154 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



twine. Ipswich Bay is a hard place to fish in with nets. The fish are 

 ;ill caught on a place ten miles long northeast and southwest, and two 

 miles wide southeast and northwest. If one gets outside of that range 

 lie will take nothing. There are fifty sail of vessels fishing on that 

 small piece of groufid. The vessels will average six dories each, and 

 each dory sets 1,000 hooks. The Northern Eagle set her nets one night 

 outside the trawls, and got only 300 pounds of fish. The nets were 

 then taken up and set on a bunch of rocks, and there they caught plenty. 

 One vessel set her trawls across the nets and hauled one up and cut it in 

 two. I think that in the spring, when the bait gets scarce, some of the 

 vessels will go to George's, and the Northern Eagie will do better, as 

 she can then set her nets in deeper water. She has done as well as the 

 trawlers, and has had no bait-bill to pay; the last morning the nets were 

 hauled one man got 68 large fish in one net. The water was 11 fathoms 

 deep where the fish were taken. They have to lie still all day, as no 

 fish are caught in the nets except at night. 



Gloucester, Mass., December 28, 1880. 



The schooner Northern Eagle has made a trip to Ipswich Bay and 

 lias done well. She sold 19,300 pounds in Portsmouth and 15,500 pounds 

 in Gloucester. They under-run their nets seven mornings. None of 

 the trawlers got half as many in the same time. They never took their 

 nets up till they got ready to come home. They had them down a week 

 and three days ; got 8,000 pounds one haul. The fish they landed in 

 Portsmouth averaged 24 pounds each. The trawlers say the fish are 

 scarce in Ipswich Bay. One vessel went out when my son, George H. 

 Martin, did, and arrived this morning with 4,000 pounds. They did not 

 get their nets torn much this time. The crew are as proud as a dog 

 -with two tails ; no bait-bill ; no trawls to fix. The trawlers have not 

 bothered them much this time; they lose too many hooks. There are 

 two vessels at Portsmouth which are going to have nets. I think some 

 of the boats here will have nets. Most of the shore boats will have 

 nets in the spring. When bait gets scarce the nets will do well. There 

 Avere 52 vessels fishing in Ipswich Bay last week — a large fleet for so 

 small a place. The fish are full of ripe spawn. I saw four and a half 

 barrels taken from 15,000 pounds of fish. The female fish are very 

 large. One-half of our vessels sell their fish in Portsmouth. George 

 told me to day that they got 10,000 pounds at one haul instead of 8,000 

 pounds. One dory got 84 fish. Schooner Phantom arrived to day with 

 8,000. It went down the same day that George did. So the nets catch 

 more fish than the trawls, thanks to Professor Baird. The crew made 



i! to a share. 



GLOUCESTER, Mass., January 12, 1881. 



The schooner Northern Eagle, ('apt. (1. II. Martin, has returned from 

 her sixth trip in Ipswich Bay. She got 35,000 pounds in four nights, 



which is three times as much as the trawlers obtained in the same time. 



