THE GIANT PIKE OF LOCH KEN n 



because the annual loss of weight entailed by spawning can 

 only just be made good during the period of active feeding. 



I take it that 2\ Ibs. for Roach, 4 Ibs. for Perch, and 

 40 Ibs. for Pike, are weights not far from the normal 

 maxima ; in the best waters they are frequently reached, 

 but rarely passed. Nevertheless, under exceptionally 

 favourable conditions, or in fish of remarkably vigorous 

 constitution, these weights may occasionally be greatly 

 exceeded, and there is good reason to believe that Roach 

 may grow to nearly 4 Ibs. and Perch to twice that weight. 



If it be the case that in recent years there is no 

 properly authenticated instance of the capture of a Pike of 

 more than 45 Ibs. in the rivers or lakes of the British Isles, 

 still the well - established records of Pike of from 35 to 

 45 Ibs. are so numerous that one can only think it probable 

 that a much greater size may occasionally be attained. 



Thus tales of Pike of from 50 to 100 Ibs. weight from 

 British waters are not to be dismissed on a priori grounds ; 

 on the other hand, they need not be accepted unless there 

 is some evidence of their truth. 



Ireland has always been held in repute as the home of 

 monster Pike ; one of more than 90 Ibs. was said to have 

 been taken in the Shannon nearly a century ago. 

 Thompson, in his " Natural History of Ireland," wrote : 

 "The Rev. C. Mayne, writing from Killaloe in 1838, gave 

 me the names of two gentlemen who killed pikes of 49 and 

 5 i Ibs. weight in that locality, and also informed me that, in 

 August 1830, Mr. O'Flanagan (then aged 70) killed with a 

 single rod and bait, in a lake in the County Clare, a pike of 

 78 Ibs." 



In the second volume of the Rev. W. B. Daniel's 

 "Rural Sports" (1801-1813) are details of several large 

 like, and the measurements of one of these (from eye to 

 fork, 4 feet I inch ; extreme length, 4 feet 9 inches ; depth 

 1 i|-) agree so well with the weight, said to have been 

 2 ounces short of 50 Ibs., that both may be believed to be 

 accurate ; this fish was taken by trolling in Loch Petuliche 

 in 1784, the angler being Colonel Thornton. The same 

 book gives what I believe to be the first notice of the 

 celebrated Kenmure Pike, which reads as follows : " Another 



