AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2481 



Q. That is the only time you used caplin ? A. That is the only time 

 I have used any. 



Q. Are you sure the caplin you purchased at that time were perfectly 

 fresh when you put them in ice f A. I could not say. We got them 

 from one or two boats which came up to us ; but whether they had been 

 caught 24 hours before or that morning 1 could not say. 



Q. Suppose other parties who have had experience in the use of caplin 

 for bait packed in ice pronounced it to be a fish which would keep longer 

 than any other, would you be disposed to contradict the statement? 

 A. 'No; because I have only tried it once, and I speak as I found it. 



Q. You fish with trawls and hand-lines? A. We were fishing with 

 trawls then. 



Q. Fresh bait, I believe, is far superior to salt bait in fishing with 

 trawls? A. I did not find it so that season. We had salt clams, a very 

 costly bait, and we got our trip on it. 



Q. How much did you pay per barrel for that bait? A. I think $10 

 that spring. 



Q. Do you remember what you gave for the caplin ? A. From $1 to 

 $1.50 per barrel. It was not over. $2. 



Q. The season you were fishing, were many American vessels fishing 

 near you ? A. Yes. 



Q. Were they using fresh or salt bait ? A. Some with fresh and some 

 with salt bait. Those using fresh bait did not fish where we did. We 

 could not catch fish where they were. We could not catch as many as 

 we could by ourselves. 



By Sir Alexander Gait : 



Q. You spoke of the mackerel coming at different parts of the year 

 to the coast and spawning? A. Yes. 



Q. They must be different schools of fish, I suppose ? A. Yes. 



Q. They come from the deep waters and go inshore and spawn ? A. 

 Yes. 



Q. The fish spawning off Mount Desert would not belong to the 

 same school as those which spawn off Sandy Hook ? A. Certainly 

 not. 



Q. Do you take the mackerel on St. George's Bank and the Banks in 

 the gulf where the bottom is rocky and broken, or where it is sandy, or 

 do you take them under both these circumstances ? A. Under both. 

 But I do not know that I ever took much notice of that, because our 

 seines do not go to the bottom, and we have not much idea of what the 

 bottom is. 



Q. What is the case with the places which you have described as 

 those where you go ? A. Some are rocky, and more parts are sandy. 



Q. Where is this so ? Give an instance of it. A. It is very rocky off 

 Block Island. 



Q. And you take them there, as I understand it, rather later in the 

 season than at other places ? A. Yes. There is a place twenty-one 

 miles southeast of Block Island where there is a small bank. A great 

 many cod-fishermen lay there, and it is the best place for the large mack- 

 erel to play and show themselves. 

 By Hon. Mr. Kellogg : 



Q. Do you consider that the mackerel go actually in to -the mud ? A. 

 I do not know as they do so. 



Q. Do you believe that this is the case ? A. Yes. 



Q. But they are not of the nature of a mud fish at all ? A. I do not 

 know that they are. 

 156 F 



