Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-08-23
How cod and IuaIrbut are taken.

4 correspondent of the New York Times
has been out two weeks in a fishing boat for
the sake Of the experience and pleasure and
after relating how seven men were slowed
whore there was only room for two and de-
scribing the horrors Of the maiide de mar,
ha says;
The anchor was dropped on the shoals and
the crew spent the evening in getting the lines
ready for work ia the morning They We're
all up long before daylight. just about the
time most people go to bed. Before it was
light, 250 pieces of bunny fish were faaten-
ed TO as many hooks, and as soon as the men
could see, three of them went out in the
'dory." the little boat we carried One end
of the long cod line was fastened to the
schooner, and as they rowed the little boat
away far out OF sight in the fog, the coil un-
wound, and the baited hooks dropped into
the water. In five minutes or so they reached
the end of the line and stopped. There were
2j0 hooks out, each hook waiting to be bitten
by cod. A little twitching of the line occa-
sonally told that another fish was caught.
At the end of an hour or so they began to
draw in the line from both ends As it came
up about every fifth or sixth hook had n cod
Sometime three or four hooks together. each
had n cod As fast as they came in they We're
unlocked and dropped on deck. Then the
little boat came in with what they had got of
the line. and the line was drawn ill., TIE
livelicst Of the fish were put in "thc well. ~ TO
be taken to New York alive. The well is
tank, eight or ten feet deep, built in the hold
Of the schooner. In its bottom auger-holes
are bored so that fresh sea water is continual
ly running in. The live fish are worth trifle
more than dead ones, and hence the extra
trouble taken with them.
Catching cod is very much like having the
fish already fastened to the lincs-dead fish
and then hauling them in. A cod comes in rs
calmly as if policeman had him by the
| shoulder. There is no more fight in him than
in Quaker A good-sized cod weighs from
| twenty to thirty pounds, gross, and the fisher
! imam gets about two cents pound for him
delivered in New York. The fish that are not
| put in the well are thrown into the hold, which
| is divided into little ice houses. There they
are carefully packed away in broken ice.
| The men walk around and stand in this ice
| barefoot rs readily as if it had been warmed
over stove. Why they don't wear their
/ boots is "a mystery.
The sport begins when the halbut lines are
thrown out. The haliLut is full OF game, and
| big enough to make himself felt very
larg4 halibut weighs 800 pounds. 1t is said
they sometimes grow to coo pounds. but they
must be the scientific kind that are never
| caught on hooks. There are biood-cUdling
stories Of hallbut lines being fastened to the
ships windass and thus drawn aboard. In
this way it would take half an hour to get "a
fish aboard after he was caught. The real
| way is much easier and quicker. The line
used Is o. very long and strong one. Half a
dozen men might puil on it all day and they
couldn't break It, Yet it is not as thick rs a
| slender little finger. On the end Of 1t is the
| same kind OF hook IL, is used FOR cod, ba!tod
with the same kind Of bait.
when a ha.ibut takes hold of the hook if
the fisherman has the line firmly grasped in
his hand. he finds it out 10y having a hole cut
through his skin before he has time to let go.
The halibut makes a dive as soon us lac feel-
the hook in his mouth, and any man who
tries to hold him with bare hands will want
some ointment aftorward The men save
their hands somewhat 10y using circular guards
covered with stocking yarn, with an indenta.
tiun around the outer edges for the line tC
run in Bat when a IGaU pets g.tuey fsl
on the end of his line, h. is likely TO forg
all about his hands, drop his guard out of thC
way. and Iiull for dear life. The halibut Ia,
little picnic by himself for "a while, swim
ming around. and pulling the line in every
imaginable direction till he gets tired Thi,
usually takes from five to ten minutes. Thel
he win Let himself be pulled up pretty quietly
to the side of the boat. But the minute tbs
raising process begins, and the hook is draw
deeper into his mouth, he begins the tigh
again, and twists himself into such n shape
like an eel. that it takes a hard pull to gel
him out OF the water.
If the man with the line should attempt tC
pull halibut cut of the water alone, Ii,
would cut through his finger bones. So h,
never tries it. IS soon rs the fish has been
drawn through the water up to the side of tht
boat so that he can be seen, the fisherman
fasttns his line and two Others go to his assist
auce. The fish of course looks about fou
times os large while he is under water as h,
really is, and the amateur fisherman is very
likely to think there IS a whale alongside
Tho fisherman and the two other men thei
haul him in. They arr armed with gar
hooks, about the length Of mans forearm
the hook itself being about the length of tn
hand bent into hoop shape. When these thre
hooks are in the halibut, with a man at tn
end of each hook, he comes on deck withou
any hesitation.