AMBROSE ON ST. MARGARETS BAY FISHING GROUNDS. 37 



there die. Here, if the lines happen to drop in a good spot, such 

 as a little ravine with a bottom of clay, sand and shells, the fish are 

 very frequently caught in pairs, and as fast as the bait can be sent 

 to the bottom. 



My informants do not remember catching spawning fish of the 

 cod kind out here, though at the proper season they frequently 

 catch milters with the milts running out. Of the cusk spawners 

 are found in October on this Bank, with ripe spawn in them. In 

 the months of April and May, both cod and cusk bite best in day 

 time, but from the beginning of June to the end of the fishing sea- 

 son, i. e., the last of November, they take bait most greedily during 

 the night. Both also bite best in southerly and easterly weather, 

 but when the wind is north-east they do not take bait readily, so 

 far, as well as in their time of spawning, resembling the lake trout. 



Cod and ling do not run together, but in separate schools, each 

 kind by themselves, as indeed is the habit with most sea-fish. Ling 

 are increasing on our outside fishing grounds, whilst halibut which 

 formerly were plentiful and taken close in shore, are now scarce, 

 even on the outer banks. The oil from the liver of the ling is much 

 prized among our people as an outward application to sprains and 

 bruises. The ling caught in deep sounduigs differ from the others, 

 like the cod taken in similar localities, by having the eyes more 

 prominent and covered with a thicker skin or film. The back skin 

 of those deep water codfish too, is of a darker, bluer cast, than that 

 of the in- shore fish, and the snout is longer and apparently better 

 suited for digging shell-fish out of the clay. In all depths of water 

 the colour of these fish in some degree resembles, that of the bottom 

 on which they feed. 



The in-shore codfish come into the Bay to spawn in October. 

 These are not so long as the deep-water fish, but more junky. 

 Some of the very large and long fish, also, come in at the same time 

 for the same purpose. An immense one was caught last October, 

 near Dover, but was so much mutilated in the splitting, that I was 

 unable to get the accurate measurements of it. There is a tradition 

 of one having been caught off Prospect many years ago, which 

 when dried weighed one pound over a quintal.* 



*Mr. Saml. Croucher caught a codfish, wliich when dried weighed 50 lbs. Mr. 

 Benjamin Smeltzer caught one on a trawl this year, which measured 5 feet 10 

 inches long. 



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