Fish or cut bait: meaning?

Factual Questions
1

“Fish or cut bait”

It, allegedly, means to make a decision. But what’s implied here?

“Fish” is pretty clear: the act of trying to catch fish. But I’ve read in some places that “cut bait” refers to the act of preparing bait before, or instead of, fishing (i.e., cutting up fish into smaller pieces to use as bait) and in others that it refers to cutting the bait loose when the fishing’s no longer any good (i.e., cutting your fishing lines).

Which is it? Does it just mean to choose between two alternatives, both necessary to an overall activity, or, rather, to choose between continuing something and giving up that activity and going home (i.e., a choice between continuing or stopping and cutting your losses; knowing when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em)?

2

IMO
Either fish, get to work, or cut bait,get to work.

at least thats what I’ve understood it to mean.

3

I’ve always understood it to mean the second, in sort of variant of another phrase:

“Either sh*t or get off the pot”

meaning, make up your mind: do what you need to do or get out of the way so someone else can do the work.

4

Screech!!! ROFLMAO

I think he said it best.
Shit or get off the pot.
(Though I do NOT recommend this for wedding proposals)

Either Jump in and do the damn fishing, or get your booty back there and cut bait to help out the people who are doing all the work.

5

I have read that cut bait refers to stopping fishing. Cutting bait refers to cutting the bait of the line and heading in. So the meaning of the phrase is decide whether to continue or quit.

6

I figured that it meant:

Fish: Be a leader in the work that needs to be done.
Or Cut Bait: Support those who are leading.

Either way…you’re workin’.

7

Meaning: Focus on what you are doing or stop doing it altogether.
Example: You’ve been sliding along getting "D"s in school for 2 years. It’s time to fish or cut bait.
Origin: The phrase can be confusing if one thinks of bait that requires cutting up. In fact fisherman often use cut up pieces of fish as bait.
Fisherman also use live bait. Cutting bait in this case means to cut loose your bait allowing it to swim free. If you are done fishing, you let the bait go free.

“Fish or cut bait” is a phrase that one fisherman might say to another who is spending too much time talking and not enough time fishing.
Cool Site for Finding Phrase Origins/Meanings

8

[screeching halt]

she said it best
[/screeching halt]

9

I usually phrase it “Shut up and fish.” My neighbor has that on a tee shirt…

10

I believe the phrase comes from commercial fishing where the preferable (and less smelly) job is to is to be at the rail and actually fishing. However, if someone hired to fish does not maintain the pace it is (was) necessary to do to make a profit he was urged to either “fish or cut bait,” and not take up space that could be earning the boat money.

11

Man, anybody ever wonder where people get their usernames from?

12

Hey, it looks like one of our members found the answer! Way to go, Gene!

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Mavens’ Word of the Day: June 12, 2001

Today’s Word: <<<fish or cut bait>>>
Gene Dillenburg wrote:
There’s a bit of a debate over the meaning of the phrase fish or cut bait. Some feel it’s a general exhortation to “get to work”: get busy fishing, or get busy preparing bait. Others–and I tend to side with them–feel it means “get serious or get out”: get busy fishing, or step aside. This allegedly stems from the practice of cutting one’s lines and letting the bait go–“cutting bait”–at the end of the day. The phrase of course has had broad metaphorical use among non-fishermen (myself included). Can you help clarify?

Answer from Carol:

The phrase fish or cut bait is an Americanism dating from the 1800s, first used among fishermen. The Dictionary of Americanisms defines it as ‘to decide one way or the other’. The earliest citations in this dictionary refer to legislators making choices as to which way to vote. For example, in 1876, Illinois Congressman Joseph G. Cannon called for a vote in the House of Representatives to adopt a bill legalizing the silver dollar: “Now I want you gentlemen on the other side of the House to ‘fish or cut bait.’”

I do think that one of the basic meanings is ‘to make a choice; choose a course of action’. But the phrase has also come to mean ‘to decide whether to participate in or abandon an activity’. The implication is that you should go with your choice, because it’s important to make a contribution. But if you choose to do nothing or if you’re not up to the job, you should step aside and give someone else a chance.

In the context of fishing, the literal meaning of fish or cut bait involves making a choice as to which task suits you best. Catching fish and cutting bait are separate activities. In commercial fishing, both tasks are usually considered to be of equal value. Obviously commercial fishing is hard work and can be risky. On the other hand, it requires a certain amount of skill to cut the dead bait in such a way as to make it look natural-there are a variety of cutting styles to make a dead fish move in a suitable manner when cast. (One suggestion I found for catching catfish: cut the head off the bait fish and let the entrails hang out of the neck!). In sport fishing, it’s probably easier to wile away the hours waiting for the fish to bite, leaving the cutting of bait to the more industrious person. But some sport fishermen think that cutting bait is the more menial task.

Since fish or cut bait has come to include the possibility of abandoning the activity altogether, some have interpreted “cut bait” to mean ‘to cut the bait off the fishing line before going home’. This is probably the wrong interpretation, because, as I’ve described, “cut bait” means ‘to cut up dead bait’.

I’m sure many people favor the vulgar synonymous phrase (euphemized as “poop or get off the pot”), which is surprisingly recent, dating from the 1940s.

Carol

13

Azura Borealis wrote:

A game warden, who enjoyed fishing, asked a local fisherman to take him along on his next trip. They got out on the lake in the fisherman’s boat, and the fisherman opened up his tackle box, pulled out a stick of dynamite, lit the fuse, threw it in the water, and then scooped up the stunned fish with a net.

As the fisherman was pulling out the next stick of dynamite, the warden started yelling “I can’t believe you did that! Don’t you know that’s illegal? What do you think you’re doing?”

The fisherman lit the fuse, handed the dynamite to the warden, and asked “You gonna talk or you gonna fish?”

14

Carol’s answer would carry more weight had she not contradicted herself by saying that “fish or cut bait” was synonymous with “shit or get off the pot”. The literal and metaphorical meaning of the latter is clear. Do what you came to do or quit trying. I have never heard “fish or cut bait” used to mean anything else but that.

Additionally her choice of historical citation is evidence against her thesis. Joseph Cannon apparently used it to mean “vote on the bill or stop talking about it”. I find it hard to believe that he could have meant “vote one way or another, just make yourself useful.” That barely makes sense.