THE FISHING INDUSTRY. 407 



must buy two dozen hooks of various sizes and a lialf- 

 dozen skeins of fish line. 



At about the first of May, having attended to the affairs 

 at home and having outfitted for a two or three months' 

 cruise, we all get aboard the schooner at about the full 

 tide and hoist the sails ; off we float past Bassing Beach 

 and White Head and through the ledges. Minot's Light- 

 house is not yet built, not even the old iron one ; but our 

 skipper knows every rock as well as a person knows his, 

 own fingers by feeling. 



This is the first fare of the summer, and we are bound 

 for a more southerly coast ; say, off Cape May, N. J. 

 If the wind is a raw one from the east, we shall beat 

 out slowly past Provincetown, but from there down on 

 the outside of the Cape we can make a good run to the 

 fishing ground in three days. During that time we are 

 busy getting the bait and the jigs ready for fish. We have 

 jig molds for running a little melted lead about the shaft 

 of each hook, so that hook and sinker are one. Each jig 

 is tied to the end of a line and sometimes another hook 

 is fastened a few inches above the jig. 



Bait boxes holding two buckets each are made with a 

 fixture to hang them upon the outside of the schooner's 

 rail, three on one side. The bait consists of three or 

 four barrels of pogies, menhaden (something like herring), 

 and the same amount of clams. The fish for bait are 

 ground up in a mill somewhat like a huge coffee mill 

 standing upon the deck. A half bushel may be ground in 

 five or ten minutes, and a few clams are mixed into them. 

 This makes good provender for mackerel, and is put into 

 the bait boxes to be strewn upon the water where schools 

 of the fish may be enticed. 



Having arrived off Cape May, according to the cap- 

 tain's reckoning or his guess, the vessel sets herself to 

 fish from the broadside. The captain shouts : " Hook on 

 the main boom tackle on the port side ! " " Haul down 



