12 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



180 to 200 hooks was called a "big trawl"; now each dory has from 350 to 380 hooks. At first 

 the hooks were put 15 feet apart on the ground-line by the Long Island Sound fishermen, but at 

 present they are placed 25 feet apart. All of the ground-line is stowed in one tub made for the 

 purpose, instead of being divided into sections and coiled in skates. Lager-beer kegs were form- 

 erly used to some extent by the sound fishermen for buoys, but now iron-bound, hard-wood kegs 

 specially designed for the purpose are made for buoys. 



BAIT. A vessel starting on a fresh-halibut trip to the Banks generally carries a few barrels 

 of herring, mackerel, or menhaden, and occasionally, instead of these, 2,000 or 3,000 pounds of cod, 

 haddock, and hake. This is for bait to begin the trip with, and may be obtained at the home port, 

 or at some point on the Nova Scotia coast. Sometimes bait, especially mackerel, is bought from 

 vessels at sea. After fishing is begun such material as is caught on the trawls cod, haddock, 

 hake, &c., and occasionally even halibut are used instead of herring, being cut into strips 5 or 6 

 inches in length and about 2 inches wide. This is called "gurry bait," and is preferred for Bank 

 fishing, although it cannot be used advantageously when fishing in shallow water near the land, 

 fresh herring being considered indispensable for that purpose. 



Halibut, when in-shore, are generally much more difficult to please in the matter of bait than 

 when they are on the outer banks. They will not touch herring that are the least bit stale, and 

 some captains claim that the fish can discriminate between bait which has been caught in different 

 localities. The skipper of the Willie M. Stevens told us that it was his opinion, from what he saw 

 while on a northern trip, that halibut on the northwest coast of Newfoundland would not bite 

 nearly as well at herring caught in any other place besides Bay of Islands and Boone Bay. He 

 avers that he experimented repeatedly on the same ground with the trawls set side by side and 

 across each other, and saw others try it, and every time those trawls with the bay herring on them 

 got fair fishing, and the others, baited with herring from distant localities, got nothing or next 

 to it. 



In winter, the bait taken from home is usually frozen herring which are packed in straw in one 

 of the ice-house pens, this method of packing being adopted to keep the frost in the fish. In 

 summer, however, the first installment of bait is generally obtained at some port in Nova Scotia 

 or on the coast of Maine, and this is carefully iced in one or more of the pens. It is never eviscer- 

 ated by the Gloucester fishermen. Formerly, the fishermen about Long Island Sound generally 

 dressed and sometimes soaked the " bony fish" (menhaden) before icing it for bait. Prepared in this 

 way the fish would keep hard and sweet much longer than if iced round with the viscera in them. 

 The Cape Ann men were frequently ridiculed for icing bait before it was dressed, but experience 

 proved that the latter is the best method, for bait that is iced round is by far the most attractive 

 to either cod or halibut, due, so the fishermen think, to the blood being retained in it, and the 

 retention of the natural flavor which is lost when the fish are eviscerated. 



The bait is cut up on the top of the cabin, with large, heavy knives. Thick planks are nailed 

 on the top of the cabin for this purpose, as has been explained, and the men who go in each dory 

 have their places for chopping chosen by lot. After enough bait is cut for the occasion the fish- 

 erman lifts a skate of trawl upon the cabin and, after untying the ropes, the skate is taken away 

 from the coil and spread out on the deck below. The fisherman then begins at the top of the coil, 

 and, baiting the hooks as he proceeds, recoils the trawl on the skate. The baited hooks are thrown 

 into the center of the coil. The trawls when baited and tied up are ready for the water, and, if the 

 set is to be made immediately, they are at once placed in the dories. Great expertness is shown 

 by the fishermen in baiting their trawls, but there is, however, a limit to the speed with which this 



