Boon Island Rock Ground.  This ground begins 1/2 mile eastward of Boon Island Ledge and runs in an ESE. direction 2 or 3 miles from the ledge.  It has a bottom of sharp rocks and clay and depths from 40 to 60 fathoms.  It is an excellent fishing ground for cod, haddock, and cusk and is one of the best winter fishing grounds for haddock in this vicinity.  It is fished mainly by line trawlers but is not much used as yet by gill-netters, being a somewhat difficult piece of bottom for them.

Tower Ground.  This is a winter haddock ground having depths averaging 50 fathoms over a ridgy and broken bottom.  This is about 3 miles long by 2 miles wide and bears about Se. from Boon Island.  Marks:  Bring Boon Island Light on the Peak of Mount Agamenticus, running off until the top of the tower and the top of the mountain are level, perhaps 6 miles from Boon Island.

Ten Acre or Nipper Ground.  Extends S. 1/2 E. from Boon Island 6 miles and E. from Isles of Shoals 7 miles.  This shoal is about 1/4 mile wide and has 18 to 20 fathoms over clay and mud, the ground sloping gradually to 50 or 60 fathoms near the edge.  This is a good fishing ground for cod, haddock, cusk, and pollock in the spring, while on the muddy edges hake are abundant in September.  Marks:  White Hills over Boon Island on center (these cross bearings meet near the center of the ground); also, the Black Hill W. of Portsmouth over the Star Island of the Isles of Shoals leads to the small rocky shoal that is in the middle of the ground.

Ipswich Bay.  This extends from the north side of Cape Ann about to Portsmouth and is resorted to in winter by large schools of cod coming here to spawn.  Shore soundings deepen here gradually from the land, reaching 35 to 40 fathoms at 6 or 7 miles out.  Within this limit the bottom is mainly sandy, though rocky patches are numerous between Newburyport and Cape Ann.  Beyond 40 fathoms the bottom is mainly mud.

The principal cod-fishing grounds of Ipswich Bay lie off the northern shore, from Newburyport to the entrance of Portsmouth Harbor, 1 1/2 to 5 miles off the land In 12 to 25 fathoms.  Cod are taken abundantly off Boars Head, also.  During 1923 and 1924 the cod fishing in these waters, especially off Boars Head, was the best for some years.  Fishing is done by trawls and hand-lining, and of late years a large and increasing gill-netting fleet has operated in these waters, especially from March to June.

The muddy ground outside these waters Is a hake ground much frequented by small boats and vessels from the Isles of Shoals and Cape Ann during the summer and fall.  “Flounder dragging” Is a considerable industry in these waters, the craft employed being a small type of the otter trawler, mainly operating out of Newburyport on a piece of shallow mud bottom extending from NE. by E. to Se. of the Isles of Shoals and on another ESE. from Thacher Island.  Depths are from 4 to 14 fathoms.