242 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



The favorite fishing grounds are upon soft and muddy bottom in 25 to 75 fathoms of water, and 

 usually within 15 miles of shore. Frenchman's Bay is one of the favorite haking grounds, being 

 largely frequented by the smaller boats. As long ago as 1850 it was customary for the New 

 England fishermen to resort in large numbers to this locality. 



Many of the grounds formerly considered very good are now thought by the fishermen to be of 

 little importance. The fishermen attribute the remarkable decrease which, in many instances, has 

 occurred in the abundance and size of the species, to the absence of menhaden from the coast 

 north of Cape Cod, which fish they believe formerly attracted the largo hake near the shore. Where 

 largo hake were formerly caught only small ones can now be taken. 



2. THE VESSELS. 



The vessels are the smallest class of fishing vessels, and the majority of them o'd fashioned, 

 and only used in the season of pleasant weather. Most of them are schooners, -a few are pinkies, 

 and quite a number of them are of the old-fashioned, round-bowed, square-stern model, long ago 

 abandoned by builders. Many of them date back to the first third of the present century. They 

 carry from one to four dories, according to the size of the vessel, and are provided with light cables 

 and anchors of no uniform pattern. There is no uniform method of fitting up the hold of the vessel 

 or its deck, none being required in this kind of fishing. 



3. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF THE FISHERY. 



The boats are of all patterns, from the dory to the Quoddy boat. 



The fishing is carried on, for the most part, at night and chiefly with trawls. A f<w of the 

 boat fishermen still use hand-lines. The trawls are similar to the haddock trawls, though some- 

 times slightly heavier. They are coiled in tubs and are set in strings with 300 to 1,500 hooks each. 

 They are set from the boats or dories in the same manner as the trawls used in the shore cod fishery, 

 and are usually underrun twice a day in the morning to remove the fish, and at night to bait the 

 hooks. Some fishermen, however, bait in the morning when they remove the fish. Others, again, 

 will remove the fish and rebait both in the morning and in the evening. The trawls are left down 

 until it is necessary to change their position, or until a fare of fish is obtained. It is not unusual 

 for a trawl to be left down, by a boat fisherman who carries his fish daily to the shore, for several 

 vreeks at a time. 



The favorite baits are herring and mackerel, which are, for the most part, obtained from the 

 weir fishermen along the shores, though occasionally the bait is caught in gill-nets. In former 

 years, when menhaden or pogies were abundant on the coast of Maine, they were the favorite bait. 

 The hooks are baited as in the cod fishery. 



4. THE PRODUCTS. 



The hake vary in size from 1 to 20 pounds, and individuals of 30 or 40 pounds are occasionally 

 obtained. At the present time they are chiefly valued on account of their sounds and livers, the 

 former being used in the manufacture of isinglass (see chapter on isinglass), the latter for the 

 manufacture of oil. Until within thirty years the sounds had no value, but since that time the 

 isinglass industry has sprung up. 



The fish are split and salted in the ordinary manner, and stowed in the hold of the vessels or 

 in fish-houses, by the boat-fishermen, by whom they are shipped to Gloucester, Portland, or Boston 

 in freight vessels as soon as the curing is completed, or, at latest, at the end of the season. The 



