THE LOBSTER FISHERY. 675 



eut at North Haven, Me., writes that in the winter and early spring, when the water is cold, they 

 cat but little, and must, therefore, he fished tor with the best of bait, while in the late summer and 

 fall they will take most anythiug placed in the traps. Salt herring is consequently much used it 

 that seetiou in the tall, but in the spring it is considered very poor bait. This opinion does not 

 hold good for other districts even close at hand, for at Isle an Haut large quantities of herring 

 are kept salted in barrels over winter for use in the spring lobster fishery. 



MANNER OF CATCHING BAIT. As above stated, the bait generally used consists of the more 

 common and less esteemed fish of the region in which the traps are set. On the coast of Maine 

 flounders, sculpius, herring, and fish heads are almost universally employed. Flounders and 

 sculpius are abundant almost everywhere, in shallow water, and enter the inlets and coves in 

 summer. Having no commercial value they serve well for this pupose. They are ordinarily 

 taken by the lobsterinen themselves, but herring are obtained from the weirs and are used both 

 fresh and salted, though generally in the latter state. They are often brought from a distance. 

 Fish heads of several species (cod, haddock, &c.) are coumioiily employed in regions where boat 

 fishing is carried on during the lobster season. At Small Point, near Bath, Me., fish heads are 

 used altogether. Some of the lobsterrnen, who are also boat fishermen, save the heads of the fish 

 in cleaning their catch to use as bait. In some localities, as in the neighborhood of Mount 

 Desert, Me., the lobsterinen frequently assist the boat fishermen to dress their fish, taking the 

 heads in payment. 



Flounders and sculpins are caught by means of spears, seines, fyke-nets, and hooks and lines. 

 In spearing it is essential that the water should be smooth, in order that the fish may be seen 

 upon the bottom. 



When the surface is roughened by a breeze, as often happens, the fishermen are obliged to 

 resort to artificial means to overcome this difficulty, and in many places when in search of bait, 

 each one carries along with him in his boat a bottle of fish oil, with a swab made by tying a rag 

 to the end of a stick. Upon reaching the bait grounds he dips the swab into the bottle, and 

 drawing it out, scatters the oil over the water, producing a " slick," which enables him to see the 

 bottom as readily as though the water were calm. This simple device often permits him to obtain 

 bait, when he could not secure it otherwise. 



At Isle an Haut, Maine, when oil is used to render the surface smooth, it is not only thrown 

 with a swab, but having provided himself with a bucket partly filled with blubber, the fisherman 

 lands on a weather shore just as the tide begins to flow, and spreads the blubber very thinly on the 

 rockweed for a considerable distance along the shore, and from low-water mark to some distance 

 above it. It follows that when the tide flows, the slick made by the particles of oil in the blubber 

 is driven from the shore by the wind, and the fisherman has smooth water continuously, enabling 

 him to fish over a large area without stopping to throw oil. This is a decided improvement on the 

 method first described, but is not always practicable*, owing to the state of the wind. In some 

 places, as at Bristol, Me., a " dark-water spear," as it is called, is occasionally used in the late winter 

 and early spring (February and March) for taking flounders. It consists of a wooden head 14 to 

 -4 inches long, attached crosswise to the end of a pole, 16 to 20 feet in length. The head or cross- 

 piece is set along the outer side with a row of barbed spear points, about 6 inches long and 2 inches 

 apart. At low water the fisherman goes out in his boat with one of these spears to some muddy 

 place where the depths are slight and where flounders are supposed to occur, and by thrusting the 

 spear down here and there into the muddy bottom, he is quite certain to obtain a supply. 



At Bremen and Friendship, Me., many flounders are caught in fyke-nets, set in the coves 



