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What Do You Call a Big Fish?
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March 26, 2009
What Do You Call a Big Fish?
By Kirk Deeter
The question can be taken two ways. On the one hand, I'm wondering how big a fish has to be before you call it big? For me, the magic number for trout has always been 20-inches.
By any definition, this brown trout caught by Anne Hamner on the Rio Irigoyen in Argentina is mucho trucha... a lot 'o trout. It weighed 24 pounds. She released it.
Here's the question that's more fun. What do you call that big daddy when you catch him? I'm a little weary on the pork product descriptions... e.g. a "pig," a "hawg," a "slab."
I like some reptile references... a "toad," a "gator" among them. Beast works. Behemoth is better. Monster... eh.
Trophy? Too sterile. Wallhanger. Too deer hunting.
I need a word, and I promise that if you give me a really good moniker for a gigantic fish, I will steal it, and write it in the magazine story I'm working on now (without crediting you). At least I'm telling you up-front... and I will let you know which story and what issue it's running in. It's the least I could do for an assist from my fishing pals.
Deeter
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Comments (75)
We do this all the time, making up names for fish we catch....all large fish are "Frankenfish"
However, one can break it down even further:
Large female fish- Sweaty Betty
Large male fish- Bunyan
Jabba
SHE LET IT GO!!!! that would feed me for a whole week.
my dad and i call small fish mineys big fish
look at my profile and rate me
and look at my age
i call big fish dinner just kiding icall them midknight snacks
My personal favorite is where Mark Zona called a large catfish a "Sea Donkey" on his show Saturday morning.
That's a "hoss"!
A "slabsided monster"
"Toad" gets used a lot. I've heard, "Too big for the pot!" Also "Hulk" - big shouldered.
My favorite is "Bruiser" - gets a laugh locally because of old Dick the Bruiser (the ex-wrestler) parodies on local radio. Got to do it in the right voice, though.
A "Wallop", a "gargantuan", a "beefeater", and my favorite a "fishamongus"- the species can actually replace fish like, "brownamongus" or "stripeamongus", works best with one syllable words.
My brother and I came up with a scale of names to rate fish from extremely small to extremely large a long time ago and have been using it ever since. Here it is smallest to largest.
1. What the f$%@ (as in you didn't even know you had a fish on until you cast again)
2. Dink
3. Squeezer
4. Regliar (as in regular ala my little cousin who couldn't quite say it right)
5. Big Boy
6. Donkey
7. Boheme (as in behemoth)
I always felt like there was one missing between Big Boy and Donkey, so if you have any suggestions, please let me know. This worked well for us, but I'm pretty sure my brother had the classifications mixed up because he always caught donkeys. I guess that's what I get for fishing with men.
Freak Nasty. (stolen from MW)
log
tuna kahuna
What the F--- is that!
moby dick
linebacker
And last but not least, "Big Momma"
Bruiser. My personal fav.
When I fish with my daughter Tessa, she calls them, Mack Daddy ...the biggest of all fishes!
When I fish with my buddies, I call the biggest fish, the Jerk Master!
I tend to go with Gigantosaurus. Its a combination of Gigantic and the suffix that is used in relation to most dinosaurs, mix them together and thats what you get. That fish above would definitely fit the category of Gigantosaurus, I mean it even sort of looks like some sort of prehistoric fish.
I call big muskie puppy pounders, and big pike duckling destroyers. I've heard plenty of stories of muskies eating pets, and I've personally witnessed a pike gobble a duckling, right out of a row of them following momma.
Historical precedent is important. For many centuries on the west coast (the best coast) of British Columbia, BIG salmon are Tyee. Seems to apply to fish over 30lbs.
I used to use all the normal names, you know Bertha big sucker and all that. The first time a fish made such an impression that I coined a nick name was a large King Salmon in a Great Lakes tributary. That King (and all the others after him that weekend), left me shaking my head in awe of their power and saying one thing "this thing was like fighting a Bulldozer!". Any fish since then that can match the size and underwater pulling power of those Kings is called some derivative of Bulldozer such as "Dozer","Caterpillar" or "CAT". Hey, I work with machinery, it makes sense to me! (hope their is no copyright infringement)
Well, let's see....
Oprah or Rosie (as in O'Donnel). This is for a species where the females get the largest (like bass)
As a lifelong Red's fan, Big Klu (Ted Kluzweski) or a Dunner (Adam Dunn) for the big buck fish.
I would like to be able to say I call big fish "typical" or "average", but that would be akin to calling me "talented" or "honest".
Godzilla.
But I've already used it in print.
We tend to dub them "The Queen Mother", even though "The Queen Mother of all Bluegills" is a wee bit contradictory...
my dad always called them "Moby Trout"
I always thought "Jeez I... Holy... Didja see... WHOO!" works pretty well
of course, we call the ones we don't land "logs"
Wags, you're onto something there with "Rosie"... because that reminds me of one of my favorite AC/DC songs... you crank in that big fish and just say "Damn, Thats's a Whole Lotta Rosie..." Hmmmmmmmm.
Well it depends on the species of the fish we are trying to describe. Down here in Alabama we have some interesting terms for large fish of varying species, but many can't be repeated on here. Big speckled trout are called gators as most people know, and big reds are called bulls (so are big male bream). And one of the guys I know that is pretty red(redneck that is) would just say "that's a big @$$ sob aint it?"
I'm good with:
What the F--- is that!
Tim's mother
Bruiser
Beast
F---ing huge!
Monster
and
Pounder
Typically I refer to them as the one that just got away... I am not that lucky
Don't put to much thought into it, Alex.
He's a Tub.
Big female is a Cadillac Sow as in a big Red Snapper.
How 'bout that's a Clawhawkus (pronounced claw haw cuss) trout, bass, etc.
We called the 20 inch stocker I caught last year "spanky."
Dunno why.
How about Moby Dick? I tend to call anything big I get my hands on Big Dog or just a Load, but those are probably to generic.
Hey Alabama hunter, why the uhh... hate?
Sham WOW
Me and my friends use the term "Boss" for a big fish.
I've got a dry, sarcastic sense of humor so I tend to call little fish big fish names (6"er = monster, hog, ) and big fish little names (20"er = lil' smokie, baby, lil' guy).
King
Big mamba jamba
Here's one you haven't heard:
"Whoa - that's a nice Mild Cure!"
An old-time phrase from Southeast Alaska trollers. Refers to the biggest and best of the chinook salmon that were reserved by processors for light brining in barrels. I've never heard anybody under 70 years old use it, but each time I hear it, it always brings a smile.
Sperm whale...at least then men with impotence won't feel bad, haha.
Tackle Buster
Rod Bender
Tank
Dream Maker
Beast
Al Maguire used to rate players as Aircraft Carriers and Battleships, Battle Cruisers. If you think about it, fish kind of line up like battle groups in the river. You know the Carrier is surrounded by destroyers, destroyer escorts, etc. And after all the ships are involved in another kind of water sport. So I try to land my fly on one of them "bird farms" as we used to call them in the Navy.
One other possibility, I didn't see anyone use "Moose" that always worked for the biggest guy in school; should do ok for fish too.
Biggest "fish" I know in water, and perhaps years to come ...Michael Phelps!
Freak. The King. HRH. Shaqdaddy. McMansion. Roid Rage. LeBron Jr. BOTB. Huge-a-pottamus.Huge-a-saurus.
alex,
You just earned yourself a couple of months in the penalty box for #2 on your list.
One my my clients coined "Brutus" two seasons ago.
I'd call this a sporty coupe fish.
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff111/Panfisha/P3270194.jpg
Also if anyone remembers from a while back the old rod-in-mouth discussion. :)
I had my boys out tonight and put on a good old fashion butt kicking with the crappie. Finished it off with a 3 lb largemouth on the last cast. So for tonight the big one was called, "winner winner chicken dinner!"
Word to the wise, never challange an old man with live bait.
Troutasaurus (Brownasaurus, Bowasaurus, Cutasaurus,steelasaurus) Troutzilla (Brownzilla, Bowzilla, Cutzilla, Steelzilla) You get the point! It's just damn BIG
Free Willy.
a bigun
Nate
pronounced bih-gun
Nate
I do recall in my younger years when we had one on saying,"That's a Biggee!"
well i call a smallmouths= a splasher, i call bass big blubber, and trout a giant corneater
It's not too original, but we call it a "Lunker" or a "Really Nice One", as in "That's a really Nice one"
for what i think is a guy fish i usually call them heifers
female i call them sheilas (little australian there)
When I caught my first big steelhead he was a "Hoss". The next biggest fish was my big fish, and he didn't deserve a nickname for being such a memorable catch.
You only need to call it a "Buick" eg: It was bigger than grandpa's Buick!
Fishapotamus
Mephisto. It was the name of the demon in the Faust legend. Literal translation means "Not a lover of light". As in, a monster fish that hangs out in the deep dark crevices of the abyss, and only comes out every once in a while. But when he does, watch out.
Mr. Big Stuff
"Bigger than a Buick," I just heard that in a movie this week,for the first time.
either a slob or a slab it depends on the fish
My vote goes to Wags for "Rosie". That is hilarious.
"Blaming guns for Columbine is like blaming spoons for Rosie O'Donnell being fat!"
The RANCORRRRRR (from star wars, google it)
Chasing big cats we always called them stick-breakers, or catapotomus.
I fish alot of tournaments around FL, and one of our buddies that fishes the same tournys with us says all the time... We ask him how big the 'one that got away' or how big is your limit,[5 fish limit] and he will reply with...
oh, it was a 6,7,8,9 pounder ... maybe 10!
lmao, so now everytime I'm fishing with him and I got a fish on, I'll say dang! its a 7,8,9,10,11 pounder! [like really fast!]
I don't know, it just sounds hilarious if you heard the story. Sorry just a story not really a name for a big fish.
Herkimer
I've caught a lot of salmon the size of that trout and some much larger, but when I hook one, I always say "Come to papa, big boy."
"Dagwood," as in the big-shouldered sandwiches favored by the comic strip character. Shortens nicely to "Dag," like "Holy crap, that's a real Dag!"
beastly
beastly
Panfish are slabs, or porkchops. Bass are pigs. Northerns are gators, or logs. Waleyes are Walters. Who would have thought that you could catch a gator on a porkchop.
How about the "Mother-In-Law" of course mother can be substituted with sister if that fits the bill better.
Hubagigant.
I usually call my fish big when I catch a 12 inch or better rainbow.
The Hoss Boss!
How bout 'Big Kahuna'
hogalope
Post a Comment
Bruiser. My personal fav.
I tend to go with Gigantosaurus. Its a combination of Gigantic and the suffix that is used in relation to most dinosaurs, mix them together and thats what you get. That fish above would definitely fit the category of Gigantosaurus, I mean it even sort of looks like some sort of prehistoric fish.
We do this all the time, making up names for fish we catch....all large fish are "Frankenfish"
However, one can break it down even further:
Large female fish- Sweaty Betty
Large male fish- Bunyan
Jabba
i call big fish dinner just kiding icall them midknight snacks
My personal favorite is where Mark Zona called a large catfish a "Sea Donkey" on his show Saturday morning.
That's a "hoss"!
A "slabsided monster"
"Toad" gets used a lot. I've heard, "Too big for the pot!" Also "Hulk" - big shouldered.
My favorite is "Bruiser" - gets a laugh locally because of old Dick the Bruiser (the ex-wrestler) parodies on local radio. Got to do it in the right voice, though.
A "Wallop", a "gargantuan", a "beefeater", and my favorite a "fishamongus"- the species can actually replace fish like, "brownamongus" or "stripeamongus", works best with one syllable words.
My brother and I came up with a scale of names to rate fish from extremely small to extremely large a long time ago and have been using it ever since. Here it is smallest to largest.
1. What the f$%@ (as in you didn't even know you had a fish on until you cast again)
2. Dink
3. Squeezer
4. Regliar (as in regular ala my little cousin who couldn't quite say it right)
5. Big Boy
6. Donkey
7. Boheme (as in behemoth)
I always felt like there was one missing between Big Boy and Donkey, so if you have any suggestions, please let me know. This worked well for us, but I'm pretty sure my brother had the classifications mixed up because he always caught donkeys. I guess that's what I get for fishing with men.
Freak Nasty. (stolen from MW)
log
tuna kahuna
What the F--- is that!
moby dick
linebacker
And last but not least, "Big Momma"
When I fish with my daughter Tessa, she calls them, Mack Daddy ...the biggest of all fishes!
When I fish with my buddies, I call the biggest fish, the Jerk Master!
I call big muskie puppy pounders, and big pike duckling destroyers. I've heard plenty of stories of muskies eating pets, and I've personally witnessed a pike gobble a duckling, right out of a row of them following momma.
Historical precedent is important. For many centuries on the west coast (the best coast) of British Columbia, BIG salmon are Tyee. Seems to apply to fish over 30lbs.
I used to use all the normal names, you know Bertha big sucker and all that. The first time a fish made such an impression that I coined a nick name was a large King Salmon in a Great Lakes tributary. That King (and all the others after him that weekend), left me shaking my head in awe of their power and saying one thing "this thing was like fighting a Bulldozer!". Any fish since then that can match the size and underwater pulling power of those Kings is called some derivative of Bulldozer such as "Dozer","Caterpillar" or "CAT". Hey, I work with machinery, it makes sense to me! (hope their is no copyright infringement)
Well, let's see....
Oprah or Rosie (as in O'Donnel). This is for a species where the females get the largest (like bass)
As a lifelong Red's fan, Big Klu (Ted Kluzweski) or a Dunner (Adam Dunn) for the big buck fish.
I would like to be able to say I call big fish "typical" or "average", but that would be akin to calling me "talented" or "honest".
Godzilla.
But I've already used it in print.
We tend to dub them "The Queen Mother", even though "The Queen Mother of all Bluegills" is a wee bit contradictory...
my dad always called them "Moby Trout"
I always thought "Jeez I... Holy... Didja see... WHOO!" works pretty well
of course, we call the ones we don't land "logs"
Wags, you're onto something there with "Rosie"... because that reminds me of one of my favorite AC/DC songs... you crank in that big fish and just say "Damn, Thats's a Whole Lotta Rosie..." Hmmmmmmmm.
I'm good with:
What the F--- is that!
Tim's mother
Bruiser
Beast
F---ing huge!
Monster
and
Pounder
alex,
You just earned yourself a couple of months in the penalty box for #2 on your list.
Herkimer
SHE LET IT GO!!!! that would feed me for a whole week.
my dad and i call small fish mineys big fish
look at my profile and rate me
and look at my age
Typically I refer to them as the one that just got away... I am not that lucky
He's a Tub.
Big female is a Cadillac Sow as in a big Red Snapper.
How 'bout that's a Clawhawkus (pronounced claw haw cuss) trout, bass, etc.
We called the 20 inch stocker I caught last year "spanky."
Dunno why.
How about Moby Dick? I tend to call anything big I get my hands on Big Dog or just a Load, but those are probably to generic.
Hey Alabama hunter, why the uhh... hate?
Sham WOW
Me and my friends use the term "Boss" for a big fish.
I've got a dry, sarcastic sense of humor so I tend to call little fish big fish names (6"er = monster, hog, ) and big fish little names (20"er = lil' smokie, baby, lil' guy).
King
Big mamba jamba
Here's one you haven't heard:
"Whoa - that's a nice Mild Cure!"
An old-time phrase from Southeast Alaska trollers. Refers to the biggest and best of the chinook salmon that were reserved by processors for light brining in barrels. I've never heard anybody under 70 years old use it, but each time I hear it, it always brings a smile.
Sperm whale...at least then men with impotence won't feel bad, haha.
Tackle Buster
Rod Bender
Tank
Dream Maker
Beast
Al Maguire used to rate players as Aircraft Carriers and Battleships, Battle Cruisers. If you think about it, fish kind of line up like battle groups in the river. You know the Carrier is surrounded by destroyers, destroyer escorts, etc. And after all the ships are involved in another kind of water sport. So I try to land my fly on one of them "bird farms" as we used to call them in the Navy.
One other possibility, I didn't see anyone use "Moose" that always worked for the biggest guy in school; should do ok for fish too.
Biggest "fish" I know in water, and perhaps years to come ...Michael Phelps!
Freak. The King. HRH. Shaqdaddy. McMansion. Roid Rage. LeBron Jr. BOTB. Huge-a-pottamus.Huge-a-saurus.
One my my clients coined "Brutus" two seasons ago.
I'd call this a sporty coupe fish.
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff111/Panfisha/P3270194.jpg
Also if anyone remembers from a while back the old rod-in-mouth discussion. :)
I had my boys out tonight and put on a good old fashion butt kicking with the crappie. Finished it off with a 3 lb largemouth on the last cast. So for tonight the big one was called, "winner winner chicken dinner!"
Word to the wise, never challange an old man with live bait.
Troutasaurus (Brownasaurus, Bowasaurus, Cutasaurus,steelasaurus) Troutzilla (Brownzilla, Bowzilla, Cutzilla, Steelzilla) You get the point! It's just damn BIG
Free Willy.
a bigun
Nate
pronounced bih-gun
Nate
I do recall in my younger years when we had one on saying,"That's a Biggee!"
well i call a smallmouths= a splasher, i call bass big blubber, and trout a giant corneater
It's not too original, but we call it a "Lunker" or a "Really Nice One", as in "That's a really Nice one"
for what i think is a guy fish i usually call them heifers
female i call them sheilas (little australian there)
When I caught my first big steelhead he was a "Hoss". The next biggest fish was my big fish, and he didn't deserve a nickname for being such a memorable catch.
You only need to call it a "Buick" eg: It was bigger than grandpa's Buick!
Fishapotamus
Mephisto. It was the name of the demon in the Faust legend. Literal translation means "Not a lover of light". As in, a monster fish that hangs out in the deep dark crevices of the abyss, and only comes out every once in a while. But when he does, watch out.
Mr. Big Stuff
"Bigger than a Buick," I just heard that in a movie this week,for the first time.
either a slob or a slab it depends on the fish
My vote goes to Wags for "Rosie". That is hilarious.
"Blaming guns for Columbine is like blaming spoons for Rosie O'Donnell being fat!"
The RANCORRRRRR (from star wars, google it)
Chasing big cats we always called them stick-breakers, or catapotomus.
I fish alot of tournaments around FL, and one of our buddies that fishes the same tournys with us says all the time... We ask him how big the 'one that got away' or how big is your limit,[5 fish limit] and he will reply with...
oh, it was a 6,7,8,9 pounder ... maybe 10!
lmao, so now everytime I'm fishing with him and I got a fish on, I'll say dang! its a 7,8,9,10,11 pounder! [like really fast!]
I don't know, it just sounds hilarious if you heard the story. Sorry just a story not really a name for a big fish.
I've caught a lot of salmon the size of that trout and some much larger, but when I hook one, I always say "Come to papa, big boy."
"Dagwood," as in the big-shouldered sandwiches favored by the comic strip character. Shortens nicely to "Dag," like "Holy crap, that's a real Dag!"
beastly
beastly
Panfish are slabs, or porkchops. Bass are pigs. Northerns are gators, or logs. Waleyes are Walters. Who would have thought that you could catch a gator on a porkchop.
How about the "Mother-In-Law" of course mother can be substituted with sister if that fits the bill better.
Hubagigant.
I usually call my fish big when I catch a 12 inch or better rainbow.
The Hoss Boss!
How bout 'Big Kahuna'
Well it depends on the species of the fish we are trying to describe. Down here in Alabama we have some interesting terms for large fish of varying species, but many can't be repeated on here. Big speckled trout are called gators as most people know, and big reds are called bulls (so are big male bream). And one of the guys I know that is pretty red(redneck that is) would just say "that's a big @$$ sob aint it?"
hogalope
Don't put to much thought into it, Alex.
Post a Comment