PIKE. 77 



several vertebrae had been added." Considering that we have authentic records of Pike 

 attaining to the weights of forty, seventy, and even ninety pounds, there seems no reason to 

 disbelieve entirely the old "Ring-story." As Mr. Pennell says, "taking all the circumstances 

 of the case into consideration, as well as the amount of concurrent testimony produced, there 

 appears to be no reason to doubt that a Pike of extraordinary size and age was actually 

 taken at the place and time stated. It is to be observed, in estimating the probabilities of 

 the narrative, that It was certainly the custom in earlier times to put metal rings into the 

 gill-covers of fish; and as late as 1610 a Pike was taken in the Meuse bearing a copper 

 ring, on which was engraved the name of the city of Stavern and the date of 1448." — 

 {Angler Naturalist, p. 190.) 



One of the largest recorded British Pike was taken in Loch Ken, Kirkcudbrightshire ; it is 

 mentioned in Daniell's Rural Sports and by other writers. The head is now in the possession 

 of the Hon. Mrs. Bellamy Gordon, of Kenmure Castle, Kirkcudbrightshire, to whom I am 

 indebted for some particulars concerning this monster fish. It is said to have weighed over 

 seventy-two pounds, and to have been about seven feet in length.* The Pike from some of 

 the Continental lakes, however, exceed even this weight. Dr. Genzik, of Lintz, assures Mr. 

 Pennell that in the fish markets there, as well as in those of Vienna and Munich, Pike of 

 eighty and ninety pounds weight and upwards are not unfrequently exposed for sale; the 

 same gentleman saw a Pike taken at Oberneukirchen which after being cleaned weighed 

 ninety-seven pounds and some ounces ; and he was informed by an officer of Tyrolese Rifles 

 that he was present when in 1862 a fish was caught at Bregentz of more than one hundred 

 and forty-five pounds weight. 



Large Pike are not unfrequently caught in the pools at Weston Park, Shropshire, the seat 

 of the Earl of Bradford. His lordship mentions to me a specimen of Pike in his possession 

 which weighed thirty-seven pounds and a half. "One year," he says, "I remember taking two 

 at the same time which weighed thirty and thirty-three pounds." In Mr. Frank Buckland's 

 Museum, South Kensington, several casts of Pike, admirably executed and well coloured, may 

 be seen ; I particularly noted one fish, of thirty-five pounds weight, caught in a net at Rabley 

 Lake, Windsor, in October, 1874. It must have been in splendid condition; the breadth and 

 depth were enormous. There is also a cast of one Pike being partly swallowed by another; 

 the pair weighed nineteen pounds; both were found dead in Loch Tay in 1870. As Mr. 

 Buckland remarks, "they were probably charging at the same bait." 



As to the quality of the flesh of this fish there is much difference of opinion ; some persons 

 will not eat it on any account, others regard it as most excellent food. In the case of Pike, 

 as in that of fresh-water fish generally, much depends on the waters inhabited, the amount of 

 food, and the time of the year. A Pike of four, six, or ten pounds weight, taken out of a 

 river where White Fish and other kinds abound is almost always, In my opinion, a good fish ; 

 the same may be said of Pike taken from lakes and large ponds well supplied with food ; but 

 Pike taken from small muddy pools insufficiently stocked with other fish, and caught soon after 

 spawning, are worthless, I confess, and such specimens, I suspect, must have come under the 

 notice of the Roman poet who, as we have seen, considered the Pike unworthy of a gentleman's 

 table, and fit only to "steam away with unpleasant odour In smoky cookshops." 



Trolling for Pike is a sport which Is deservedly In high favour with anglers generally; 

 the baits employed are Roach, Dace, Perch, Bleak, Gudgeon, and small Tench — a Goldfish is 

 an attractive lure. Pike are sometimes caught with a large artificial fly, as In Salmon fishing. 



* The Honourable Mrs. Bellamy Gordon tells me that this fish, which was caught about one hundred and twenty 

 years ago by John Murray, keeper at Kenmure, was taken by an artificial fly made of peacocks' feathers ; that the 

 head has lost some of its bones, and that in consequence it looks smaller than it used to do, but that it is still 

 large in comparison to the head of a Pike of twenty-seven pounds weight also caught in Loch Ken about forty years 

 ago, and preserved in the same case. 



