THE EARLY METHODS OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 299 



practiced by Mr. Isaac Allerton aud his fishing company at Hull as early as 1626. After half a 

 century the mode of fishing was changed to that of drailing with long lines while the vessel was 

 under easy way; and this mode has been changed within these last twenty years (1811-1831). The 

 mode of fishing generally practiced now is to invite the fish around the vessel while lying to by 

 throwing out great quantities of fish cut in small pieces, and to take them with short lines held in 

 the hand and drawn in with a single motion of the arm. By this method it is thought that thrice 

 as many fish may be taken in a giveii time as by any other method. They are a capricious and 

 sportive fish. In cloudy and even wet weather they take the hook with most avidity. They are 

 very partial to the color of red ; hence a rag of that hue io sometimes a bait. A small strip of 

 their own flesh taken from near the tail is used with most success." 



Seining mackerel with drag-seines is still practiced extensively in the British Provinces. That 

 the practice was in vogue in Massachusetts less than fifty years ago is shown by the following 

 item from the Gloucester Telegraph of June, 30, 1838: 



" Last week twenty barrels of mackerel were seined at one haul at Sandy Point by Captain 

 Baker. His seine is 500 yards long. A few weeks ago he inclosed a multitude of fishes, princi- 

 pally menhaden shad. It is estimated that their number was 200,000." 



In his History of Scituate, pp. 25-27, Samuel Deane writes : " In early times the shores of our 

 bays were skirted with forest trees quite near to the water's edge. In the month of June, when 

 all nature is in bloom, the volatile farina of the forest trees then floats in the air, and occasionally 

 settles on the smooth surface of the seas. Then it is that this playful fish, attracted by this phe- 

 nomenon, leaps and bounds above the surface of the water. So again at a later season, in July 

 and August, winged insects, carried away by the southwest winds, settle and rest on the bosom 

 of the ocean, a welcome herald, it is said, to the mackerel catcher. Such are the habits of many 

 fishes, and hence the use of the fly as a bait by the angler of the trout streams." 



Douglas, in 1747, says : " Mackerel, split, salted, and barreled, for the negroes in the sugar 

 islands are caught either by hook, seines, or meshes. Those by hook are the best; those by seines 

 are worst, because in bulk they are bruised. Mackerel will not take the hook unless it have a 

 motion of two or three knots. If quicker, they will take the hook, but their jaw, being tender, 

 gives way, and the mackerel is lost. There are two seasons of mackerel spring and autumn. The 

 autumn mackerel are the best. Those of the spring appear about the middle of May, very lean, 

 and vanish in two or three weeks." 



2. DRAILING FOR MACKEREL. 



Captain Atwood writes: "In my boyhood, when I caught my first mackerel, nobody thought 

 of jigging them. We then took them in the same way as bluefish are caught. My first experience 

 in mackerel fishing took place, when I was a little boy, about 1815. I went out with two old men. 

 One of them fished in the stern of the boat, and when it did not sail fast enough the other and 

 myself- I was eight years old at the time had to row, in order, by the more rapid motion of the 

 boat, to induce the fish to bite. They would not bite unless the line was towed. Two great long 

 poles were run out, one just forward, in such a manner that our vessel had the appearance of a 

 long-armed spider. The poles were straight, and one line was fastened at one part and another 

 line on the end of the pole, in order to have them separated. This style of fishing continued until 

 about the time when I began to go to sea, about 1820. Jigging for mackerel then commenced, bait 

 being thrown overboard, and the fish being thus attracted alongside of the vessel, and this soon 

 came into general use." 



