THE HADDOCK FISHERY OF NEW ENGLAND. 237 
Fresh herring is also used for bait, though to a comparatively limited extent, until within the 
past five or six years, when they have been the only bait which could be procured. 
Capt. 8. J. Martin, of Gloucester, writes: ‘Five or six years ago pogie slivers were exclusively 
used for bait by haddock fishermen, but for the past two winters none of these could be obtained, 
and mackerel and herring have been the principal bait. The first vessels that started in October 
(1880) took fresh mackerel for bait. When the herring came on the coast, or were brought to 
Gloucester frozen, they were the bait depended on by the haddock catchers.” 
In cutting up menhaden slivers for haddock bait sections are made trapezoidal or square in form, 
with a surface area of about a square inch. One of these pieces is placed on each hook, and as 
the hooks are baited the line is coiled in the tub, the hooks being placed around on the side, points 
up.* When the fisherman is ready to bait his trawl, he sits upon his bench, with the empty tub 
between his legs and the trawl-line removed from the tub and turned right side up in front of him, 
his bait being in a bucket at his side. In his left hand he takes eight or ten pieces of bait, and 
with both hands he pulls the line toward him, coiling it in the tub after baiting the hooks; he 
places them in the tub in the manner just described. 
As is always the case where a number of men are working together at the same employment, 
there is sharp competition among the men as to who shall be the first to get his trawl baited. The 
average time consumed in baiting five hundred hooks is from forty-five to sixty minutes, though 
the most skillful men have been known to accomplish the task in half an hour. It will be seen 
that the labor of baiting three or four tubs, which falls daily to each man when the fishing is good, 
occupies a considerable portion of the day, or rather of the night, since the baiting is usually done 
at night. In baiting at night each man has a lamp of peculiar pattern, which is fastened to the 
edge of his tub by a hook; sometimes the trawls are snarled, and the whole night is devoted to 
clearing and baiting them. A-man will go into the hold to bait after the fish are dressed in the 
evening and perhaps not finish his task until daybreak, when it is time to go out to set again. 
METHODS OF FISHING.—As has been remarked, the haddock catchers never anchor on the 
banks when fishing. The usage in this respect has greatly changed within the last few years. 
When the fishery was less extensive and was carried on entirely upon the inshore grounds they 
were accustomed to anchor, set their trawls, and underrun them, but now the trawls are all set 
while the vessel is lying to, waiting for the dories. This operation is called “setting under sail,” 
and its successful performance is one of the most complicated evolutions performed by vessels and 
boats, requiring a high degree of skill on the part of the men on the vessels and in the boats. 
Let us imagine ourselves on the deck of a haddock schooner at daybreak approaching Jeffries 
Ledge. The skipper, having first sounded and obtained the desired depth of water, decides to 
make a set and gives the order, “Get the top dories ready!” at the same time indicating how 
many tubs he thinks it is desirable for each dory to set. The four men to whom the two top dories 
belong adjust the anchors, buoy-lines, and buoys which are already in the dories, and also place in 
them the other necessary fishing-gear. The dory-tackles are then hooked on, and the boats are 
swung over the side of the vessel. The middle dories are then equipped in a similar manner by 
their respective crews, and as soon as these are ready the top dories are dropped into the water 
and paid astern and the middle ones are swung over the side, the bottom dories being then pre- 
pared for action in their turn. The middle dories are now dropped down and paid astern with the 
others, and the bottom dories are swung upon the sides and are ready to be lowered at the proper 
moment. Hight men take their places in the dories towing astern; perhaps, in fact, the four men 
belonging to the top dories are already there and ready to set. : 
* The Irish fishermen of Boston place their trawls in baskets, coiling the line in one part and putting the baited 
hooks in another division of the basket. 
