II4 SOME FISHES OF THE DISTRICT. 
It seems a great pity that so splendid a river as the Trent 
is, to a great extent, useless as a salmon river, but there are 
so many obstructions in the shape of weirs on the way up 
from the sea, and so much sewage from towns, that, although 
large numbers of fish do find their way up to the Dove and 
other tributaries to spawn, it takes them so long to get up 
that they are rarely in good condition when caught. A speci- 
men of the obstructions they encounter may be seen at the 
weir at Dove Cliff, and here, when the river is in flood in the 
Autumn, hundreds of salmon may be seen leaping into the 
air and on to the weir, only to be swept back by the water 
time after time. A few occasionally surmount the obstacle, 
and some get up by a salmon ladder that is there, but the fish 
do not seem to find it easily. 
Next to the salmon in size, and far in front of him in 
ferocity comes the Pike, a fish that is frequently spoken of 
as the freshwater shark: and if you look at its immense 
mouth, with rows of large sharp teeth, and note its cruel 
looking eyes, and then remember that it lives almost entirely 
upon other fishes, the name seems to be a well deserved one. 
Its appetite is enormous, and a short time ago a gentleman, 
fishing in Pembrokeshire, caught a pike about six pounds in 
weight, and noticing that it seemed a good deal distended 
with food, he cut it open and found inside it fifty-five small 
dace and a quantity of digested food. It is also recorded 
by Mr. Cholmondeley Pennell that, on a certain occasion, a 
trimmer was set for pike, and when it was taken up next 
morning there was a large fish on it. The hook was well 
inside the fish’s stomach, and on opening it another pike was 
found inside it that had also swallowed the hook. The second 
pike was then opened, and inside it was a third small pike 
that had swallowed the original bait. There are many well 
authenticated records of pike having attacked and bitten men 
and boys when in the water, and it is not at all particular 
what it eats when hungry: rats, frogs, young ducks—in fact, 
