Pier Rat Lingo

Ken Jones

Administrator
Staff member
#1
Some old Pier Rat Lingo — but there must be some new words.

September 28, 2004
To: PFIC Message Board
Posted by dig
Subject: Pier Rat Lingo


Today at Shelter Island I heard this guy refer to lobster as a shell-IE>. “I pulled a shell” which made me thing about all the short terms we use as pier rats “spottie”, “hallie”,”boneheads”,”bonnies” would be cool for a nice list of pier rat lingo/slang that is our own language as pier rats. Post up your local slang and lingo and see what we get =)

Posted by Rock Hopper

Lotta fish nicknames.... Lings, cabbies, dinos, diamond backs, leppies, smoothies, mud marlin, sand sharks, stripers (or strippers), ‘buts, bullheads, etc.

Posted by baitfish

Hmmm most of them you probably already know...

Bugs- Lobster
Knotheads/Dogs- Sea Lions
Doormat/Barndoor - Big halibut
Slime Stick - Barracudda
Bone Head - Bonita
Slammed - Big bite
Peelin’ - pulling drag fast

Posted by sharkshooter

Bootlegger. A poacher, specifically someone that sells their fish w/o a commercial license.

Posted by avidangler

Pig-BIG fish
Toad-BIG fish also
Farmer-someone who loses lots of fish
Marmaluke-someone who can’t catch a fish
zipperlip-a spot nobody gets to know about!
Sure catch-I ain’t tellin' about that one!!!-AA

My buddy and I refer to big bat rays as “Tour Guides” since they will take you to the golden gate, Alcatraz and pier 39 prior to giving in.

Posted by Jim Babwe

That’d be a “gangster”. An original (methinks)

Posted by Rock Hopper

Monte’s (and now our whole “crews”) word for a large fish.

Posted by Rock Hopper

Gettin Jiggy: A suspectful bite - as in - Dude, your pole was just getting jiggy.

Posted by Dig

FishinPat told me this one. “Fishing on credit” means fishing with no bait. That is, if your line has been too long in the water (and had too many little bites), then you’re definitely fishing on credit! Better check your bait.