REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [118] 



time, and one of our old fishermen informs us that when a lad he dis- 

 tinctly remembers of being - out in Boston Bay, one day, in a boat with his 

 father, when he saw a vessel which looked very strangely to his young 

 eyes, and, boy-like, he asked his father what sort of craft it was. 



"'That's a trailer, my boy, and we'll speak with him,'" was the reply. 



"They sailed quite near, and they observed that the vessel had out- 

 riggers of long poles on each side, commencing forward at about seven- 

 teen feet, and tapering off to five feet aft. At the ends lines were 

 fastened, about twenty fathoms long, with a sinker of four pounds, and 

 hook below. To each of these lines was attached a bridle, reaching 

 to the side of the vessel, where the fishermen stood to feel the bites. 

 This particular vessel was from Hingham, and had been out four weeks 

 without receiving even a bite, and the skipper said he was going to 

 give it up and go home." 



"The present mode of catching mackerel by drifting and tolling with 

 bait did not come into general use until after 1812. The gear for catch- 

 ing, previous to that, was a white hempen bob-line, as it was called, 

 and the style of fishing was termed 'bobbing' mackerel. These lines 

 were some seven fathoms in length, with a leaden sinker two inches long, 

 and shaped like a thin pea-pod. At one end was a gauging about a foot 

 long, for the hook. Every few minutes off would go the hook, and extra 

 hooks were always in readiness to replace those lost. This mode con- 

 tinued until the year 1816, when Abraham Lurvey, of Pigeon Cove, 

 discovered a method of running lead around the hooks, and which were 

 afterward called jigs. This he kept secret for many months. The hooks 

 then in use were nearly as large as the haddock hooks of to-day. The 

 small lines and fly-lines did not come into use until about 1823. About 

 this time the gaff' was introduced, and was abandoned after being used 

 some ten years."* 



It seems scarcely necessary to discuss more in detail the methods used 

 during the first two centuries of the mackerel fishery of North America. 

 In a following chapter an effort will be made to present a chrono- 

 logical history of the fishery froin its inception to the present time. 



"The mackerel gaff was used to some extent, by the hook and line fishermen, as 

 late as 1865, and possibly even since that time. 



