Can anyone tell me -

  • Thread starter Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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After well over 1/2 a century of angling, I don't think I've ever caught one of these elusive species in my life. Yet it is referred to in many articles these days.

I hope I can get a few logical replies.
 
Janet (AT)

Janet (AT)

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As a newcomer, I'd quite like an answer to that question too!
 
Poshpaul (Angling Trust and PaSC)

Poshpaul (Angling Trust and PaSC)

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Some say it is a corruption of the term sylvan meaning wooded. It alludes to the era when lakes and ponds were surrounded by trees and dense vegetation before the times when they were removed to provide easy access carp puddles. So a silver fish, or sylvan fish, is one, of any species, caught from a natural, unspoilt pool or lake. ;-)
 
Poshpaul (Angling Trust and PaSC)

Poshpaul (Angling Trust and PaSC)

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Sorry Ron,

A little tongue in cheek that first one. I assume it refers to those species such as roach, rudd (even if they are frequently a buttery gold), dace, chub, bleak which have that silver quality in their scaling. I am not sure at what point it came to refer to virtually anything that swims other than a carp, eel,tench or barbel.
 
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BAZ (Angel of the North)

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Roach, Perch, Rudd, Skimmers. Carp not included.
 
Janet (AT)

Janet (AT)

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Isn't a roach a roach, a perch a perch etc? Baz also mentioned another that gets me slightly confused. Skimmer. Just what exactly IS a skimmer?

Ok, I'm showing my ignorance as a newcomer now, so please be gentle with me, but this is a question I've been wanting to ask for ages, but didn't want to show my lack of knowledge!
 
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BAZ (Angel of the North)

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A juvenile Bream Janet. Usually under 2lb.
Perch = a pair of eyes.
 
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MarkTheSpark

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Silverfish - nasty little throwbacks to prehistoric times that inhabit damp corners and nibble yer book binding. Though why they appear to take a squat on a 22s 'ook under't far bank at the eight metre line is beyond me....
 
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Claudia Crowther

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You all wrong: 'Lepisma saccharina (commonly called the fishmoth, urban silverfish or just the silverfish) is a small, wingless insect typically measuring between half to one inch.

hehehe the kind you don't want in your bathroom
 
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MarkTheSpark

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And anyway, I was right. And you Wikipedia-ed that. And it goes on to say
the species is estimated to have existed for 300 million years

So ner nerny ner ner to you
 
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Claudia Crowther

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I don't deny that I googled it.....well not the bathroom bit though lol...YOU REALLY DON'T want them there


ner ner nenener (".) ><)))'>
 
Mark Wintle

Mark Wintle

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Ron,

In all seriousnes it came into being in the 80's on Midlands canals where the catches were gudgeon, perch and ruffe (not silver fish) and roach and skimmers - silver fish. Its use became widespread, first on rivers then more lately on commercials where it has come to mean anything but carp and therefore isn't entirely logical as it seems to include crucians, tench etc.
 
W

Wolfman Woody

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You just got it wrong Ron.

It isn't "What A "Silver Fish is?"

It's "What "Silver Fish" are?"

The "Fish" being plural, not singular. Collective term for a group of species. Read Mark learn.... etc...
 
R

Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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Well the most logical answer I have had is the one from Claudia - which is the colloquial name for a fish moth.

Yet I read regularly of what appears to be a term applied to a whole variety of species, many of which are not silver at all; tench, bream, rudd, and even perch for example.

What sanguinary fool coined this term I ask with tears in my eyes?

It truly is time such utter b*****cks was eliminated from our sport. How is a non-angler to know what in heavens name we are talking about?
 
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Wolfman Woody

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No different than in YOUR beloved States calling a group of fish - Panfish.

What are they, pan shaped?

Made of aluminium? (sorry, aluminum)

It's a bloomin collective term, to separate a group of species from your favourite ratfish.
 
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