28 Words You Should Learn Before Fishing in Louisiana

The first time I went fishing down in the Louisiana, I wasn’t at all prepared for the deluge of new words that would fall upon my ears. It was like I was visiting another country where everyone spoke an entirely different language. For example:

“Look out yonder in my bateau and find youself one of dem poles what’s got a red and sparkletail gigue on the ling,” my host said as we pulled up to the dock. “If we can find us a bande of hungry sac-à-lait, dey’ll bite dat fo’ sho.”

I had not a clue what he said and just stood there, dumbfounded.

As Louisiana is a favored destination for many non-resident fishermen, I thought I might save some of these out-of-state “pêcheurs” from the same embarassment by sharing a few Cajun words and phrases likely to be heard on a Bayou State fishing trip. If you spend some time studying them, maybe you’ll be able to interpret what is being said. Maybe.

• appât (pronounced ah-PAH): bait. Example: “Worms are the best appât for sunfish.”
• au large (O LARGE): offshore. “If you want to catch a big tuna, you’ll have to go fishing au large.”
• bande (BAHND): school (of fish). “Sea birds often are seen diving around bandes of redfish.”
• bateau (BAH-toe): small boat. “Let’s see if we can borrow Boudreaux’s bateau to go fishing in.”
• bouchon (BOO-shonh, leave the “n” weak): a cork or bobber used for fishing. “Using a bouchon lets you can see when a fish nibbles your appât.”
• chevrette (SHEV-ret): shrimp. “A fresh chevrette will catch almost any kind of saltwater sportfish.”
• chinquapin (CHINK-uh-pin): redear sunfish. “The chinquapins are on their beds in False River Lake.”
• choupique (shoe-PICK): bowfin. Also known as a grinnel, dogfish or mudfish. “A choupique’s sharp teeth will bite right through your line.”
• criquet (kree-KET): cricket. “Let’s go to the bait shop to get some criquets before we leave.”
• gigue (ZHEEG): jig (the lure). “The sac-à-lait were hitting green-and-black gigues this weekend.”
• goujon (GOO-zhon): a flathead catfish. “Johnny caught a 50-pound goujon last night.”
• hameçon (ahm-SOHN): fish hook. “Use a strong hameçon if you want to catch those big goujons.”
• lac (LACK): lake. “Our fishing camp is on the lower end of the lac.”
• ling (LING): from the French word ligne, which means line. In Cajun French, it usually refers to trotlines, but sometimes fishing line. Also a nickname for the cobia because of the white lines on the fish’s sides. “We should check those lings to see if we caught any fish.” Or “Wow, that’s a big ling!”
• moustique (moo-STEEK): mosquito. “The moustiques will eat you alive down by the bayou.”
• patassa (pa-TASS-ah): panfish. “A mess of patassa will make a good meal tonight.”
• pêcheur (peh-SHUR): fisherman, angler. “The pêcheur sat beneath a shade tree while waiting for a bite.”
• perche (PAIR-sh): bass or trout. “That lac has good fishing for perche.”
• pirogue (PEE-row): a long narrow boat used to maneuver through the Louisiana swamplands. “Jason used his pirogue to fish around the cypress trees.”
• plie (PLEH): flounder. “In Big Lake, we catch lots of poisson rouge and plies.”
• plomb (PLUM): a lead sinker. “When fishing for Mississippi River catfish, you need a heavy plomb to carry your bait down to the bottom.”
• poisson armé (pwah-SON ARMAY): gar fish. “The poisson armé has hard interlocking scales that cover it like a coat of armor.”
• poisson rouge (pwah-SON rooge): redfish. “Jill caught her biggest poisson rouge ever last weekend—a 40-pounder."
• pont (POHN): bridge. “The water downstream from the pont was a hotspot for big speckled trout.”
• raquin (rah-CAN): shark. “Matt thought he had hooked a big poisson rouge, but it was a 4-foot raquin.”
• rig d’huile (rig duh wheel): oil rig. “We caught a cooler full of triggerfish under the rig d’huile.” 
• sac-à-lait  (SOCK-uh-lay): crappie. “We caught 30 sac-á-lait around that one sunken treetop.”
• truite (TREET): minnow. “Some call them cocahoe minnows, but in Louisiana, they are truites de cocahoe.”

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