ETC. 183 



Another clay 198 pounds tautog. 



Another day 175 i)ounds taiitog. 



Another day 128 pounds tautog. 



Another day 162 pounds tautog 



From the account of fishing by Willia:m Eecord, it appears that 

 he took in a pound, on different days, 80, 120, 211, 272, and 310 pounds. 

 August 1, 121 pounds; 5, 35 pounds blue-fish,- 7th, 54; 8th, 33; 

 9thJ 133; 13th, 9; 11th, 48; 15th, 138 ; 16th, 19; 19th, 185; 26th, 

 21 ; 27th, 31 ; 28th, 519 , 29th, 48. September 2, 28 ; 3d, 54; 6th, 27 ; 

 9th, 116; 11th, 17; 12th, 37; 14th, 135; 22d, 14. October 1, 51. 



Blue-fish are bought of the fishermen for 5 cents a pound. George 

 Crabb averaged 100 pounds a day. In the mouth of June, last year, 

 he caught 1,109 pounds of tautog. 



Mr. J. M. K. SouTHWiCK, a dealer in fishing-tackle, nets, &c., said that 

 small scup had been observed almost every fall about Saughkonet Eiver. 

 A gentleman of Tiverton remembered that many years ago there was 

 precisely such a run of small scup as last year. The hook-and-line fish- 

 ing is now connected with lobstering, and the lobsters are the most im- 

 portant part to that class of fishermen. 



Edward M. Gladding, pilot and fisherman, said line-fishing had not 

 been much attended to this year. He had tried all summer, and could not 

 catch manj'. It is muchpoorer fishing than it was last summer; as much 

 worse as you can think. You cannot catch a messin all day. Tautog'inghas 

 been good for nothing this summer. He had not caught any blue-fish this 

 summer. He had fished more or less for fifty years. Xo man ever saw the 

 fish so scarce as they are now. He had not caught more than four scup 

 this summer. Two-thirds of the fishermen with set-seines have not 

 made anything ; but thousands of fish have been carried to New York 

 and thrown overboard. The heart-seines are death on fish ; they catch 

 anything and everything. The West Bay trap never caught more than 

 this season ; fish were i^lenty in the spring, and then they caught them. 

 One trap caught 1,500 pounds in one day. The first fish of the season 

 are tautog. Fifty years ago sea-bass were plenty about the Yineyard, 

 and he used to fish there ; but no sea-bass are caught there now. \Ye 

 used to get some nights over one hundred big bass, and sell them at 

 New Bedford. 



SA3IUEL SouTHWiCK was a trapper three years ago, at Coddington 

 Cove, and had seined more or less for forty years. Used to catch scup, 

 meuhaden, alewives, and pretty much all kinds of fish. Large scup are 

 now scarce, but other fish are about as plenty as they have been. Last 

 spring more tautog were taken at one haul than he ever took at two in 

 the same place. Twenty years ago the market for fish was better than 

 now. We did not formerly catch Spanish mackerel. He once caught 

 two near Brinton's Reef, which he sold for a dollar apiece, but did not 

 know what they were. 



Bulls-eye mackerel were very plenty here fifteen years ago and more. 

 They were considered better than ordiuary mackerel. They were fiit 

 and small. W^hen found now they are with the small mackerel. 



Squeteague first appeared about twenty years ago ; and they grew 

 more and more plenty. About thirty-five years ago the people did not 

 know what blue-fish were. One night he got 200 and put them on the 

 wharf, and nobody would carry them oft'. 



