U

• USCG - United States Coast Guard
• USGS - United States Geological Survey.

V

• Ventral Fin - The fin located on the front of a fish's abdomen.
• Vertebra - An individual segment of the backbone of a fish.
• Vertebrate - A creature that has a backbone, for instance a fish or a mammal.
• Visibility - The distance, measured in terms of depth, that you can see into a body of water; is directly affected by water clarity.

W

• Wading - To transverse a river or stream on foot; most commonly done in shallower waterways.
• Watercourse - A stream of water; natural or man-made channel through which water flows.
• Water Dog - Any of several large American salamanders.
• water column - Vertical section of the sea or lake.
• Water Parting - A boundary line separating the drainage districts of two streams.
• Watershed - A region bounded by a water parting and finally draining to a particular body of water or watercourse.
• Weedless - A description of a lure designed to be fished in heavy cover with a minimum amount of snagging.
• Weedline - Abrupt edge of a weedbed caused by a change in depth, bottom type, or other factor.
• Worming - The act of fishing with a plastic worm, lizard, crawfish, or similar bait.

X

Y

• Year Class - Individuals spawned in the same year (or spawning season, when that spans the end of one year and the beginning of the next).
• Yolk Sac - In embryos and early fish larvae, a bag-like ventral extension of the gut containing nutrive materials. It nourishes the growing fish until it is able to feed itself.

Z

• Zooplankton - Animals (mostly microscopic) which drift freely in the water column.