In the wide wet world of trouser trout angling, you’ve got to know the lingo.
In A Girl’s Pocket Guide to Trouser Trout, fly-fishing and trouser trout angling share similar terminology. Here’s a list of commonly used terms, presented in both the ordinary fishing sense and how the word applies to trouser trout angling. Mark this page and refer to this list if you find a word that stumps you.
Angler
Fishing Term – A person who fishes, usually a man, although an estimated 10 to 15% of avid fly-fishers are women.
Trouser Trout Term – A woman who fishes for trouser trout.
Attractor
Fishing Term – Big, flashy, colorful lures that don’t necessarily resemble a real insect, yet can still provoke trout to strike.
Trouser Trout Term – The lure of using the right colors and accessories to enhance an angler’s visual appeal.
Bait
Fishing Term – Worms, small fish, bread, cheese or authentic insects utilized for lures, as opposed to artificial flies.
Trouser Trout Term – Live lures, such as pet animals, utilized to attract a trouser trout’s attention.
Bulging
Fishing Term – The motion of the water when a trout rises to take an underwater nymph, also referred to as humping.
Trouser Trout Term – The way you can tell you’ve got a trout with its head up (if you get to humping, you’ve gone well beyond just getting a rise).
Cast
Fishing Term – Various skillful methods to present a lure to a trout.
Trouser Trout Term – Same thing.
Catch and release
Fishing Term – Gently returning an unharmed fish to the water after reeling it in.
Trouser Trout Term – Freeing a man from a relationship of brief duration.
Chumming
Fishing Term – Tossing bait into the water to get a fish to rise.
Trouser Trout Term – Hanging out with girlfriends while trolling for trouser trout (a group of females will attract more attention but possibly intimidate the trout).
Creel
Fishing Term – A wicker basket or canvas bag in which to carry one’s catch home.
Trouser Trout Term – A mode to transport trouser trout, usually an automobile.
Drag
Fishing Term – A V-shaped ripple caused by a dry fly that moves unnaturally across the surface of the water rather than drifting with the current.
Trouser Trout Term – When a trouser trout dresses up like a woman (see Chapter Two: Types of Trout – Dolly Varden).
Flies (dry and wet)
Fishing Term – A dry fly is an artificial lure designed to float on the surface of the water and imitate an adult insect. A wet fly is a lure designed to imitate a nymph and floats beneath the water’s surface.
Trouser Trout Term – The fly is the gateway to the trouser trout’s home habitat. A dry fly indicates the trout is occupied by matters of a non-sexual nature. A wet fly indicates the trout has spotted a nymph or other attractor that has prompted it to respond.
Fingerlings
Fishing Term – Juvenile, or very small trout.
Trouser Trout Term – Same thing.
Hook
Fishing Term – The curved, pointed metal spur that snags a fish when it tries to eat a fly.
Trouser Trout Term – The irresistible elements that draw a trouser trout into your hands.
Landing
Fishing Term – Bringing a trout into a net or the hand after playing.
Trouser Trout Term – Bringing a trout into the hand, or getting engaged.
Leader lines
Fishing Term – The fine, transparent thread that provides a nearly invisible transition from the heavier fly line to the artificial fly.
Trouser Trout Term – What you first say to a likely looking trouser trout.
Lunker
Fishing Term – A really big or very fine trout.
Trouser Trout Term – Same thing.
Lures
Fishing Term – A wide range of items designed to get a trout’s attention and hopefully strike the hook.
Trouser Trout Term – Same thing.
Nymphs
Fishing Term – The water-dwelling larvae of insects and a favorite food for trout.
Trouser Trout Term – Those slinky babes in their teens and 20s who get all the attention and set unreasonable standards of beauty for the rest of the world.
Outfitters
Fishing Term – People who arrange fishing trips and often provide appropriate gear and guides.
Trouser Trout Term – The shops anglers frequent for outfits and lures, including department and outlet stores, unique boutiques and shoe shops.
Priest
Fishing Term – A short, weighted club used by tweedy British fishermen to kill their catch with a blow to the back of the fish’s head (last rites, as it were).
Trouser Trout Term – The guy good Catholic girls go to and confess their sins after a rousing night of trouser trout trolling.
Spinner
Fishing Term – A mature female fly that has mated. The term refers to its spent and dying form, spinning in the water’s current.
Trouser Trout Term – A mature woman who’s been around.
Strike
Fishing Term – The movement when a fish tries to eat a fly.
Trouser Trout Term – A trout’s expression of interest in the angler.
Trolling
Fishing Term – Fishing from a moving boat.
Trouser Trout Term – Actively seeking to meet men in public places.
Trout
Fishing Term – The members of the salmonoid family, all with a short second dorsal fin, including rainbow, brown and cutthroat variations of trout. Close relatives include salmon, char, grayling and whitefish.
Trouser Trout Term – A man with many good qualities. It is also the appendage inside his trousers that defines him as a male.
Wild Wahini
Fishing Term – A yet-to-be created attractor lure that is remarkably effective at catching trout.
Trouser Trout Term – Wahini is Polynesian for woman. A Wild Wahini is a gal who is up for any kind of adventure and a good buddy for chumming.