426 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
one also in the center. A buoy, usually consisting of a small keg or 
some wooden object, is placed near each end of the line to locate it. 
As a rule a trot line lasts through about half of the season. The cost 
is from $3 to $9, varying with the length, quality, size of rope, and 
kind of grapnels or killicks used, the average being about $5. Some 
fishermen use a stake planted in the mud at each end of the line instead 
of grapnels or killicks. Anchors of stone or brick are also employed. 
BLait.—Beef tripe and eels constitute the usual bait, though calf 
pelts, sting rays, hog chokers, spoilt beef, and various other substi- 
tutes are sometimes used. It is likely that the use of tripe will be 
discontinued in the near future, owing to the fact that the steamboats 
have refused to transport it on account of its offensive odor, and the 
railroad companies will not handle it except when it is packed in 
tightly sealed barrels. The bait is generally used in a salted condi- 
tion, and is placed on the line at intervals of 3 or 4 feet. Fishermen 
bait their lines about once a week, in the meanwhile replacing any bait 
that may have been washed away or eaten. It is usual on Saturday 
or Monday to remove the old bait and put on fresh. After a line has 
been rebaited it is placed in a coil and covered with salt to preserve the 
bait until it is used. 
Manner of fishing.—With few exceptions only one man goes ina 
boat. The lines are set about one-fourth to the tide, or diagonally 
across a stream. In fishing, the line is drawn across the bow of the 
boat; a short-handled scoop net is used to transfer the crab to the 
boat. The lines are overhauled from 10 to 20 times in the course of 
aday. During calm weather it is customary to overhaul them from 
both ends—that is, going and coming—while with a breeze it is con- 
sidered more advantageous to work from the windward, that the boat 
may drift with the wind. This facilitates the handling of the line and 
permits of more crabs being saved than would be the case in working 
from the leeward. With a long line the advantage of overhauling 
from both ends is more apparent, as the crabs have less chance to 
devour the bait. In some localities crabbers aim to reach the fishing 
grounds shortly after midnight, while at others they arrive as late as 3 
or 40’clock in the morning. The object in going early is to get a good 
lay. If it is a moonlight night the lines are set as soon as a lay is 
reached, but if it is dark the crabbers await daylight, in the mean- 
while taking a nap. Crabs very seldom bite before daylight, but if 
they do not begin soon after, the fishermen consider it as well to 
~ return home. Very few crabs are taken between 10 o’clock in the 
morning and 3 o’clock in the afternoon, both on account of the heat 
and the difficulty in getting the catch ashore in good condition. 
Hard crabbers are dependent upon neither wind nor tide, but should 
the water be rough the crabs are liable to be shaken off before they 
can be caught. 
