THE LOBSTER FISHERY. 677 



KINDS OF BAIT USED, NEW HAMPSHIRE TO NEW YORK. On the New Hampshire coast 

 many kinds of fish, including flounders and cod, are employed as lobster bait. The variety of fish 

 used for the same purpose on the coast of Massachusetts is equally great, the fishermen taking 

 those kinds which are supposed to answer best, and which at the same time are most easily and 

 cheaply obtained. About Cape Ann flounders and sculpins are commonly employed in the sum- 

 mer, and cod heads and halibut heads in the spring. Fish heads are also much used about Cape 

 Cod. In Vineyard Sound and Buzzard's Bay menhaden are considered to make the best bait, but in 

 the same region flounders, dogfish, and other species are alao^employed. Throughout Long Island 

 Sound menhaden are most commonly used as bait, but in the absence of menhaden the fishermen 

 resort to other forms having little or no commercial value, such as flounders, skates, dogfish, &c. 



THE METHODS OP FISHING-. 



MANNER OF SETTING AND HAULING THE TRAPS. The boats used by the lobster fishermen 

 are, as described elsewhere, of different sizes and of several .different rigs, some having sails and 

 others not. The pots are set both singly and in trawls. Originally they were always set in the 

 former way, which is the simpler, but as the fishermen came to use a greater number of pots, they 

 found it more convenient to arrange them on lines, which could be hauled continuously from one 

 end to the other. The setting of the pots trawl-fashion, therefore, enables each fisherman to handle 

 a considerably larger gang with less trouble and in much shorter time. The character of the bot- 

 tom greatly influences the method of handling the pots, as does also the abundance of lobsters. It is 

 difficult to use the pots in trawls on rocky bottoms as the lines are liable to be cut on the rocks, 

 and tlie pots themselves become caught. As a rule, therefore, the pots are set on single warps on 

 rough bottoms. On smooth bottoms they can always be handled more conveniently and rapidly 

 attached in trawls, and in regions of this character this is the customary method of setting them. 

 Where lobsters are not very abundant, however, the fishermen regard it as more advantageous to 

 change the location of the pots a little every time they are hauled, and to do this they must be set 

 singly. The drift of the boat by the tide, while each pot is being hauled up, baited and lowered, 

 is considered to alter the ground sufficiently for this purpose. In hauling a trawl of pots some of 

 the pots always remain on the bottom, acting like an anchor to retain the boat in about the same 

 position. 



The operation of hauling the pots set singly from a sail-boat is thus described by a correspond- 

 ent at Bristol, Me. : 



"As the fishermen have their pots set on single warps, unlike the fishermen to the westward 

 of here, they keep their boats under sail while hauling. The pots are set in rows. In winter the 

 inner pots will be somewhere near some of the outer islands or ledges, the line of pots extending 

 off shore. The boats are sloop-rigged, and when the inner end of the row of buoys is reached, the 

 fisherman hauls down his jib, eases off the main sheet, and shooting up alongside of the buoy, 

 catches hold of it with a gaff and hauls the pot, while the boat lies to, drifting slowly to leeward. 

 After the pot is thrown over again, he rights the helm, the boat easily fills away under her main- 

 sail, and he goes to the next buoy and so on to the end. When the weather is very cold the lobsters 

 are put in the cuddy to prevent their freezing until the boat arrives home." 



Another correspondent, at Vinal Haven, Me., states that " both trawl and single buoy lines 

 are used in that vicinity, the latter method generally having the preference, as the pots may 

 thereby be scattered more where the lobsters are scarce, and the fishermen claim that by shifting 

 them a little every time they are hauled, they fish better. As a rule, the pots are hauled in a row- 

 boat, the cases of hauling with sail-boats being rare. A peculiar style of row-boat, called a 'pea- 

 pod' or ' double euder,' is used quite extensively in this fishery hereabouts." 



