THE EARLY METHODS OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 299 
practiced by Mr. Isaac Allerton and his fishing company at Hull as early as 1626. After half a 
century the mode of fishing was changed to that of drailing with long lines while the vessel was 
under easy way; and this mode has been changed within these last twenty years (1811-1831). The 
mode of fishing generally practiced now is to invite the fish around the vessel while lying to by 
throwing out great quantities of fish cut in small pieces, and to take them with short lines held in 
the hand and drawn in with a single motion of the arm. By this method it is thought that thrice 
as many fish may be taken in a given time as by any other method. They are a capricious and 
sportive fish. In cloudy and even wet weather they take.the hook with most avidity. They are 
very partial to the color of red; hence a rag of that hue io sometimes a bait. A small strip of 
their own flesh taken from near the tail is used with most success.” 
Seining mackerel with drag-seines is still practiced extensively in the British Provinces. That 
the practice was in vogue in Massachusetts less than fifty years ago is shown by the following 
item from the Gloucester Telegraph of June 30, 1838: 
“Last week twenty barrels of mackerel were seined at one haul at Sandy Point by Captain 
Baker. His seine is 500 yards long. A few weeks ago he inclosed a multitude of fishes, princi- 
pally menhaden shad. It is estimated that their number was 200,000.” 
In his History of Scituate, pp. 25-27, Samuel Deane writes: ‘In early times the shores of our 
bays were skirted with forest trees quite near to the water’s edge. In the month of June, when 
all nature is in bloom, the volatile farina of the forest trees then floats in the air, and occasionally 
settles on the smooth surface of the seas. Then it is that this playful fish, attracted by this phe- 
nomenon, leaps and bounds above the surface of the water. So again ata later season, in July 
and August, winged insects, carried away by the southwest winds, settle and rest on the bosom 
of the ocean, a welcome herald, it is said, to the mackerel catcher. Such are the habits of many 
fishes, and hence the use of the fly as a bait by the angler of the trout streams.” 
Douglas, in 1747, says: “ Mackerel, split, salted, and barreled, for the negroes in the sugar 
islands are caught either by hook, seines, or meshes. Those by hook are the best; those by seines 
are worst, because in bulk they are bruised. Mackerel will not take the hook unless it have a 
motion of two or three knots. If quicker, they will take the hook, but their jaw, being tender, 
gives way, and the mackerel is lost. There are two seasons of mackerel—spring and autumn. The 
autumn mackerel are the best. Those of the spring appear about the middle of May, very lean, 
and vanish in two or three weeks.” 7 
2. DRAILING FOR MACKEREL. 
Captain Atwood writes: “In my boyhood, when I caught my first mackerel, nobody thought 
of jigging them. We then took them in the same way as bluefish are caught. My first experience 
in mackerel fishing took place, when I was a little boy, about 1815. I went out with two old men. 
One of them fished in the stern of the boat, and when it did not sail fast enough the other and 
myself—I was eight years old at the time—had to row, in order, by the more rapid motion of the 
boat, to induce the fish to bite. They would not bite unless the line was towed. Two great long 
poles were run out, one just forward, in such a manner that our vessel had the appearance of a 
long-armed spider. The poles were straight, and one line was fastened at one part and another 
line ou the end of the pole, in order to have them separated. This style of fishing continued until 
about the time when I began to go to sea, about 1820. Jigging for mackerel then commenced, bait 
being thrown overboard, and the fish being thus attracted alongside of the vessel, and this soon 
came into general use.” 
