COD-FISHERIES OF CAPE ANN 697 



ent names for the various schools, derived from the kind of bait on 

 which they live during the fishing season. We often hear them speak 

 of the clam-school, the herring- school, and the squid-school ; and when 

 securing bait they will at times pay exorbitant prices for that kind on 

 which the fish are known to be feeding, rather than take an equally 

 good quality of another kind at much lower rates. Thus, when the fish 

 are feeding on squid {Ommastrephes illecebrosa) the fishermen secure 

 squid if i>ossible ; the same is also true of the herring [Clupea liarengus), 

 the capelin {Mallotus vill08us)y and other species. But while it is un- 

 doubtedly true that during the feeding season the fish take the hook 

 more readily when baited with that particular species that they chance 

 to be pui"suing, and while they always i)refer fresh to salt bait, yet we 

 think the fishermen in error when they apply the rule with the same 

 fixedness to the schools of spawning fish, and that the shore-fishermen 

 often lose both time and money by so doing. It is quite interesting to 

 watch the effect of this idea upon the shore-fishermen ; for they seem 

 fully convinced that, when one kind of bait has been successfully used, 

 it is utter folly to attempt the use of any other kind. Thus in the winter 

 of 1878-'79, when sperling (young herring) became scarce, the fleet 

 waited fully two weeks, hoping that more might be obtained before they 

 would supply themselves with either frozen herring or clams. 



In the winter of 1877-'7S the first vessels resorting to Ipswich Bay 

 for cod chanced to be fishing with clams, and, as a result, clams were 

 used by nearly the entire fleet, though frozen herring could be more 

 easily obtained, and were cheaper. Again, in the winter of 1878-'79, the 

 first vessels resorting to the above locality used frozen herring, and the 

 results obtained were entirely satisfactory. Frozen herring were at 

 once announced as tJie bait, and fishermen i^rovided themselves with 

 these only. A few, however, acting on the experience of the previous 

 season, had contracted for clams in advance, and were obliged to use 

 them. These unfortunates, for such they felt themselves to be, fre- 

 quently received expressions of symi)athy from the other fishermen, and 

 it was the general belief that their catch was much smaller than it 

 would otherwise have been. A comparison of the quantity of fish landed 

 by one of these vessels with that of a vessel of equal size using frozen 

 herring, showed that the bait had little effect on the catch, the trips 

 averaging about the same in size, sometimes favoring the one and again 

 the other vessel. Later in the season, when frozen herring could not be 

 obtained, the vessels went south for fresh herring and alewives (Pomo- 

 lohus vernalis and P. (estivalls), and it was not uncommon for them at 

 times to refuse the herring, and to spend several weeks in search of ale- 

 wives, or again to refuse the alewives and search for herring. 



The principal kinds of bait used in the cod-fisheries are clams {Mya 

 arenaria), sperling or young herring, fresh and frozen herring {Clupea 

 harengus), fresh and salt squid {Ommastrephes illecehrosa), fresh and salt 

 menhaden {Brevoortia tyrannus), capelin {Mallotus villosus), and alewives 



