280 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
The method of baiting the jigs which has been adopted by mackerel fishermen is somewhat 
peculiar, and a description of the process may be of interest in this place. 
As arule, when a mackerel schooner first arrives on the fishing ground and is about to begin 
fishing with hook and line, the jigs, which are to be immediately used, are baited with small circular 
pieces of pork rind, two or three of these being put on each hook. Sometimes, however, no one 
but the skipper uses pork-rind bait, the other members of the crew preferring to wait until some 
mackerel are caught from which they can procure a supply of bait for their hooks. The favorite 
way of baiting mackerel hooks is as follows, namely: Several thin strips, about a half inch wide 
and 3 to 5 inches long, are cut either from the belly of the mackerel or from the lower portion of 
the body on either side of the anal fin.* When a sufficient number of these slices have been 
obtained they are cut into sections, each of which is, approximately, a half inch square. A large 
number of these pieces are put on the hook, completely filling the bend, after which the baits are 
scraped with the back of a knife in such a manner as to remove everything but the tough white 
skin, which, when distended in the water, forms a soft pulpy mass about the size of the end of 
one’s forefinger; but this can be contracted into a very small space, and thus afford the eager fish 
ample opportunity to secure a good hold of the hook while seeking the tempting but yielding morsel 
upon it. A bait of this kind will last more than an hour without being renewed, even when mack- 
erel are biting sharply. When the fish are “picking” or less inclined to take the hook, a fisherman 
is often not obliged to bait his jigs more than once in a whole day. Sometimes the fishermen cut 
out a small circular piece from the throat of the mackerel, which they place on their hook above 
the scraped bait. This throat piece is quite firm, and for awhile prevents the soft skins composing 
the bait below it from being entangled on the point of the hook and thus preventing the latter 
from easily catching the biting fish. 
In the early days of the mackerel hook fishery the toll bait chiefly used was made of small 
mackerel, and sometimes of large ones too when small fish could not be obtained. The viscera of 
the mackerel were also frequently used in the absence of better. From 1835 to 1840 menhaden 
came into general use, and were subsequently always in high favor. They had, however, been in 
common use by Gloucester fishermen at the very commencement of the century. They were caught 
in gill-nets. It was the custom of the Gloucester people to leave home a little after tea, set their 
nets off Kettle Island, and lie there till about midnight. They would then haul their nets, pick 
out the fish, and start off to the mackerel grounds.t 
There can be no question that the custom of chopping up small mackerel for bait was detri- 
mental to the mackerel fishery in succeeding years, and that the introduction of menhaden was a 
benefit to the fishery in more ways than one. Asa “toll bait” for the mackerel, menhaden is 
believed to be better than any other fish; the mackerel seem to prefer it; and the presence in its 
flesh of a quantity of oil renders it especially convenient for the use of fishermen, since in the 
process of “chumming-up,” presently to be described, a small quantity of ground menhaden bait 
will spread over a large area of water. In the Report of the Commissioner of Fisheries, Part V, 
pp. 143 to 147, may be found a discussion of the comparative merits of herring and menhaden as a 
bait for mackerel. 
The quantity of menhaden bait carried by a mackerel schooner on a trip of two and a half to. 
three months to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence varied, according to the size of the vessel, from 25 to 
*Strips for bait cut from near the anal fin are usually prefeired, since they cannot so easily be torn from the 
hook as can the fatter and tenderer strips taken from the abdomen. 
t Mr. Earll writes: ‘ Daniel Cameron, of Southport, states that pogies were first used in Maine about 1844, and 
by 1846 had come iuto general use. People of this section claim to have introduced the menhaden or pogy, Breveortia 
tyrannus, as mackerel bait, but with whoin the practice originated I was unable to learn,” 
a 
