go deeper into the water.
What is a sinker (or lead)?
Easily confused with the Northern Pike, this apex predator is nicknamed the "fish of 10,000 casts."
What is a Muskellunge (or Muskie)?
Also known by its Hawaiian name "Mahi-Mahi," this colorful ocean game fish is famous for its blunt head and vibrant yellow and green body.
What is a Dorado (or Dolphin Fish)?
To prevent line twist, fishermen attach this small double-ringed metal connector between their main fishing line and leader.
What is a barrel swivel?
This gas-filled internal organ acts like a buoyancy tank so a fish can float at a steady depth without sinking.
What is a swim bladder?
This popular knot is widely considered one of the easiest and strongest ways to tie a line to a hook or lure.
What is the Palomar knot?
Highly sought after for its taste, this night-feeding predator is easy to spot due to its sharp teeth and glassy eyes.
What is a Walleye?
Fisherman target this silver, acrobatic coastal species in shallow mangrove waters, calling it the "Silver King."
What is a Tarpon?
This technique involves sharp twitches of the rod tip to make a hard plastic bait dart erratically side-to-side through the water.
What is jerkbaiting (or walking the dog)?
This line running along the side of a fish's body helps it detect vibrations and movement in the water.
What is the lateral line?
Used to catch deep fish, this device uses a heavy weight on a cable to carry fishing line down to a specific depth.
What is a downrigger?
Native to eastern North America, this popular game fish with light spots on a dark body is technically a char.
What is a Brook Trout?
These small, jelly-filled sensory pores on a shark's snout allow it to detect electromagnetic fields produced by prey.
What are the Ampullae of Lorenzini?
In fly fishing, this cast uses the surface tension of the water to flex and spring the rod, casting the line without needing to bring the line behind the fisherman, avoiding snags.
What is a roll cast?
Species like salmon that spend most of their lives in the ocean but migrate up freshwater rivers to spawn are described by this term.
What is anadromous?