143 



■weiglied four grains. As there are 12,250 grains in Iflb., 

 it follows that there were no less than 171,500 eggs in this 

 fish ! I commend these figures to the consideration of those 

 persons who think that a few pike ai'e not injurious to a 

 trout stream — that they only kill the sickly fish and a few 

 small fry ! 



It would be but a tame record to tell what we did after 

 the capture of this sixteen-pounder. It is true that we put 

 lip for the night at the mill ; it is equally true that I left 

 my spinning bait on the flight of hooks, and caught the 

 miller's cat during the night. Equally true is it that we 

 constructed a rait next day, with a field-gate and some 

 '* wattles" for a foundation, and all the stray planks and bits 

 of timber we could collect by way of a deck. Equally true 

 is it that we got into mid-lake on this crazy craft, and that 

 in the excitement of gafiing a big fish we upset the concern, 

 and all three of us were shot headlong into twenty feet of 

 water ! But these are only trifling incidents connected 

 with our holiday. After all, pike fishing is not to be 

 despised if there is nothing better to be got. 



In common with a good many other anglers, I want to 

 catch a leviathan pike, but hitherto the fates have been 

 xigainst me. Twice, at least, I have been very near the 

 realisation of my ambition, but, you will say, those lost fish 

 alwaj^s are monsters ! A man of my acquaintance suffered 

 from the big pike mania to such an extent, that he, being 

 possessed of ample means, devoted his whole time to the 

 search after one of these monsters. And what is more, he 

 captured one at last, and has lived happy ever after. This 

 is how it happened. Two of us made a serious effort to beac 

 the Irish pike record, and the fact of our attempting such 

 a task shows how badly we were bitten by the craze. The 

 loughs of Antrim, Derry, Donegal, Sligo, and Mayo were 

 each and all tried in turn, and great was the slaughter of 

 "Esox lucius," but nothing over 201bs. did we 

 get. A few grand trout fell to our pike lures, and of 

 these fish a 141bs. Lough ISTeagh trout took a 4-inch gold 

 spoon ! Well, to get on with this true pike story. We 

 finally laid siege to Lough Derg, of whose mighty 



