Cheyenne transporter. [volume] (Darlington, Indian Terr.) 1879-1886, 1886-03-15
Fish That Take Ballast.

That n fish should ever do anything
SO unfishlike as to take in ballast
would strike many people as paradox
ical Yet those who have gone to sea
in ships and are learned in the fin
bearers lore testify to tho reality of
this phenomenon. The cod is the
fish that lays himself open to this cruel
charge, and is known to actually gulp
down stones almost as large as foot
ball, and more than one Of them, too.
Why it does so a reporter learned
from veteran codiisherman recently.
"Why, yes" said he, "of course cod
fish take in ballast. Why, I've found
eight or ten stones inside the tiishs
NAV after we've caught him. The
cod takes in stone in order to keep him
at the bottom during gale. When
you are cOd-ishing you can always tell
if there is to be a gale or whether'a
gale has just passed that way. Then
you get IN a regular quarry. A good
gale, of course, carries the cod up to
the surface; where he has hard time
of it. You see there is sort of blad-
der which forms in his jaw and runs
out sometimes as far as u foot or SO.
This bladder fills with air and floats
the fish and keeps him from going
down. So in order to prevent that he
picks out sound stones from the sea
bottom and swallows them. Sea ele-
plants do the same thing, and often
huge stones are found IN their stom-
achs."
How is cod caughtp" the reporter
asked.
"They are caught on 'trollers.'
There is long line-a runner fish
ermen call it-and at every ii or Is
feet short line, 5 or 6 feet long, is
fastened. | used to have on my run
ners as many as 800 hooks bated. The
line would be baited on board ship, and
the whole .snood' would be coiled up
into n tube taperng toward the bot
tom, so as to give the line play. The
coiling is very important, and you
must take great care with it, SO as not
to snarl the lines. For bait, dogtish,
whitelish and such like, in chunks
bigger than your hand, is hooked.
The boats put off with the tubes in tho
bow, and when we get to a good spot
the man in the bow passes the line, all
baited, to the stern man, who throws
it overheard as fast rs it is paid out.
1t used to 90 out pretty fast some
times, when the tide was running
strong, and many II fellow has got his
fingers ripped open on the hooks.
The whole line would then be anchor
ed, and we'd wait until slack water
came, which would be in five or six
hours, and then haul in. That used
to be hard work. The fish would run
small and large, and we would hook
i'm skates and doglish and whiteiish
and others beside tho cod. Once when
we were pulling up anchor we hauled
in big stone, which weighed 800
pounds and was full of Ioscolps and
mussels and long and round CLANS.
When we got the ketch back 20 the
smack we'd dress the fish and stow
them away in fine ice. We used to
work day and night sometimes, and
once, of Cape Sable, l slep only nine
hours in five days and nights. ship
load which averaged sixty pounds to
the fish used to be considered n good
one. Sometimes the average would
run as high as l00 pounds. The cod
runs all the way from ID to 200 and
800 pounds in weight. l once caught
one which weighed 800 pounds .-Neu
HaUen NelOS.