HAL IB UT, FLA T-FISH AND FL O UNDER. 3 1 9 



the bottom, giving little oi)i)ortunity to the skates, which very seldom get 

 a chance at a Plaice's hook. In this respect they are very different from 

 the cod. When the fish have been hauled to the surface, they are quickly 

 transferred, with as little injury as possible, to the well of the smack, 

 which is amply large enough to hold the results of two or three days' fish- 

 ing. They are thus brought alive to the place of shipment and reach the 

 markets in excellent condition, a fact which partially explains their 

 popularity compared with that of other fish of the same family. 



In 1877 there were seven smacks engaged in this fishery — one from 

 Mystic, one from New London, and five from Noank. It was estimated 

 by the owner of one of the vessels that each vessel made on an average 

 fifteen trips during the summer, and that each trip averaged 800 fish, 

 weighing i^ pounds each, making a total of 1,400 pounds to a trip, or 

 21,000 pounds to the season, thus giving an aggregate of 147.000 pounds 

 as the result of this branch of the fishery. 



Capt. Atwood states that in 1846 he began catching Plaice for the Bos- 

 ton market, in Provincetown Harbor, anchoring where the keel of the smack 

 would just clear the bottom, and anywhere near Race Point he could catch 

 them in great numbers, the largest weighing from ten to fifteen pounds 

 each. In one afternoon he caught two thousand pounds. These he carried 

 to Boston in the well of his smack and tried to sell, but was unsuccessful, 

 though they were offered under the name of '' Turbot," local prejudice being 

 .against them. In 1S79 there were seven or eight boats engaged in the 

 Plaice fishery during the month of June, this month being the best for 

 Plaice fishing. In the latter part of July, when I made my observations, 

 all of the winter boats had stopped fishing for the year. 



The method in use here is somewhat peculiar, and merits description. 

 The fishermen call it " drailing for Plaice." The boat used is an ordinary 

 cat-boat, managed by one person, and is allowed to drift with free sheet 

 before the wind, while the fisherman stands in the stern dragging the line 

 over the bottom, baited with a bit of squid or clam. The boat is kept as 

 nearly as possible over the places where the flats are deepening most 

 abruptly into the basin of the harbor, and where the water is from eight to 

 eighteen fathoms deep. Only very large fish, weighing ten, fifteen, some- 

 times even twenty pounds, are taken in this manner. The average catch 

 is from eight to twenty a day. In one day one man reported eight, one 

 fourteen, and one twenty-three. Some of these fish are sold in Province- 



