A ridge that lies just S. of the Limiter Bank, and which may be a continuation of it, extends from a point E. by N. from Scituate buoy to a point Se. by S. from the same about 10 or 11 miles and furnishes cod fishing in February, beginning at Brewers Spot, on the southern end of the ground, and working northward with the schools to Si’s Spot, at the northern end of the ridge.  The bottom over much of the ridge is of mussel beds, with from 25 to 30 fathoms of water, but at the northern end it is rocky and pebbly, with from 30 to 35 fathoms and on the southern end the bottom is composed of stones, gravel, and pebbles with 20 to 25 fathoms of water over it.  This ridge is flanked E. and W. by a muddy bottom, which furnishes the flounder-dragging fleet with good fishing during most of the year.

[Table 2—­Inner Fishing Grounds, showing the principal species taken upon them.]

[Footnote 12:  Again, Captain Smith (1614):  “At the Ile of Manahigan, in 43 1/2 of Northerly latitude . . .  The remarkablest isle, and mountains for landmarks, a round high isle, with little Monas by its side, betwixt which is a small harbor, where our ships can lie at anchor.”  (Transcriber’s note:  “Ile” is as spelled in the footnote, despite the other spellings of it in the footnote as “isle.")]

OUTER GROUNDS

Grand Manan Bank.  This bank is at the entrance of the Bay of Fundy, SW. 1/2 S. from the southwest head of Grand Manan Island from which the northern part of the bank is 15 miles distant.  From Mount Desert Rock, E. by S., it is 45 miles distant.  The bank is 10 miles long and 5 miles wide, extending in a NE. and SW. direction.  The bottom is mostly stones and gravel, the depths running from 24 to 45 fathoms.  Soundings of 18 and 21 fathoms are found on the northeast part.

Cod (especially abundant when the June school is on the ground) and pollock are the principal fish.  Haddock are not usually abundant, although sometimes they are plentiful in the fall from late September to December; hake are fairly abundant on the mud between Grand Manan Bank and the Middle Ground (In The Gully).  This is a good halibut bank, the fish being in 33 to 60 fathoms in June and July; the southwest soundings and the southeast soundings are most productive always.  The best fishing season is from April to October, when the fish come to this hank to feed.  In the spring the fish, other than halibut, are mostly on the southwest part, but later (July to October) the best fishing is had on the northern edge of the ground.  The very best herring fishing for large herring (food fish) occurs on this bank in June and July.  In general, this is a small-vessel ground fished by craft from Cutler, Eastport, Grand Manan, and, to a less extent, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, with an occasional visit by craft from Portland and Rockland, chiefly trawlers of moderate size.

Tides run NE. in flood and SW. on the ebb and are quite strong, the flood being the heaviest.  Because of these powerful currents, fishing is somewhat difficult, it being necessary to make sets at the slack of the tides, getting the gear over and traveling with the finish of the current, to take it up and come back with the tide’s return.