second dory, then
along a little farther the third one, and so on till the five
boats were all setting gear in parallel lines to each other.
When all set this gear practically represented a fishing line
over _ten miles_ long with nine _thousand hooks_ tied to it."

The trawls thus set were left out over night, the schooner picking up the
dories and anchoring near the buoy of the first trawl. At daybreak the
work of hauling in was begun:

"All the dories were made fast astern and left at the head of
their respective trawls as the schooner sailed along. One of the
men in each dory, after pulling up the anchor, put the trawl in
the roller--a grooved wooden wheel eight inches in diameter.
This was fastened to one side of the dory. The trawl was hauled
in hand over hand, the heavy strain necessarily working the dory
slowly along. The fish were taken off as fast as they appeared.
A gaff--a stick about the size and length of a broom handle with
a large, sharp hook attached--lay near at hand, and was
frequently used in landing a fish over the side. Occasionally a
fish would free itself from the trawl hook as it reached the
surface, but the fisherman, with remarkable dexterity, would
grab the gaff, and hook the victim before it could swim out of
reach. What would be on the next hook was always an interesting
uncertainty, for it seemed that all kinds of fish were
represented. Cod and haddock were, of course, numerous, but hake
and pollock struggled on many a hook. Besides these, there was
the brim, a small, red fish, which is excellent fried; the cat
fish, also a good pan fish; the cusk, which is best baked; the
whiting, the eel, the repulsive-looking skate, the monk, of
which it can almost be said that his mouth is bigger than
himself, and last, but not least, that ubiquitous fish, the
curse of amateur harbor fishers, the much-abused sculpin. Nor
were fish alone caught on the hooks, for stones were frequently
pulled up, and one dory brought in a lobster, which had been
hooked by his tail. Some of the captives showed where large
chunks had been bitten out of them by larger fish, and
sometimes, when a hook appeared above water, there would be
nothing on it but a fish head. This was certainly a case of one
fish taking a mean advantage of another."

Such is the routine of trawling when weather