The term “shack-fishing,” it may be explained, owes its origin to the kind of material used as bait, the word “shack” being applied to refuse or offal. The vessels procuring fares in this manner were called “shack-fishermen.” They usually resorted to the Banks in early spring, carrying a limited amount of salt clams, salt squid, or menhaden slivers, which were intended to be used in commencing the fishing season, and to eke out any deficiency which might occur in the bait supply. The fishing being well under way, the crews depended upon such bait as they- could procure on the Banks, such as birds, small halibut, porpoises, and sometimes codfish; all of which, together with the contents of the stomachs of the cod, which often consisted largely of bank clams and occasionally young squid and capelin, were called “shack,” or “shack bait.” A fisherman preparing a bird for shack-bait cuts off the feet, tail, and neck; then, making a cut across the breast, he strips off the skin and throws it overboard. Having removed the skins and viscera (the latter makes an excellent bait) from as many birds as he has at hand, he pounds the bodies with the back of a heavy knife or stick, breaking the bones, or, as he would term it, “mummies them up.” This beaten and bruised mass of flesh and bones is then cut up into small pieces of suitable sizes to be used as bait. At this point the fisherman is influenced by the number of birds he has on hand. Should the supply be bountiful, he divides the bodies into comparatively large sections, while, on the other hand, if the birds are scarce, he must exercise the strictest economy, and subdivides the material into correspondingly small pieces, large enough only to “point the hooks,” while an inferior and less desirable bait may be used on the shanks. On some parts of the Grand Bank cod are found in great abundance, and the clams taken from the “pokes “ (stomachs) often furnish a considerable percentage of the requisite amount of bait for the trip. The roes of the cod, when partially developed, are also used as bait, since they make a fairly attractive lure, and if properly attached to the hooks cannot be easily pulled off by the fish. When this bait is used the “pea” is cut into strips in such a manner that they may be turned inside out; the hook is then passed through and through the membraneous covering in several places, a turn being made around the shank each time. Shack-fishing differs from other styles of Bank fishing only in the method of obtaining bait supplies. A vessel engaged in shack-fishing remains on the Bank until she has secured her fare, and, as before stated, depends solely upon getting her bait on the ground instead of—as is the custom of other vessels-—leaving the Bank and running into the harbors of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia to obtain a “baiting” of herring, capelin, or squid. The method of shack-fishing has its advantages and disadvantages. One of the advantages, and a very important one, is that no time is lost in seeking bait, and the vessel is enabled to prosecute her fishing on the bank whenever favorable days occur. On the other hand it must be acknowledged that the kind of bait employed by the shack-fishermen is comparatively unattractive to the fish, and the supply often times has of late years been inadequate; consequently, it has generally been found more profitable for our bankers to obtain supplies of fresh bait in the provincial ports. As birds were considered as good or better than any other kind of shack bait, and as they could often be taken in large numbers, it will readily be understood their presence on the fishing banks often was of material aid to the fishermen in securing their fares of cod. (((In these notes the writer expects to do nothing more than to give, in an off-hand, and, perhaps, rather disconnected manner, the result of his study of the habits and methods of capture of these sea birds, which for many years were his almost daily companions; the chief object being, of course, to convey some idea of the importance of several species as a source of bait supply to our fishermen. The Great Shearwater (Puffin) This species, the “hagdon,” or “hag,” of the fishermen is, perhaps, one of the most interesting which is to be found on the outer fishing- grounds; it is used for bait more than any other bird, and has many peculiarities essentially its own. It has a wide distribution in the western Atlantic. The place of its greatest abundance, however, is probably from near Le Have Bank to, and including, the Grand Bank, the latter locality seemingly being its favorite resort during the summer season. There it occurs in remarkable numbers for several months of the year; indeed, so abundant is the species that, in many cases, it has become of considerable importance as a source of bait supply for the cod fishermen on that bank. It appears on the fishing ground usually in the latter part of May or about the 1st of June. When feeding it displays a dash and pugnacity that is perfectly astonishing. The audacious boldness with which it will attack superior strength in the struggle for food, and the ferocity and reckless bravery it exhibits on such occasions cannot fail to command the attention of all who witness the performance. Nothing can exceed the activity of the hag or its intrepid recklessness, if I may so term it, when in pursuit of food, and, when very hungry, it seems to pay almost as little regard to the presence of man as to the proximity of other birds. The tenacity of life exhibited by Puffinus is certainly surprising. It often happens that after its skull has been crushed between the teeth of its captors, a hagdon may lie seemingly dead for several minutes and then recover sufficiently to make desperate efforts to escape. In several instances which I can recall, hags that were thought to be dead have escaped by “flopping” out over the slanting stern of the dory, unnoticed by the fishermen until it was too late to recover the wounded birds. The hagdon is remarkably strong and swift in its flight. Often it may be seen skimming over the waves, passing from the top of one sea to another, scarcely moving a muscle; but by trimming its wings, first poised on one wing and then on the other, it is apparently propelled without an effort on its part, but simply by the action of the wind beneath. It is a common occurrence for a number of these birds to chase a boat for half an hour or more at a time, diving like a flash, every few minutes, after the bubbles made by the oars, which these winged rangers seem to imagine some kind of food beneath the surface of the water. Nor will repeated failures discourage them in making these attempts. They will also persistently follow a dory from which a trawl is being set, and diving in the wake of the boat, after the sinking gear, make desperate endeavors to tear the bait from the hooks. In these attempts they are often successful, much to the chagrin of the fishermen whose chances for catching fish are thus materially diminished by these daring robbers. The voracity and fearlessness which are thus so strikingly displayed by the hagdon offers the fishermen an opportunity to administer what they consider retributive justice, since the capture of these birds is thus made a comparatively easy task. Formerly, as has been stated, when shack-fishing was extensively carried on by the Grand Bank codfishermen, great numbers of Puffinus were caught for bait with hook and line. It may be interesting also to mention the fact that in the fall of 1875, when the giant Cephalopods, or “big squid,” were found on the eastern part of the Grand Bank, flocks of hagdons were invariably found feeding on the dead “devil-fish” which were floating on the water. In nearly all cases these “big squid” were found in a mutilated condition, usually with their tentacles eaten off almost to their heads, and the fishermen soon learned to detect their presence by the large flocks of birds collected about them. But birds of this species, as well as most all others found at sea, are excessively fond of oily food, and especially the livers of the Gadidae, cod, hake, etc., and this extreme fondness for codfish livers, which they swallow with great avidity, renders their capture possible by the fishermen with hook and line. “Hag-fishing,” as it is called, can be carried on either from the side of a schooner or from dories, though usually better results are obtained by the men going out in the latter at some distance from the vessel. When it is desirable to obtain these birds for bait the morning is usually selected, since at that time they are generally more eager for food than later in the day. It is generally the case, therefore, that two men engaged in hauling a trawl in a dory, after having obtained a sufficient number of cod to supply them with the requisite amount of livers, stop hauling their gear and proceed to “toll” up the birds. In order to do this pieces of liver are thrown out, which immediately entice the ever-present petrels or Mother Carey chickens that gather in flocks around the floating morsels and, dancing up and down upon the water, tear the swimming particles into pieces small enough for them to swallow. At the present shack-fishing is rarely undertaken. It may be worthy of mention, however, to state that fine fares of cod have been obtained by this method as late as 1874–’75, and, indeed, this mode of capture has, since then, sometimes been preferred by the most experienced fishermen, especially when cod have been extremely abundant on the Banks; for when a large school of fish is around a vessel a fisherman is very reluctant to heave in cable and sail away, even for a “fresh baiting.”
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