Can anyone tell me exactly what the hell this phrase is supposed to mean? I know in general what it means, but it baffles me that the only people who use this term are people who don't fish!!! I was jigging for smelt with my kids and some woman asked me what I was fishing for and she immediately shot back with, "oh...are they running". I felt like saying "no they are swimming" or "no, but I just feel like sitting here with a fishing rod for no good reason". Stripers..."are they runnin'?", Bluefish..."are they runnin'?", is anyone else sick of this phrase or I am I just a little too sensitive? To me wouldn't the fish be running either when they arrive or when they leave? Yet I hear this all the time, and when you boil it all down, exactly what response do these people expect to hear to this question?