Glossary Of Walleye Fishing Terms And Slang
Back-Trolling – Trolling technique in which the outboard of the boat is placed in reverse versus forward gear. By trolling in reverse the boat can turn sharper thus allowing the angler to follow very tight bottom contours.
Bait Holder Hook – A regular fishing hook that a barbs on the shank of the hook that keep live bait such as a night crawler from sliding off the hook.
Beads – Made of plastic these little colored balls slide over fishing and provide spacing between a hook and spinner clevis. Also provide additional attraction to the rig.
Blade Bait – A lure stamped from a piece of aluminum with lead placed towards the lip of the lure and two treble hooks attached to the bottom. This lure produces a lot of vibration.
Bottom Bouncer – A very snag resistant trolling weight that is shaped like the letter L with a tie point in the corner of the L, lead poured on one end, and a swivel on the end that is used to attach a crankbait or snell too.
Colorado Blade – A very round stamped piece of aluminum available in many colors that spins around the fishing line when pulled through the water. This shape produces more vibration when compared to a thinner Indiana blade.
Clevis – Shaped like a U it holds a spinner to the fishing line of a snell.
Crankbait – Lures typically made from plastic or balsa wood that have a plastic lip on the nose of the which makes it dive when retrieved. Some crankbaits such as a Rat-L-Trap are lipless.
Dragging Jigs – Technique for fishing walleyes with jigs.
Drifting – Technique of allowing a boat to drif with the wind versus powering the boat with an outboard. Typically used to present live bait versus crankbaits.
Eye – Slang term for walleye.
GPS (Acronym for Global Positioning System) – Electronic device that calculates the longitude and latitude coordinates of ones position. Commonly used by walleye fisherman to mark active fish.
Hair Jig – A lead head jig dressed with animal hair versus a plastic grub or twister tail.
Indiana Blade - A stamped piece of aluminum available in many colors that spins around the fishing line when pulled through the water. This shape produces less vibration when compared to a more round Colorado blade.
Jig – A hook with lead poured around the head of the hook to make it sink.
Jigging Spoon – A spoon shaped fishing lure stamped from metal is fished much like a jig when vertical jigged.
Leaded Line – Dacron fishing line that has a lead core with different colored sections every 30 feet used to make a crankbait dive deeper, or two present Lindy Rigs to suspended walleyes.
Lindy Rig – A manufactured snell or length of fishing line with a single hook or multiple hooks pre-rigged with a spinner and beads on one end, and a loop knot on the other end.
Line Counter – A mechanical device that is clipped on a fishing rod ahead a fishing reel that counts how many feet of line is let out from a baitcaster style reel.
Line Counter Reel – A baitcaster style fishing reel that has a built in line counter that indicates how many feet of line has been let out or reeled in.
Marble Eye – Slang for walleye.
Marker Buoy – A molded hollow plastic tube with a ball or bubble on each end that comes wound with cord and a light-weight anchor. Used to mark active fish or structure when fishing.
Planar Board – A small rectangular shaped fishing device made from plastic used when trolling that will pull your line to one side of the boat or another. A planer board allows an angler to fish more poles or to fish shallow walleyes without spooking them.
Rattle Jig – A small plastic attachment that fits on most jigs made of plastic and containing several small steel BBs that rattle.
Ring Worm – Plastic styled worm bait with a twister tail and rings molded into the main body of the worm.
Rod Holder – Used to hold a fishing rod while trolling. Usually made from plastic or heavy rubber coated wire.
Roundhead Jig – Simple leadhead jig that consitists of a small round ball of lead on the front of a jig hook.
Slip Sinker – A sinker typically made from lead that slides on the fishing line, versus being locked on to the line like a split shot. This allows a fisherman to feed line to a fish taking the bait without the fish feeling the resistance created from dragging a sinker along the bottom.
Snap Weight – A heavy cylindrical trolling weight that is clipped on the fishing line ahead of a crankbait or live bait snell.
Snap – A small hook shaped piece of wire with a clasp that is tied on to fishing line and allows a fisherman to quickly swap lures. Also allows a crankbait maximum action versus tying a knot directly to the eye of the lure.
Snap Swivel – A small hook shaped piece of wire with a clasp that also has a swivel to prevent line twist. Used when fishing live bait spinner rigs or Lindy Rigs.
Snell – A piece of fishing line sold in various lengths that may have just a plain hook or spinner rig on one end and a loop knot on the other end.
Sonar – Original brand name of a lure stamped from a piece of aluminum with lead placed towards the lip of the lure and two treble hooks attached to the bottom. This lure produces a lot of vibration.
Spinner Rig – Method of presenting live bait in which a spinner is attached to a snell via a clevis and held away from the bait hook with small colored plastic beads.
Splash Guards – Rectangular shaped pieces of plastic that extend the height of a transom around the outboard. This prevents water from splashing into a boat when back-trolling.
Splilt Shot – A BB shaped piece of lead with a slit that is clamped on to fishing line. Most split shot will have ears that when pinched together open up the sinker for removal from the fishing line.
Stand-Up Jig – Term applied to jigs with a head that makes the jig stand at a 45 degree angle on the bottom. This allows a walleye to more easily take the offering.
Swivel – Small piece of terminal tackle that is tied in-line with the fishing line to prevent line twist and holds slip sinkers from sliding down a live bait or spinner rig.
Three Way Rig – Using a three swivel one end is tied to the main line, a short dropper line is also attached and terminated with a sinker, and then a third line attached goes to the bait or crankbait.
Three Way Swivel – Small piece of terminal tackle that has three tie-points for fishing line.
Trolling – Technique of presenting live bait or crankbaits in which the motor of a boat is kept in forward gear usually very close to idle speed.
Trolling Plate – A hinged plastic plate attached to the cavitation plate of an outboard motor that can be lowered behind the propeller to slow the trolling speed, and then lifted for faster speeds.
Twister Tail – A plastic body or grub with a curled tail on the end that twists when retrieved.
Vertical Jigging – Technique of matching the speed of a boat to the current so that a jig hangs vertical while being fished.
Walking Sinker – An L shaped slip sinker used when trolling live bait rigs.
Windsock – Small parachute like device that is used to slow the speed of a boat when drifting or trolling.
Worm Harness – A snell with two hooks versus one hook that typically has beads and a spinner attached.
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