Skate Bank.  This bank bears SSE. from Matinicus Rock, distant 12 miles.  It is about 2 miles in diameter and nearly circular in form.  Depths are from 35 to 60 fathoms.  The bottom is gravelly but quite uneven.  The best season on this ground for cod and cusk is from April to July.  Hake abound in July and August.  Hand lines and trawls are used here, fished by sloops and vessels.

Matinicus Sou’Sou’West Grounds.  These grounds bear SSW. from Matinicus Rock, from which the inner edge of the grounds is distant 6 miles.  They extend about 9 miles N. and S. and have about the same width, being nearly triangular in shape, broadest at the northern end.  On the northern part there is a shoal of about 30 fathoms 2 miles long E. and W. and 1 mile wide.  Sharp rocks cover this, but the ground is not broken and drops off gradually to depths of 50 to 55 fathoms or even to 60 fathoms on the southern part.  Outside of the shoal the bottom is pebbly and gravelly.  This is one of the best cod and haddock grounds in the vicinity.  Cod are sometimes abundant here all winter; haddock are found here from December 1 to February and are more abundant than the cod.  Hake are plentiful on this ground and in 60 fathoms on the mud off the edge Se. of this ground during the summer season.  Marks:  The high pinnacle on the eastern end of Wooden Ball, showing just out by Matinicus Rock, SW. by S. from the rock, 5 miles.

Inner Breaker.  This lies 2 miles W. of the southwest point of Matinicus Island.  It is a rocky shoal about 1 acre in extent and having 7 fathoms of water.  From this shoal the bottom slopes gradually to depths of 25 to 30 fathoms, and this slope furnishes good fishing for cod in May and June, while haddock are here in December and January.  A good school of hake is found on the edge of the ground in summer.  The bottom is rocky and broken and, while sharp, is fished with trawls as well as hand lines.  It is mostly a small-boat ground.

Towhead Grounds.  These grounds hear N. by E. 1/2 E. from Matinicus Island, from which they are distant 2 1/2 miles.  Depths are from 12 to 30 fathoms.  It is somewhat irregular in shape and has a very rocky, broken bottom.  The ground is from 2 1/2 to 3 miles long and 1/2 to 1 1/2 miles wide.  It extends E. by S. and W. by N. and is considered one of the best inside shoal grounds for cod and haddock in the bay.  Hand lines and trawls are used here now, although in former times this and the preceding grounds were considered too sharp for the use of trawls.  Both these are good lobster grounds and chiefly small-boat grounds.

Green Island Ridge (or Western Ridge) and the Pigeon Ground.  The northern portion of this ridge lies 6 1/2 miles NW. by W. from Matinicus Rock, from which the ground extends about 7 miles in a SSW. direction.  The greatest width is not over 1 mile.  Depths are from 15 to 30 fathoms.  The bottom is broken and rocky.  It is a good cod ground in the spring and fall.  Haddock are found here in June, November, and December.  In summer this is a good hake ground.  Halibut are found on the shoals (10 fathoms) and about the northern part of Western Green Island, on the sandy bottom during June and July.