230 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



iu October (1880) took fresli mackerel for bait. When tlielierriug came 

 ou the coast, or were brought to Gloucester frozen, they were the bait 

 depeuded ou by the haddock catchers." 



Iu cuttiug up menhadeu slivers for haddock bait, sectious are made 

 trapezoidal or square iu form, with a surface area of about a square inch. 

 One of these pieces is placed ou each hook, aud as the hooks are baited 

 the line is coiled iu the tub, the hooks beiug placed arouud on the side, 

 I)oiuts up.* When the fisherman is ready to bait his trawl he sits upon 

 his bench with the empty tub between his legs aud the trawl-line re- 

 moved from the tub and turned right side up in front of him, his bait 

 being in a bucket at his side. In his left hand he takes eight or ten 

 I)ieces of bait, and with both hands he pulls the line towards him, coil- 

 ing it iu the tub after baiting the hooks; he places them in the tub in 

 the manner just described. 



As is always the case where a number of men are working together 

 at the same employment, there is sharp comj^etition among the men as 

 to who shall be the first to get his trawl baited. Tlie average time con- 

 sumed iu baiting 500 hooks is from 45 to 60 minutes, though the most 

 skillful men have been known to accomplish the task iu half an hour. 

 It will be seen that the labor of baiting three or four tubs, which falls 

 daily to each man when the fishing is good, occupies a considerable por- 

 tion of the day, or, rather, of the night, since the baiting is usually done 

 at night. In baiting at night each man has a lamp of peculiar pattern 

 which is fastened to the edge of his tub by a hook ; sometimes the trawls 

 are snarled, and the whole night is devoted to clearing and baiting 

 them. A man will go into the hold to bait after the fish are dressed iu 

 the evening and perhai^s not finish his task until daybreak, when it is 

 time to go out to set again. 



Methods of fishing. — As has been remarked, the haddock catchers never 

 anchor ou the banks when fishing. The usage in this respect has greatly 

 changed within the last few years. When the fishery was less extensive 

 and was carried on entirely upon the inshore grounds they were accus- 

 tomed to anchor, set their trawfs and under-run them, but now the trawls 

 are all set while the vessel is lying to waiting for the dories. This opera- 

 tion is called "setting under sail," and its successful performance is one 

 of the most comx)licated evolutions performed by vessels and boats, re- 

 quiring a high degree of skill on the part of the men on the vessels and 

 in the boats. 



Let us imagine ourselves on the deck of a haddock schooner at day- 

 break approaching Jeffries Ledge; the skipper, having first sounded 

 and obtained the desired depth of water, decides to make a set and 

 gives the order, " Get the top dories ready," at the same time indicating 

 how many tubs he thinks it desirable for each dory to set. The four 

 men to whom the two top dories belong adjust the .anchors, buoy-liues 



* The Irish fishermen of Boston place their trawls in baskets, coiling the line in one 

 part aud putting the baited hoolrs iu another division of the basket. 



