DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 81 



CHAPTER VIII 



JACK OR PIKE? — OUR DOCTOR STEALS A DAY — 

 THE DUCK SHOOT 



Is there any one who can say definitely at what period 

 of its hfe or at what stage of its growth a jack should 

 be deemed worthy to be called a pike? The general 

 answer to this ever-recurring question is, 'Well ! I caU 

 the little ones "jack" and the big ones "pike." ' 

 It must be quite forty years since I was first so 

 answered. I had recently been elected President of 

 a London Angling Society; I don't know why I was 

 elected, but I remember that I gave such satisfaction 

 to a member that he proposed my re-election, and, 

 while doing so, said he felt sure that members generally 

 would agree with him that I had fulfilled the duties of 

 the position to the best of my 'debility/ The roars 

 of laughter that greeted this caused the speaker to 

 be at a loss for the word he desired to substitute, 

 and the suggestions that were showered upon him by 

 his brother members could only make his confusion 

 worse confounded, so no wonder that his next attempt 

 was as funny as his first. He laughed himself. 



It was while filling this office that I learnt it to be 

 infra di^., indeed most scathing, to call a brother 

 member's jack a 'pike' unless its size was something 

 considerable. Efforts were made by discussions, 

 resolutions, and amendments to fix a weight that 

 should divide the names. A member, who devoted 

 much time to this fish, suggested three pounds, and 

 that only those beyond that weight should be ehgible 

 to be shown in the club-room. A wag killed this, to 

 my mind, excellent suggestion by drawing all sorts of 

 pictures of distress that members would be liable to 



