44 OUTFIT OF A COD SMACK. 



or anchors are attached to the ends of the main line, 

 and also floats to indicate its position when it is 

 desired to haul it in. . These lines, by the bye, do good 

 work in extensive inland waters, as well as at sea. 

 Of this we have personal experience. 



Regularly equipped fishing boats carry immense 

 lengths of them, sometimes extending to eight or ten 

 miles, which the fishermen shoot across the tide. Some- 

 times the lines are shot in the evening and hauled in 

 next morning. * At other times fishing is carried on 

 by day only. " On board cod smacks (for instance) 

 fishing upon the cod banks, these lines are shot about 

 five o'clock in the morning. When all are out, the 

 boat lies for about two hours, while the men are 

 getting their breakfast, and then they commence to 

 haul the lines again." f 



" The fishing outfit for a cod smack on the Dogger Bank 

 for this sort of work is as follows: 16 dozen of lines, each 

 30 fathoms long ; two of these lines or 60 fathoms are called a 

 'piece;' 6000 hooks and snoods 52 of these hooks are put 

 on a 'piece' of line, the distance between them is 8 feet 6 

 inches." "For the Iceland or Faroe fishing, where a good 

 deal of hand-line fishing is done, the cod smacks carry out- 

 fits for hand-lining consisting of: 4 dozen lines each, 35 

 fathoms long, wound on reels, or frames ; 3 dozen cod leads ; 

 3 dozen cod wires to go through the leads, these have an 

 eye seized to each end to carry the snoods. The snoods 

 are from ten to twelve feet long to carry the gauged hooks 

 300 to 400 hooks of various sizes small files for sharpening 

 hooks, and an assortment of knives for splitting, heading, and 

 gutting the fish." ** 



* The Sea Fisherman, by J. C. Wilcocks, 1868, p. 9. 

 f Fisherman's Seamanship, by O. T. Olsen, F.R.G.S., 8vo, Grimsby, 

 1881, p. 64. 



Ibid., p. 6 1. ** Ibid., p. 62. 



