VORACITY OF THE PIKE. 113 



fish drawTi out of it. We believe there have been in- 

 stances of the duck being drowned, although finally 

 the pike also was exhausted and taken. We cannot 

 speak from personal experience of fly-fishing for pike, 

 but believe that it may be practised successfully in 

 windy weather. The fly is a bulky affair, nearly as 

 large as a wren, the principal feature in its composition 

 being two of the transformed eyes of the unfortunate 

 Argus which adorn the peacock's tail. The pike, in- 

 deed, will seize anything — is fond of ducklings, al- 

 though we never heard of anybody fishing with them 

 — and, when other fare is not to be had, will, like a 

 hungry fisher (as indeed he is), sup off a bit of Tibbie 

 Shiels' bacon or mutton-ham if ofiered to him. A 

 frog is a capital bait, and it is while instructing his 

 pupil as to the way to put a live frog upon the hook, 

 so that it may live longest, that Izaak Walton recom- 

 mends Venator to " use him as though he loved him !" 

 We shall not, on the present occasion, enter upon any 

 exposition or defence of live-bait fishing, but shall 

 merely remark that many moral philosophers have 

 been particularly addicted to it — and what finer moral- 

 ist than old Izaak himself ever lived ? Yet we would 

 rather that he had not used that phrase. 



The pike in these lochs are large, and we believe of 

 good quality. At one time, they were chiefly con- 

 fined to St Mary's ; they afterwards removed almost 

 entirely to the Loch o' the Lowes ; and they are now 

 again returning to their former haunts, being pretty 

 numerous in the bays where there are reeds or rushes 

 in the neighbourhood of Tibbie's cottage. The num- 

 ber of pike in the upper loch has always kept down 



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