BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 157 



the female fish have gone iii so short a time. All the vessels that carry 

 nets are at home mending them, as they were badly torn during the last 

 storm. Almost all the nets went adrift, but were all recovered. Their 

 drifting was caused by the strong tide resulting from the freshet in the 

 rivers. The men like the uets first rate. Herring are selling to-day for 

 $1.25 per hundred. It comes hard on the trawlers, but it does not 

 affect the netters. I think that this week, when the latter all get to work, 

 we shall hear of good fishing with the nets. There will be 180 nets down 

 this week in Ipswich Bay. 

 Gloucester, Mass., March 15, 1881. 



There were 9 vessels fishing with cod gill-nets in Ipswich Bay last 

 week. They carried 21 nets each, and averaged 20,000 pounds of nice 

 cod to a vessel. The trawlers had to leave the bay, as they could not 

 get bait. Some of them bought razor-clams and tried them on the 

 trawls. Several got 7,000 pounds as the result of the week's fishing. 

 Their fish were of small size, but those taken in the nets were large. The 

 stormy weather has hurt the nets. Two mornings in last week the water 

 was too rough for them to be hauled, and, lying on the bottom with fish 

 in them, they were badly torn. A new school of cod entered the bay last 

 week. A quarter of them were females, and large. If the weather is 

 good this week the netters will do well. All the large trawlers have 

 quit; but so much the better for the netters. They are getting nets all 

 along the eastern shore. 



Gloucester, Mass., March 23, 1881. 



The vessels with cod gill-nets did not do much the last week. The 

 weather was too windy. They under-ran their nets twice, and found good 

 fishing.. The fish were large, and half of them were females. The 

 weather has been cool the last two days, and the wind has been blowing 

 hard from the northwest. Poor chance for the netters. 



I suppose you have heard all the news about the mackerel that Sol. 

 Jacobs carried in to New York. He caught them 40 miles southeast 

 from Chincoteague. The mackerel are only 9 inches long, but they are 

 plenty and extend from the southeast part of La Have Bank to as far 

 south as Chincoteague. On the day when Sol. Jacobs got his mack- 

 erel there were a great many schools seen, and if it had been fine 

 weather he could have gotten the vessel full. A telegraphic dispatch has 

 just come telling of the loss of the schooner Lizzie K. Clark. She was 

 bound south after mackerel, and was upset in a squall. All the mem- 

 bers of the crew were saved. 



Gloucester, Mass., March 24, 1881. 



The net fishing in Ipswich Bay is almost over. They have not caught 

 any fish there this week. The Northern Eagle got 500 pounds on Sat- 

 urday night and 800 pounds on Sunday night. George' [Capt. George H. 

 Martin] is going to the Western Bank. The vessels that carried nets 



