In each of the experiments described below, standard gear with 

 6 hooks, 30 fathoms apart, on a 210-fathom mainline was used as a 

 control. The 11 -hook experimental gear differed from the standard 

 gear in having an extra hook between each of the original hooks and in 

 having all short droppers (3 fathoms overall) which were attached to 

 wire bridles in the mainline. These innovations made interpretation of 

 the hook spacing results a little complex and imprecise, but time was 

 not available to test each variable in turn. 



The first experiment involving closer hook spacing was primarily 

 a test of (1) the wire links discussed above, and (2) the practicability 

 of spacing droppers closer together. During the test, 10 baskets of 

 experimental gear with 11 hooks, 15 fathoms apart, were appended to 

 the end of sets of 40 baskets of standard gear with 6 hooks, 30 fathoms 

 apart, at each of 26 stations (Manning cruise 15). The 11 -hook gear 

 performed satisfactorily from a mechanical point of view and took 73 

 yellowfin. This compares very favorably (1.43x) with the catch of 51 

 yellowfin on the adjacent 10 baskets of 6-hook gear. The 11 -hook gear 

 was on the end of the set, however, and fished about 10 percent longer 

 than the adjacent 6-hook gear, which may have accounted for a portion 

 of the larger catch. 



The catch rates on 11- and 6-hook gear from subsequent experi- 

 ments may be compared directly because fishing time was controlled 

 by alternating the gear along the entire set. Usually the 6- and 11-hook 

 baskets were alternated in groups of five. A summary of the results of 

 three experiments is shown in table 4. During these cruises the 11- 

 hook gear took 1.21x the catch of the 6-hook gear, something less than 

 the hook ratio 11/6 (1.83x). 



Table 4. --Comparison of the catches of 6- and 11-hook gear 



23 



