DCHP-1 Online
fishing stage Esp. Nfld 
1 a waterside shed for gutting, heading, and salting fish to be dried on flakes.
See also: flake stage ((n.)) (def. 1)
- 1715 (1883) On the 19th September a storm of unexampled severity swept over the island, causing an immense destruction of shipping, houses, fishing stages and flakes, fences and bridges, and engulfing in many instances the fruits of the fishermen's toil during the previous summer.
- 1944 Boats are loaded down to the water's edge and then headed for the fishing stage for the dressing of the fish.
- 1958 Each year high seas came in and smashed the fishing stages and equipment, and each year the sturdy fishermen would go as far as seven miles into the forest for wood to rebuild.
2 Rare See flake 1883 quote.
See also: flake
- 1842 The consumption of all the spruce tribe in the formation of fishing stages, or places to dry the fish on, is enormous; as, in consequence of nature having denied this iron-bound shore the necessary beaches, man has been obliged to substitute stages or platforms, which are very ingeniously formed along the steep descents of the hills on the edges of harbours, by using upright stakes of great length, and attaching others from the hill side to them, and then covering the platform thus formed in ribs longitudinally with the boughs and branches of the pines.
- 1715 (1883) On the 19th September a storm of unexampled severity swept over the island, causing an immense destruction of shipping, houses, fishing stages and flakes, fences and bridges, and engulfing in many instances the fruits of the fishermen's toil during the previous summer.