208 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
Cod fishing has been done here for the last 15 or 20 years to a certain extent, and 
for the last 4 or 5 years there have been from 30 to 100 men engaged all winter 
through, with from 15 to 25 boats of all descriptions, some having 3 men and some 7. 
They all quit about the middle of March, with the exception of myself and one or two 
more. We find occasional herring and menhaden in cod all the winter through. 
To give you some idea of the number of fish running along here at the different 
times of the year, from November to Christmas a boat with 5 men fishing 5,000 hooks 
a day will catch from 600 to 1,200 fish. The same rig from Christmas to March will 
catch from 100 to 500 fish. After that time they become quite plentiful again, but 
the dog sharks are so thick that you can not do much. 
April 14, 1901.—Cod have been rather scarce this spring on the Jersey coast. Dog 
sharks have commenced to be quite numerous, and this will about end the cod 
fishing. We are catching quite a number of cod with large roe about ready to be 
thrown off, and we find an occasional menhaden in them. 
June 10, 1901.—None of the tagged fish we caught had any spawn in them. In 
fact, after Christmas only an occasional cod, perhaps a dozen in 200 or 300, will have 
spawn, while before Christmas half of them will be spawn fish. 
Mr. R. C. Small reported from Nantucket in November, 1900, that— 
The fishermen have not seen a single tag during this season’s fishing, nor did they 
in 1899 after the spring catch. Of course, they fish here until late in December, and 
if anything turns up I will inform you at once. The cod are running rather small, 
that is, there are a great many 2 and 23 feet, but they seem to school by themselves, 
and the fishermen shift from time to time to get better size. 
While most of the tagged fish were taken on lines, quite a number 
were caught in fixed appliances. Perhaps a dozen were secured in 
trap or pound nets in New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, 
and one was caught in a lobster pot in Connecticut. A fish taken in a 
pound net off Seagirt, N. J., contained an alewife 83 inches long and 
four cockles (Lunatia). 
In April, 1901, a remarkable piebald cod, taken off Race Point, 
Massachusetts, was sent to the Commission. It weighed 10 pounds, 
and was apparently normal in all respects except as to color. The 
usual greenish-brown ground color and brown spots were lacking over 
nearly the entire body, and irregular blotches of creamy white and 
bright orange predominated on body and head. The fins were marked 
by white, orange, dull red, and greenish-black streaks, for the most 
part parallel with the rays. The iris was dark. 
