H

Habitat
Lhe location where a plant or animal species lives as determined by environmental factors

Hair rig
A rig originally devised to fool wary carp, but now widely used for big fish of other species, a hair rig comprises a bait, usually a boilie, mounted on a short plastic or nylon 'hair' attached to the shank or eye of a bare hook.

Half bloodknot
The simplest and most widely used knot for tying line to eyed hooks, swivels and Arlesey bombs.

Hatch box
A device used to incubate relatively small numbers of fish eggs. The hatch box is usually located adjacent to a stream, which supplies the box with water.

Hawg/hog
A hawg is a term used for a bragging size bass. For Smallmouth that would be over 5 pounds

Headwater
Small stream which is the beginning of a river system hen a spawning female

Healthy stock
A stock of fish experiencing production levels consistent with its available habitat and within the natural variations in survival for the stock.

Helicopter rig
A bolt rig devised by carp anglers for tangle-free long-distance casting, comprising a weight fixed to the end of the line, and a hooklength tied to a swivel trapped between two beads fixed immediately above the weight, so the hooklength can rotate 360 degrees. It is based on a simple fixed paternoster.

Hempseed
Boiled and simmered until white shoots sprout from the grains, hempseed is a widely used hookbait for roach, and loosefeed for roach, carp, tench and barbel.

Heterocercal Said of the tail when the vertebrae curve upward into the upper lobe of the caudal fin.

Hi-tech lines
Also known as prestretched or low-diameter lines, hi-tech nylon monofilament lines offer less stretch but more strength for a given diameter than ordinary line. They are mainly used for hooklengths in pole fishing, where the pole elastic compensates for their lack of stretch.

holding area
Any specific position in a body of water to which fish are attracted because of its cover or food

Holding back
Trotting a float at a slower speed than the surface current, so that the hookbait goes down the swim at the same speed as, or slower than, the current at the bottom of the river.

Home range
The area that an animal traverses in the scope of normal activities. This is not to be confused with territory, which is the area an animal defends.

Homing
The ability of a salmon or steelhead to correctly identify and return to their natal stream, following maturation at sea.

Honey Hole
A slang term used to describe a specific hole or an area containing big fish and/or a high number of fish.

Hook wallet
A plastic wallet with numerous sections for storing spare spade-end hooks tied to nylon.

Hooklength
The length of line, usually of a lower breaking strain than the main line, that joins the hook to the main line.

Hook tyer
A small, hand-held device for tying line to spade-end hooks, a hook tyer is particularly useful for tiny hooks.

Hooklength stiffener
A gel sometimes used by carp anglers to stiffen part or the whole of soft-braided hooklengths.

Hook-to-nylon
A spade-end hook sold ready-tied to a hooklength, with a loop ready-tied in the other end.

Hooks
Hooks used in coarse fishing range from size 2, the biggest, to size 28, the smallest. Fine wire, medium wire and forged hooks are available, with or without barbs, and with spade ends or eyes, and short or long shanks.

Hot-shotting
A presentation whereby a wobbling plug is fished in a river directly downstream from a boat or wading angler

Husbandry
The scientific management and control of the hatchery environment for the production of fish or wildlife.

Hybrid
A cross between two species of fish. The commonest are roach/bream hybrids, once known as Pomeranian bream and thought to be a separate species.

Hydrology (Hydrologic)
The science that deals with the distribution, properties, and circulation of water on land surface, in the soil, underlying rocks, and in the atmosphere.