Photo courtesy of PANL A37-97

We spread it out if 'twas fine enough and then put it in faggots - that's like small piles. There'd be five or six or seven fish in a small faggot. They was spread up and down, heads and tails, not around. We spread fish every day till you get it dry enough to start making big round piles. You couldn't pile green fish. I suppose it'd be in faggots a week sometimes and when it'd get a bit nice and dry, then you'd start piling it.

Those piles were round and we took pride in the shape of the pile. When it got up so high we used to make it up almost like a sharp roof, like a peak on a house. This was a real art and had to be done just right or it didn't suit.

There'd be several pliers - the boss would be a plier too, and there'd be two women bringing fish into each Filer. You'd grab up a Raffle, maybe a half-dozen fish to a time, and put so many fish all around and go around and around. They had to be perfect. It would be up so high and you gradually come out a little bit. It was a nice bit bigger on top than when you started on the bottom. It'd be perfectly round. They had to be done right or you wouldn't pile the next day. Somebody else would take over. They were quite particular over the shape of those piles.

We used to have sails tied down with rope to cover the piles and you'd have to take the sails off every day to keep it from getting damp or mouldy. If we didn't, it would sweat under the sails and brown specks used to get all over the skin of the fish. 'Twas like smutty stuff and they used to have to clean it off. They wouldn't sell that as first-class fish. That would be seconds or thirds.

Most every day you spread the piles - carry the fish out in armfuls and spread it. Unless it was a day that you didn't know if it was going to rain or shine or what, then you just take the sails off and let the air get at it. But if it was good weather it got spread every day.

When you had big fish, and there used to be some awful large fish them days, you had to have your pile out bigger. It'd be hard on the tails of the fish if you didn't have your pile big. They had to be flat 'cause the way they were flattened out, that's the way they would dry. To get number one fish they had to be right straight and nice. Everybody was after number one fish - you'd get more for making number one fish than you would for the seconds.

There used to be a man come around to see the fish. He'd be around on different beaches every day, examining the fish. And the boss used to say, "I believe we'll soon have a lot of fish to go now." She was the boss and what she said went.