A jig with a pretty skirt

One of the most intriguing aspects of the American fishing culture is the talk. If you know an angler well enough, you’ve probably heard this strange chatter that could be mistaken for another language. It sounds familiar to the non-angler only because it’s English. Yes, the fishing talk around here is English, but most certainly a different dialect; one possibly derived from too much down time on the water. Here are some terms you may have heard among us fish heads that undoubtedly seemed peculiar:

Work a Bait: Some might picture Geppetto carving away at a fish-catching gem in his spare time after finishing up with Pinocchio. In fact, ‘work the bait’ refers to how the angler retrieves an artificial bait to give it life in the water.