special words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand.
Fisherman clearly have their own language. Coded words and phrases are tossed around like everyone knows what everyone else is talking about. It can be confusing if you’re not part of the in crowd.
I can vividly remember the first time I heard television fishing host Roland Martin call a fish something other than a fish. It was in the early ‘70’s.
“Whoa, son, that’s a hawg!”
Being young, impressionable and passionate about fishing, every fish I caught that summer was either a hawg, or not a hawg.
Fish, in my world, were no longer “nice” or a “big or a little one”. I went from descriptive adjectives to full on fisherman jargon in 60 seconds. I’m sure I drove my mom crazy.
I know that Roland Martin wasn’t the first fisherman to use jargon. But I have to say, with all the different media and fishing personalities out there, the words used today to describe a big fish has grown exponentially. They would include:
- pig
- toad
- donkey
- swamp donkey
- horse
- tank (Al Lindner’s new favorite).
- whopper
- lunker
- slob, slobbo, slobbosaurus (ala John Gillespie).
- monster
- barn door
- cow
- fatty (Mary Meyer).
- ol’ slimey (Jeff King).
It’s not just big fish that has its own language. Here are a few words fisherman use to describe small fish.
- dinks
- doinkers
- rats
- minnows
- jacks
- jills
- fun sized
So, if the lists above are foreign to you, learning a few key words will make you seem less like an outsider and more like an insider. If you bark out on your next hook up, “that’s a tank!”, you’ll sound more like a sourdough* than a cheechako**.
By the way, if I missed any other fish jargon, make sure to make a comment on our Facebook page. I’d love to hear what you have to say.
*an old timer, a person with experience.
**a newcomer, a stranger.
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