slub1 n Cp EDD ~ sb1 1 'a gelatinous mass; a slimy wash.'
1 Slimy substance on body of fish; blood, slime, liquid refuse from process of splitting cod; cp GURRY.
1897 J A Folklore x, 210 With your bag on your back and your barbel outside, / To keep out the slub from your poor yeller hide, / In this Newfoundland. [1915] 1930 COAKER 103 The way this fish should be cleaned: First the slub be removed before splitting. 1937 DEVINE 46 ~ The gelatinous substance on the outside of fish before washing, after being taken from the boat. P 211-69 If the fish were plentiful, the slub and gurry had to be bailed out of the dill. C 71-30 As it was a rainy day, the fisherman was wet, hair over his eyes, dirty from the slub of the boat.
2 Deposit of brownish-green mucus or slime on fish-nets and gear from minute marine animal (Larvacean) (P 245-79).
1956 Evening Telegram 12 Dec, p. 11 There has been a tendency towards use of larger mesh because this makes the trap lighter and easier to haul, it provides less area for 'slub' to collect. T 39947 'I see they got a lot o' nets in the pond. What's that? To clean the slub?' 'Oh yeah, clean the slub out of 'em. They're salmon nets.' 'The fresh water cuts the slub off?' 1974 Evening Telegram 14 Oct, p. 4 Some cod were being netted but no codfish was jigged until August 13, and even then only in shallow water where 'slub' (a jelly-like form of sea life that adheres to nets) was not plentiful. 1979 ibid 8 June, p. 1 A number of other explanations have been put forward to explain the lack of salmon this year: dirty water, slub on salmon nets, the fact that caplin haven't begun rolling on the beaches. 1979 NEMEC 249 Some maintain, in addition, that [Dog Days coincide] with the appearance of 'slub,' a variety of scum or flotsam formed from miniscule marine plants, organisms and other debris which collects on gillnets and clogs the 'meshes.'
