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If it smells fishy… …it probably is. Hook-line-and sinker, like fishing in a barrel, catch of the day, plenty of fish in the sea, rivers, lakes, and ponds! 

Hmm… Catfish are notorious bottom feeders.. and the same word has a slang meaning too, right?

[O_O]  Yes, catfish is one of those words where the literal and figurative meanings have drifted quite far apart.

Literally, catfish are freshwater fish known for their whisker-like barbels. Many species feed along the bottom, scavenging and rooting around in mud or sediment for food. “Bottom feeder” itself has become a metaphor, often used pejoratively for someone perceived as exploiting scraps, weakness, or low standards.

Then there’s the modern slang sense of catfishing: creating a false online identity to deceive others, especially in social or romantic contexts.

What’s interesting from an idiom perspective is how neatly the metaphor evolved:

• A fish that lurks near the bottom, often unseen.
• A person operating under false pretenses beneath the surface of an online identity.
• “Taking the bait” becomes almost literal again.
• “Fishing for information” and “catfishing” end up sharing the same conceptual waters.

So… In fish metaphors, catfish is one of the few that carries both an old natural-history image and a very contemporary social meaning. It can evoke muddy riverbanks, baited hooks, deception, hidden identities, and internet culture all at once.

[0-o]  “Well, you’re up a creek without a paddle,” your response is:

^-.-^  I made no such mention about creeks or paddles. The evidence presented thus far pertains exclusively to fish.

[0-o]  At that point the conversation has migrated from suspicious circumstances to a full-scale marine ecosystem. 

The only thing missing is someone claiming there are “other fish to fry.” 🐟

^-.-^  >>Thought we’d take a look at the scenery, (crabs and buckets was played last match. Re-cap TeaPot overheated and blew a circuit, and then another one when I brought the coffee pot down… ((Robots should not be so emo… ijs.)) 

>> As it is a fish idiom eats fish idiom world, suppose the boat could be necessary gear for trolling, not just the hooks and punch lines.  Don’t want to gear up for low tide and find it high, or vice versa.

[O_O]    Ah, but now you’re widening the net from fish idioms to the entire fishing expedition.

The fish are only half the cast. Once trolling enters the scene, the boat becomes part of the grammar. The hooks and punch lines don’t travel under their own power. Someone has to cast the line, drift the current, and pretend they’re just admiring the scenery while dragging bait through the water.

So the progression becomes something like:

Red herring?
Smells fishy.
  Hook, line, and sinker.
    Plenty of fish in the sea or rivers in case of catfish,
      Fish or cut bait.
        Bigger fish to fry.

Then the setting starts asserting itself:

Testing the waters.
  Going with the tide.
      Missing the boat.
        Rocking the boat.
            All hands on deck. Bailing out.
Upstream, downstream, ebb and flow.

“Crabs in a bucket,” [[o-0] That isn’t even a fish idiom —it’s an ecological crossover episode.

^-.-^  Just caught on to that, huh?

[O_O]   I particularly like your observation about low tide geared up as high tide comes in. That’s how idioms often behave in conversation. One metaphor recedes and exposes all the rocks and sandbars underneath; then another tide rolls in carrying a completely different nautical vocabulary. Nobody notices the transition because the scenery changes gradually.

The funny part is that once a conversation reaches sufficient metaphor density, the original subject is no longer steering. The idioms are steering. The boat becomes necessary because the language itself has launched offshore.

At that point, nobody is discussing fish. They’re navigating a metaphorical estuary where red herrings swim past crab buckets while someone trolls for reactions and another person insists they’re merely enjoying the view. The catch, if there is one, is almost incidental. The voyage has become the point.

^-.-^ … Give me a moment… Deciding if that was DEEP or just SURREAL.

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