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Lake classifications
Broad categories of lake types; eg. " oligotrophic, " " mesotrophic, " and " eutrophic "

Lake zones
Specific water zones; e.g., shallow water. water

Lamprey
A small, boneless, eel-like jawless fish, found in clear, fast streams. It lives as a parasite and scavenger and is highly prized as a livebait or deadbait for chub and pike.

Landing net
An essential aid for landing fish too big to be lifted straight from the water, a landing net comprises a round or triangular mesh head, and a one-piece, take-apart or telescopic handle.

Landlocked fish
Any species that is limited to a body of fresh water without access to the sea

Lateral line
A series of sensory pores opening to the exterior along the side of fish.

Laying on
Float fishing overdepth, usually with a top-and-bottom float, to present a still bait on the bottom.

Leader
The transition between the line and the lure, often made of heavier line, lighter line, or wire

Leather carp
A scaleless variant of the common carp.

Leem (or leam)
See 'Damp leem', 'Dry leem'.

Legering
Using a rig incorporating a weight, such as an Arlesey bomb, and no float, to present a still bait on the bottom.

Leger beads
A leger bead is a small plastic bead that runs on the main line. It has a small side-eye to which the swimfeeder, weight or link is attached.

Leger booms
A short, hollow plastic tube, used in leger rigs, through which the line is threaded. They are most common in anti-tangle rigs.

Leger stops
A small plastic sleeve held in place on the line with a removable plastic peg, used to stop a sliding leger weight or swimfeeder the required distance from the hook.

Length Frequency
An arrangement of recorded lengths which indicates the number of times each length or length interval occurs.

Lentic
Characterizing aquatic communities found in standing water.

Lift bite
A bite which shows up on a float by the float rising up in the water. It is caused by the biting fish taking the weight of some of the shot on the line.

Lift method
A method devised primarily for stillwater tench, featuring a quill float attached bottom-end only, and all the shot close to the hook, which is fished on the bottom. When a fish picks up the bait and shot you get a clear lift bite.

Light conditions
Refers to intensity of daylight; e.g., cloudy day -- low light conditions, sunny day -- high light conditions

Lignum-stemmed stick float
A stick float with a stem made of lignum, a heavy wood that sinks in water. This produces a stable float that can be cast farther, and held back harder, than a cane-stemmed stick float, but not one suitable for fishing on the drop.

Limnetic
Referring to a standing water Ecosystem (ponds or lakes).

Limnology
The study of lakes, ponds and streams.

Line bite
A line bite, or liner, is a false bite from a fish swimming into or close to the line. Line bites are commonest when legering for bream and float fishing for small carp.

Line clip
A small clip found on the spools of many fixed-spool reels, designed to retain the end of the line when not in use. When legering or float fishing at long range for fish that do not fight hard, such as bream and roach, clipping the line up after casting to the required spot at the start ensures that you cast the right distance every time throughout the rest of the session.

Line floatant
A liquid specially designed for spraying on to line to make it float.

Line greaser
A plastic, grease-filled device that clips on to the rod. Winding the line through the greaser coats it in grease to make it float.

Line standards
Fishing line is often rated by pound-test, which refers to the amount of steady strain a line can withstand; other factors are limpness, shock and abrasion resistance, diameter, and elasticity

Line threader
A needle-like tool to make it easier to thread the line through rod rings. It is particularly useful when tackling up in the dark, and in cold weather when fingers are numb.

Link legering
Quivertipping close to the bank, downstream of your rod, in running water, with light tackle and a small Arlesey bomb or one or two swan shot on a link (a length of line).

Lipless Crankbait
As the name implies this is a crankbait that doesn't have a lip or bill. They are designed with a sloping front and large treble hooks to be retrieved through a variety of cover. They range in sizes from about 1/8 ounce to one ounce. They are usually worked around weeds, rocks and other types of shallow cover

Liquidized bread
Fresh white bread chopped into fine particles in a food processor, to use as groundbait when fishing punched bread.

Little and often
A style of feeding whereby a small amount of feed is thrown into the swim at regular and frequent intervals.

Littoral zone
The region of land bordering a body of water.

Live box
A container filled with water and often equipped with accessories such as aeration equipment that is used to hold and transport live fish.

Livebait
A live fish that is used as a hookbait, mainly by anglers fishing for pike, zander, perch or catfish.

Livebait bucket
A water-filled container, usually with an aerator attached, for storing livebaits.

Loach
There are two species of loach in British waters - the stone loach and the spined loach. They feed on the bottom and grow to around 56-85g (2-3oz).

Loaded float
Any float, but usually a waggler, in which some or even all of the shot capacity is built into the base in the form of brass or lead rod.

Lobworm
A large garden worm that can be used whole or in sections on the hook, especially for eels, chub, tench, carp, barbel, bream and roach, or chopped up for use as feed.

Locking shot
Two or more split shot used to lock a waggler on to the line, to hold the float in place and provide casting weight.

Logbook
A diary in which to keep a record of fishing trips, recording such data as baits and methods used, number and size of fish caught, and weather and water conditions.

Long pole
Available in lengths up to 16m (52ft), in 1-1.5m (3-5ft) sections, long poles are mainly used in match fishing, to fish light float rigs, usually on a short line. This can allow greater speed and accuracy, better bait presentation and a higher proportion of bites hit, than fishing a running line with a rod and reel. The top sections of the pole are usually fitted with shock-absorbing elastic, for playing fish.

Long-lining
Fishing a long pole to hand, with a rig the same length as the pole. Long-lining is mainly used for trotting.

Long-shanked hook
A hook with a long shank makes unhooking small-mouthed fish easier when fishing with very small hooks (sizes 20 and below).

Long-term potential catch
The largest annual harvest in weight that could be removed from a fish stock year after year, under existing environmental conditions. This can be estimated in various ways, from maximum values from production models to average observed catches over a suitable period of years.

Loop method
Fishing with a swimfeeder sliding on a 15-30cm (6-12in) loop tied in the main line above the hooklength. The rig ensures tangle-free casting, and is most often used on running water in conjunction with the bow method.

Loop-to-loop knot
A simple and strong way of joining two lengths of line, particularly the hooklength and reel line.

Loosefeeding
Throwing samples of bait into your swim, by hand or by catapult, without the aid of groundbait, to attract fish and induce them to feed. Loosefeeding is usually best done on a little-and-often basis.

Loosefeed catapult
A catapult for loosefeeding baits such as maggots, casters and hemp. Models with different strength elastics and different-sized pouches or cups are available.

Lotic
Meaning or regarding things in running water.

Luncheon meat
A widely used bait, especially for carp, barbel, tench and chub, luncheon meat can be used straight from the tin or fried, coloured and flavoured.

Lunker
A slang term used to describe a very large bass.