Skimmers

[laguna]

A young man has just started fishing and apparently he overheard another angler shout "another f*king skimmer"! as he took a walk around the lake.

Paging through his book for an identification asked; "Chris what is a Skimmer? it's not in my book"

"A young bream" said I, then proceeded to tell him they should nay shouldn't be thrown back in and 'skimmed' across the water... he should have respect for all species - even the snotty ones!

Which leads me to the question of when did we start calling them skimmers?
The young man had with him, a tattered book of British freshwater fishes given to him by his grandad C.1960 there was no mention of 'skimmers' and I certainly don't remember hearing the term when I was a boy either. I first heard it maybe in the early 80's or thereabouts.

Anyone?

 

[thecrow]

I think a "nobody knows" board from QI might be needed on this one

 

[markcw]

I think the name stems from the way they came in when caught due to their shape, skimming across the surface,
I have either heard this or read it somewhere.

 

[Mark Wintle]

I had a quick look in some of my earlier match fishing books and certainly references to 'skimmers' in 1972 though Ivan Marks didn't use the term in 1975.

 

[nottskev]

They were "skimmers" on the local cut in the early 1970's. I assumed, rightly or wrongly, because of the flat shape like skimming stones. There were skimmers until they grew a bit and got a touch of colour. It's odd how anglers on today's overstocked commercials refer to 2 and 3lb fish as "skimmers". But then, a lot of portions are super-sized these days.

 

[tigger]

I think the name stems from the way they came in when caught due to their shape, skimming across the surface,
I have either heard this or read it somewhere.

I remember this topic coming up years ago on another forum. I said I thought a skimmer was a small bream but it seemed from other replies that any small fish that skitters across the surface as it's wound in is classed as a skimmer.

 

[bracket]

I also remember this coming up on another forum. I made a reply, not sure it's the definitive answer but it seems reasonable to me. In the late 1970's there was a bream explosion on the Trent. At first they were a pest, all eyes and not much else. Razor Blades we called them. After a few seasons they were coming in around six to twelve ounce and forming the bulk of many match weights. In those days most match anglers float fished stood up. To save prattling about with the landing net you would crank the fish in until you had a rods length of line out plus a bit, then "skim" the fish in across the surface until you could bend and pick it out of the water, trap the rod under your right arm unhook and into the keepnet. Most of the catch would be bream that skimmed. Hence Skimmers. QED, that's my take on it. Pete.

 

[Philip]

I thought I read somewhere that the term was mentioned in a book about the Thames back in the 60s but I cant recall the details.

 

[Mark Wintle]

I thought I read somewhere that the term was mentioned in a book about the Thames back in the 60s but I cant recall the details.

Bill Taylor writes of Skimmers in his 1966 book, Bream Fever which is mainly about the Thames.

 

[iain t]

When do skimmers get classed as Bream? Is it size or weight?

 

[Mark Wintle]

When do skimmers get classed as bream? Is it size or weight?

Bill Taylor who was Oxford-based seems to have picked up the term from fishing with some Midlands anglers, including Billy lane and Peter Tombleson. Back then skimmers were referred to as 'skimmer bream' and seems to be fish up to about 8oz or 10". By the time time a bream is a pound it starts to get a bit of bronze, at least in rivers as opposed to modern highly-coloured commercials. Razor blades were very small bream, fish of just 3 to 5".

 

[sam vimes]

When do skimmers get classed as Bream? Is it size or weight?

It rather depends on who you are talking to. My own definition is a bream of no more than a pound would get called a skimmer. Anything bigger just being a bream. However, my interpretation originates with the older match anglers that I'd have first heard the term from.

I've heard plenty of anglers, mostly commie anglers, carpers and specialists referring to much bigger bream as skimmers. I can only think that it's an evolution of the term, perhaps based on the stronger gear that is likely to be used by them. Perhaps a 1, 2 or even 3lb bream really is a skimmer to them. It was unlikely to be genuinely considered as such by someone using a light match/canal rod with hooklength around a pound or so.

 

[mikench]

I defy anyone to skim a bream regardless of size! I never use the term out of respect for the noble bream; well hardly ever!

 

[laguna]

Bill Taylor writes of Skimmers in his 1966 book, Bream Fever which is mainly about the Thames.

Thanks Mark, It could well be the earliest - 2 years even before I took up fishing!

skimming' bream is well understood if anyone has ever skimmed stones.... also the term 'tail walking' when referring to pike and marlin!

 

[hawb811]

also known as tinplate bream

 

[bracket]

also known as tinplate bream

That would be as opposed to the more mature "Dustbin Lids" then? Pete.

 

[thecrow]

Skimmers are a good pike bait but are terrible to cast because of their shape they seem to wobble through the air.

 

[Mark Wintle]

also known as tinplate bream

I'd heard the expression 'tinplates' and did a bit of checking and my old reference books state that tinplates are silver bream as opposed to immature bronze bream (the skimmers referred to in this tread). Another name for silver bream was 'bream-flats'. Reference Marshall Hardy and Faddist.

 

[fred hall]

A few years back when I ran matches for a local club "Fred" skimmers gained some notoriety. The piece de resistance was when my 3 Fred skimmers beat the next peg who had 5 "bream". I seem to recall that my capacity for honesty was called into question (or words to that effect).

 

[Jim Crosskey 2]

For me, any immature bronze bream is a skimmer. As soon as its bronze, its now a bream. Anything 3lb+ and I might start calling it a slab