74 THE SPORTING FISH 



tumn (1862), he was present when a Pike was 

 caught weighing upwards of 145 lbs. 



After this we may be indined to give more 

 credence to Bloch's statement that he once exa- 

 mined a portion of the skeleton of a specimen 

 which measured eight feet. 



The rate of growth of the Pike has been by 

 different authors variously estimated at from i to 

 5 lbs. a year; but these estimates do not, generally, 

 appear to be based on any very reliable grounds, 

 still less upon actual experiment, and therefore go 

 but a little way towards advancing our knowledge 

 of the subject. My own e.xperience leads me to 

 believe that the growth-rate is susceptible of very 

 great variation, depending upon the nature of the 

 water and the amount of food supplied to the 

 fish, but that in the open waters— at least in Eng- 

 land — it seldom averages more than i lb. a year 

 during the first two years, and from i-^- to 2 lbs. a 

 year afterwards, decreasing again after eight or 

 nine years to about the original ratio. This ave- 

 rage cannot, of course, be taken as any index of 

 what may be done by keeping Pike in rich pre- 

 serves or fattening them in stews, as the capacity 

 of the Pike for food is well nigh inexhaustible, and 

 is in analogy with its digestion the marvellous 

 rapidity of which has been aptly described as re- 

 sembling the action of fire. 



Of one point, however, I have fully convinced 

 myself, viz. that during the first year the maximum 



