spot n Cp Cent ~ n 8 'a small fishing ground' for sense 3.
1 A concentration of harp or hooded seals on the ice-floes; PATCH.
1871 WHITE MS Journal 6 Apr Saw spot [of] old seals, took 150. Saw very large spot. 1873 CARROLL 24 Spots of all kinds of seals are often considered by ice hunters to extend one hundred miles and from one to four miles wide. 1924 ENGLAND 206 Now, though the ship toil through ice and storm for six days, finding but 'a scatterin' few,' and then on Sunday run into a wondrous spot of fat, perhaps the 'main patch' itself—no man will touch gun, gaff, or blade. 1925 Dial Notes v, 343 ~ A herd of seals.
2 A school of fish; SCULL, SHOAL2.
1975 BUTLER 74 The mackerel needed to be near the land where the seine would reach bottom in order to get them. When we came to a spot of mackerel swimming along by the shore, we would fasten the end of the seine ashore by means of a small grapnel to hold it fast to the land and Joe would row the dory around the mackerel. 1979 NEMEC 277 A crew will ordinarily go ... wherever they think there may be a 'spot of fish' to jig.
3 A shoal frequented by fish; cp GROUND.
1953 Nfld & Lab Pilot ii, 244 These [shoals] include ... Chitman Spot; Harbour bank; Shoal Ground; Paddy Outside Spot; and Outside Spot. Ibid ii, 276 Those [shoals] eastward include John Hewlett Spot and William Hewlett rock, and those westward include The Field, Eli Burton ground, John Hewlett ground, and Thomas Hewlett ground.
4 A stand of timber.
M 68-17 When men wanted lumber for building a house, or boat or dory plank they would buddy up (several would get together), take their pit saw and go back into the woods. They would find a suitable 'spot' of logs, build a pit in the midst of the logs and saw the required amount of lumber.
5 Comb spot buoy: float used to fix the location of stationary fishing-gear; MARK(ER) BUOY.
Q 67-21 ~ a buoy with a long staff attached to it located at a distance from the main buoy; its purpose is to permit fishermen to locate their nets.
