Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1885-11-07
COD-FiSHiNG.
How the Cod Saves Himssaf from Death -
Taking Ballast.

How the Cod Saves Himsslf from Death ~
Taking Ballast.
That a fish should ever do anything
SO unfishlike as to take in ballast wouA
strike many people as paradoxicaL
Yet those who have gone down to sea
in ships and are learned in fin-bearers'
lore testify to the reality of this Phe'
nomenon. The cod is the fish which
| laws himself open to this cruel charge.
and is known to actually gulp down
stones almost as large as foot balI
and more than one OF thsm. too. Why
it does 90 reporter lsafned from ,
veteran cod-fsherman Yesterday
why, yes" said he. t'of course cod
| ish take in ballast. Why, I've found
,;ght or ten stones inside the 6sh's
nav after we've caught him. The cod
takes in stone in order to keep himself
at the bottom during gale. Whcu
you are cod-fshing you can ALWAYS ten
il there is to be a gale, or whether
gale has just passed that way. Then
YOU get in regular quarry. A good
gale of course carries the cod up to the
snrface, where he has hard time OF II
You see there is a sort of bladder which
forms in his jaw and runs out some
times as far as a foot or so. This blad.
der fills with air and floats the fsh. and
keens him from going down. So in
| order TO prevent that he picks oui
sound stones on the sea bottoms and
swallows them. Sea elephants do the
| same thing. and often huge stones are
! found in their stomachs.
s..How is the cod caughtp" the re-
I porter asked.
..They are caught on 'trollers'
| There is long line. a runner, fisher
men call it and at every fourteen or
! eighteen feet a short line hve
| or six feet long is fastened. l used
| o have on my runners as many as
.hree hundred hooks baited. The line
would be bated on board ship. and
! the whole .snood' would be coiled up
INTO a tub tapering toward the bottom
30 as to give the line play. The coil
ing is very important, and you must
take great care with it SO as not 70
,narl the lines. For bait, dogflsh,
whitetish and such like in chunks big
yer than your hand are hooked on.
The boats put off with the tub in the
BOW. and when we'd get to good
spot the man in the bow passes tbs
line ail baited to the stern man, wht
throws it overheard as fast as 1t II
: -i-psssS. out- II used tor go oa-
I fast sometimes when the tide was RON
ming strong. and many a fellow ha
got his fingers ripped open on tn
hooks. The whole line would then b.
anchored, and we'd wait until bacl
water came. which would be in five ol
SIX hours, and then haul in.
That used to be hard work. The
fish would run small and large, anc
we would hook on skates and dogiist
and whitefish and others besides the
cod. Once when we were pulling ur
anchor we hauled in big stone which
weighed three hundred pounds, and
was full of scallops and mussels and
long and round clans.
when we got the catch back TO one
smack we'd dress the fish and sto"
them away in fine ice. We used tc
work day and night sometimes, ano
once, off Cape Sable, slept only nine
hours ont of five days and nights. A
shipload which averaged sixty pound:
10 the fish used to be considered s
good one. Sometimes the average
would run as high as one hundred
pounds The cod runs all the way
from fifteen to two and three hundred
pounds in weight. / once. caught one
which weighed over three hundred
pounds. .'-NcU Hdren NeUS.