Line-to-line knot used to join mono to braid. Hold the heavier line in a loop, wrap the lighter line through it 8–10 times, thread back through and tighten.
Returning a fish unharmed after a brief photo / measurement. Standard for UK coarse fishing; common for under-size or vulnerable sea species (smoothhound, ballan wrasse).
An Environment Agency rod licence is legally required to fish for any freshwater fish in England and Wales. Buy online or at the Post Office before your first cast.
A multi-hook sea rig that "flaps" two or three snoods off the trace during the cast. Two-hook variants for clean ground; three-hook for whiting bashing in winter.
A short loop of line tied off the back of the hook on which the bait sits — the hook itself stays exposed so it hooks cleanly when a carp picks the bait up and tries to eject it.
A carp rig with the hooklink mounted on a swivel that spins freely on the leader between two stoppers — so it rotates ("helicopters") around the leader on the cast and doesn't tangle.
A lead with a hole bored through its centre that the mainline threads through, with a soft-rubber tail-rubber pushing onto the swivel below. Foundational for carp rigs.
A long mesh net used to hold caught coarse fish alive in the water during a session, then weighed and released at the end. Banned on some carp waters; check rules.
A length of line (often heavier or different material) joined to the mainline — used as a shock leader on a beach cast, an abrasion leader on rocky ground, or a near-invisible fluoro leader on finesse lure rigs.
The reel line running from spool to lead — the load-bearing part of the setup. Sized to the species (10 lb for general coarse, 15–20 lb for carp, 30+ lb for shore-cast cod).
A moulded inline feeder around which groundbait + pellets is pressed. Short hooklink + hookbait sits on the pile when it lands; fish find the bait first, eat the hook second.
A small tidal range — high and low tides closer together vertically — that follows the moon's first and last quarters. Less water moves; useful for boat fishing, harder for shore.
A rig with one or more snoods coming off the mainline above the lead. The lead sits on the bottom and the bait hangs off-bottom on a snood. Used at sea for cod and at fresh water for pike (live or deadbait).
A shore crab that has shed its hard outer shell and is soft underneath. Held together with elastic on the hook — one of the deadliest UK shore baits for bass and smoothhound.
A two-hook setup with one hook fixed at the top of a bait (e.g. through the head of a peeler crab) and a second sliding hook below — so the bottom hook can shift to the bait's weakest point.
A buoyant boilie that sits a few inches above the lakebed thanks to internal cork or foam. Combined with a heavier "bottom bait" or fished critically balanced.
A heavy-ground sea rig that lifts the lead clear of snags on the strike — line runs from rod through a swivel at the top of the trace, with the lead on a weaker break-link below the swivel.
The simplest sea or freshwater bottom rig: a free-running lead on the mainline above a swivel, with a hooklength below the swivel. Fish can pick up the bait without feeling the lead.
A slender silver fish ~10–25 cm long that bass, pollack, mackerel and many sea species feed on. Used as bait whole or in strips; lure imitations are also widespread.
The brief window between flood and ebb (or vice versa) when the tide isn't running. Sometimes the best window for shore fishing on heavy-flow marks; sometimes the worst.
A knot that wraps the hooklink around the shank of a hook so the line exits behind the bend — pulls the hook over and into the fish's mouth on the take. Used on circle hooks and traditional bait rigs.
The branch line off a sea rig that holds a hook. Length and thickness matter: short stiff snoods to keep baits high; long flowing snoods to present baits naturally.
An EA station that measures water height in real time. The UK's gauges are queryable via the flood-monitoring API; fish-logged auto-attaches the nearest gauge's reading to sea catches.
A two-hook trace with both snoods coming off a Y-shaped wire former — both baits flutter side by side. Big-fish presentation for cod, conger and bull huss.