18 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



crew, who are generally the captain and the couk, hold the stern and bow painters. The man in 

 the bow of the boat jumps on deck, while the other hooks the fish with a gaff and hands them up 

 to his dory mate standing ready to haul them in over the vessel's rail. 



The operation of pulling halibut from the dory over the schooner's rail is much facilitated by 

 the rolling of the vessel; the man who hauls in the fish watches the motion, and by a sudden ex- 

 ertion of strength at the right moment is able to take a fish on deck which a novice, unacquainted 

 with the " knack," could not raise at all. Should there be some bcavy fish iu the boat, the skipper 

 generally assists to pull them on deck. Sometimes the skipper chooses to haul the whole, or nearly 

 all, of the fish over the rail, and we have heard of a-cook who made a practice of doing this work. 



The methods adopted by the hand-line George's fishermen are, of course, radically different 

 from those just described. It may be remarked incidentally that the George's fishermen are paid 

 iu accordance with the amount of fish which each catches, while the trawlers all share equally in the 

 proceeds. It naturally follows that, when halibut are bringing a high price, the hand-line fisherman 

 who catches a considerable quantity of these fish makes much more money than his shipmates. 

 Consequently there is much rivalry in a vessel's crew when it is known that halibut are on the 

 ground where she is lying, and every known device is adopted to entice the fish to bite at the hooks. 

 Strips of newly-caught haddock, with the fresh blood still on them, are considered the best bait. 

 These are usually about C to S inches long, an inch or so wide at one end, and tapering to a point 

 at the other. Two, three, or more of these pieces are put on a hook, the latter being passed 

 through the thickest ends of the strips, while the pointed ends of the bait are left to float about 

 in the water. Where there is a tide running these closely resemble the movements of small fish. 

 The hooks are usually "pointed" with herring bait. After the bait is on the hooks, many fisher, 

 men add (as they believe) to its attractiveness by mopping it in the slime of a halibut, if one has 

 been previously caught. This is done by rubbing the baited hook back and forth over the fish. 

 The lure thus prepared the fisherman lowers his apparatus to the bottom, and by a skillful manip- 

 ulation tries to induce the fish to bite. Sometimes he will let the tide sweep his "gear" along the 

 bottom, and again he will endeavor to give his baits the appearance of life by slowly pulling them 

 up a short distance from the ground. If he finally succeeds in hooking a halibut, all his art is re- 

 quired to bring the fish to the surface and laud it safely on deck. If it be a large fish it almost 

 invariably makes a desperate fight to escape. It may, perhaps, come up easily for 10 or 15 fathoms, 

 when it suddenly takes a plunge downward. Surge! surge! goes the line through the hands of the 

 fisherman, who knows very well that he must " play " his fish or else his line will be snapped like 

 pack thread. This operation may be repeated several times, and it is not uncommon for a large 

 and particularly "wild" halibut to go almost to the bottom after having been hauled nearly to the 

 surface of the water. At last the fish is alongside, and the shout of "Gaffs! gaffs here!" brings 

 two or three of the nearest men to the side, armed with long-handled gaffs. If the fish is 

 exhausted the gaffs are quickly hooked into his head and he is dragged unceremoniously over the 

 rail and falls with a heavy thud on deck, which usually resounds with the strokes of his powerful 

 tail until he is stunned by repeated blows with a killer. On the other hand, if the halibut is still 

 active when he comes alongside, much dexterity is required to gaff him. He makes desperate 

 attempts to escape, and thrashes the water into foam with his tail. Sometimes, but not often, 

 halibut escape after being brought alongside. 



When the fish is on deck and killed, his captor cuts his mark iu a conspicuous manner, gener- 

 ally on the white surface of the halibut, which is the under portion when the fish is iu the 

 water, but is invariably turned upward after it is taken on deck; this method being adopted to 

 prevent the blood from settling on that side and thus making the fish look dark colored or gray. 



