196 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



trawl lines coming into general use about the 

 middle of the 19th century. And it is not aston- 

 ishing that a fish so nearly omnivorous as the 

 cod should be caught on various baits. Those 

 most in use in the Gulf of Maine are clams (Mya 

 arenaria), cockles (Polynices), herring (fresh, 

 frozen, or salt), and squid. General experience 

 suggests that there is little to choose between 

 the first two of these, while the razor clam (Ensis 

 directus) is equally attractive though limited by 

 the small supply. And tests made in the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence 10 proved that fresh herring and 

 fresh squid are about as good as clams, but that 

 frozen and salt herring are less attractive. Other 

 kinds of fish are also used as cod bait in other parts 

 of the world ; capelin, especially, in more northern 

 seas, and launce. 



The earliest important addition to fishing 

 methods came during the winter of 1880-1881, 

 when gill nets, based on the Norwegian system, 

 were introduced in the Ipswich Bay region, yield- 

 ing unexpectedly large catches. 11 Since about 

 1908, when otter trawls came into general use 

 in our waters, an increasing proportion of the 

 catch has been taken by this method. Today 

 about 80 to 85 percent of the Gulf of Maine 

 catch is made in otter trawls ; only about 10 percent 

 on long lines; about 1 percent in gill nets; less 

 than 1 percent in pound nets, and less than 1 

 percent on hand lines. 



Cod still bite as greedily, however, as they ever 

 did on clams, cockles (Polynices), or on pieces 



» Knight, Contrib. to Canad. Biol. (1906-1910) 1912, pp. 23-32. 



" For account of cod fishing methods in North American waters before 

 the introduction of the otter trawl, see Goode and Collins, Fish. Industries 

 U. S., Sect. 5, vol. 1, 1887, pp. 123-198. 



of squid or herring. We have even caught fair- 

 sized cod on a pickerel spinner tipped with a 

 bit of pork rind, over ledges in shallow water; 

 we have heard of small cod caught on bucktail 

 lures, also on tin-clad lures cast in the surf. And 

 anglers fishing from small craft for pleasure or 

 for home use catch large numbers all along the 

 coast, though these are mostly of the smaller 

 sizes. So far as we can learn, cod have never 

 been jigged successfully in the Gulf of Maine, 

 as they are in abundance in northern Labrador 

 waters. 



Tomcod Microgadus tomcod (Walbaum) 1792 

 Frostfish 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2540. 



Description. — The tomcod resembles a small 

 cod so closely in its fins, in the projection of 

 its upper jaw beyond the lower, in the presence 

 of a barbel on its chin; and in its pale lateral line, 

 that the one might easily be taken for the other. 

 But the outlines of the ventral fins offer a field 

 mark by which the two fish may be separated, for 

 while their second rays are filamentous at the tip 

 in both species, the ventrals of the cod are moder- 

 ately broad, rounded, and with the filament 

 occupying less than one-fourth the total length of 

 the fin, whereas the ventrals of a tomcod are so 

 narrow, so tapering, and with so long a filament 

 (as long as the rest of the fin) that the whole 

 suggests a feeler rather than a conventional fin. 

 Furthermore, the margin of the caudal fin of a 

 tomcod is noticeably rounded, while that of the 

 cod is square or slightly concave; the eye of the 



Figure 95. — Tomcod (Microgadus tomcod), Woods Hole. From Goode. Drawing by H. L Todd. 



