skiff
skif/
noun
noun: skiff; plural noun: skiffs

1. a shallow, flat-bottomed open boat with sharp bow and square stern.

 

when I was a youngster I used to build an 8' push pole skiff we would use in the swamps and hammocks and C canals full of water hyacinths. they were stable and lite made only out 1 sheet of mahogany plywood and a push pole out of cypress saplings.I have many times got them stuck in the mud tussocks on St Johns river south of Camp Holly and had to swim them through to open water.

 

Here in Texas my family built wooden "skiffs" to run nets and commercial flounder out of (1960's). They would pole those skiffs all night long with lanterns on the front for light. They were all 16' long and 4' wide. They were also tiller driven instead of remote. Instead of the super light poles they there are now they used oak poles (if they broke they did not splinter like pine). We still had one until a few years ago when it finally rotted away. Kind of funny how things are starting to circle around to them again.

 

Depends on what part of the country and how the "skiff" is used. If you're from New England, a skiff is a small, usually commercial used, low hp boat used for hauling stuff, island hopping, moving supplies and running people around in harbors and waterfronts.

In Louisiana, a skiff might refer to a Lafitte Skiff, a high bow, low transom boat with a forward helm or pilothouse used by commercial guys for shrimping, crabbing etc. These can be small or 25' - 30'+.

In saltwater light tackle and fly fishing circles, a skiff usually refers to an under 18', fiberglass, shallow water boat with a poling platform and large snagless decks used to chase gamefish in very shallow water with a push pole.

IMO, the term began in the late 1980s and early 1990s in the Florida Keys. The original light tackle guides of the time considered their boats to be a tool of the trade and used the term to differentiate what they did from the offshore captains. You were either an offshore captain of a skiff guide. When captains talked about a boat they saw in the distance, if it was a "flats or backcountry guide" they would use the term skiff to describe the boat. Back then, 98% of all the skiffs in the Keys were owned by guides.

Now a days, it's been broken down even further between flats boats and skiffs. Skiff owners get pissed off if someone refers to their boat as a flats boat...kinda silly I know.

 

I think it’s a matter of opinion. My opinion is that any fiberglass boat with lowish gunnels and either a flat bottom or semi-V is called a skiff. Like mentioned above there are several different types of skiffs.

 

The term skiff is just a generic name used to describe a small boat but there are Technical Poling Skiffs, Flats Skiffs, Mullet Skiffs etc that further break down the meaning into more specialized descriptions.