18 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
evew, who are generally the captain and the cook, hold the stern and bow painters. The man ir 
the bow of the boat jumps on deck, while the other hooks the fish with a gaff and hands them up 
to his dorymate standing ready to haul them in over the vessel’s rail. 
The operation of pulling halibut from the dory over the schooner’s rail is much facilitated by 
ihe rolling of the vessel; the man who hauls in the fish watches the motion, and by a sudden ex- 
ertion of strength at the right moment is able to take a fish on deck which a novice, unacquainted 
with the “knack,” could not raise at all. Should there be some heavy fish in the boat, the skipper 
generally assists to pull them on deck. Sometimes the skipper chooses to haul the whole, or nearly 
all, of the fish over the rail, and we have heard of a cook who made a practice of doing this work. 
The methods adopted by the hand-line George’s fishermen are, of course, radically different 
from those just described. It may be remarked incidentally that the George’s fishermen are paid 
in accordance with the amount of fish which each catches, while the trawlers all share equally in the 
proceeds. It naturally follows that, when halibut are bringing a high price, the hand-line fisherman 
who catches a considerable quantity of these fish makes much more money than his shipmates. 
Consequently there is much rivalry in a vessél’s crew wheu it is known that halibut are on the 
ground where she is lying, and every known device is adopted to entice the fish to bite at the hooks, 
Strips of newly-caught haddock, with the fresh blood still on them, are considered the best bait. 
These are usually about 6 to 8 inches long, an inch or so wide at one end, and tapering to a point 
at the other. Two, three, or more of these pieces are put on a hook, the latter being passed 
through the thickest ends of the strips, while the pointed ends of the bait are left to float about 
in the water. Where there is a tide running these closely resemble the movements of small fish. 
The hooks are usually “pointed” with herring bait. After the bait is on the hooks, many fisher. 
men add (as they believe) to its attractiveness by mopping it in the slime of a halibat, if one has 
been previously caught. This is done by rubbing the baited hook back and forth over the fish. 
The lure thus prepared the fisherman lowers his apparatus to the, bottom, and by a skillful manip- 
ulation tries to induce the fish to bite. Sometimes he will let the tide sweep his “gear” along the 
bottom, and again he will endeavor to give his baits the appearance of life by slowly pulling them 
up a short distance from the ground. If he finally succeeds in hooking a halibpt, all his art is re- 
quired to bring the fish to the surface and land it safely on deck. If it be a large fish it almost 
invariably makes a desperate fight toescape. It may, perhaps, come up easily for 10 or 15 fathoms, 
when it suddenly takes a plunge downward. Surge! surge! goes the line through the hands of the 
fisherman, who knows very well that he must “play ” his fish or else his line will be snapped like 
pack thread. This operation may be repeated several times, and it is not uncommon for a large 
and particularly “wild” halibut to go almost to the bottom after having been hauled nearly to the 
surface of the water. At last the fish is alongside, and the shout of “Gaffs! gaffs here!” brings 
two or three of the nearest men to the side, armed with long-handled gaffs. If the fish is 
exhausted the gaffs are quickly hooked into his head and he is dragged unceremoniously over the 
rail and falls with a heavy thud on deck, which usually resounds with the strokes of his powerful 
tail until he is stunned by repeated blows with a killer. On the other hand, if the halibut is still 
active when he comes alongside, much dexterity is required to gaff him. He makes desperate 
attempts to escape, and thrashes the water into foam with his tail. Sometimes, but not often, 
halibut escape after being brought alongside. 
When the fish is on deck and killed, his captor cuts his mark in a conspicuous manner, gener- 
ally on the white surface of the halibut, which is the under portion when the fish is in the 
water, but is invariably turned upward after it is taken on deck; this method being adopted to 
prevent the blood from settling on that side and thus making the fish look dark colored or gray. 
