248 THE PIKK. 



his weaker brother, and so on ad infinitum, as Blackstone so 

 frequently and learnedly remarks. 



As a pike requires a great quantity of food, the occupation of 

 a locality where this can be procured is a very important matter to 

 him, and like an experienced sportsman he evinces great tact in 

 selecting such spots as are best adapted to the purpose : and no 

 sooner does the occupancy of one of these become vacant, either 

 by the death or resignation of the former tenant, than another in- 

 stantly enters upon the vacant possession, which perhaps he had 

 his eye upon some time previously ; nothing but the superior 

 strength of the former tenant having before restrained him from 

 making a forcible entry there. As a striking instance of this, in 

 a pond I was in the habit of fishing some years ago, there was a 

 small aperture amongst the weeds, apparently not more than five 

 or six feet across, (for being as well as I can recollect some five 

 and twenty yards from the shore, it was difficult to determine the 

 dimensions with accuracy,) and into this hole I scarcely ever threw 

 my bait properly without getting a run, though my obtaining one 

 in any other part of the pond, the greater part of which was suffi- 

 ciently clear of weeds to admit of trolling, was far from certain. 



But notwithstanding I was tolerably certain of getting a run in 

 this favorite spot both of myself and the pikes, if I could cast my 

 bait cleverly in there, yet in the latter I was not always successful ; 

 for not being at that time a very skilful troller, and my own anx- 

 iety, only adding still more to my clumsiness, it not unfrequently 

 happened that I overthrew my mark, and pitched in my bait 

 amongst the weeds on the further side, which, after being obliged 

 to tug away with some force to clear, was pretty sure to terminate 

 in my detatching such a regular bundle, that when drawn across 

 the aperture, and there was no other means of bringing them to 

 land was generally sufficient to mar my chance there for that day 

 at least. Sometimes from not employing force enough I threw 

 short, and so got foul of the weeds on the near side, which pro- 

 duced a similar result. But when I did manage to hit the exact 

 spot, how well do I recollect the boiling whirlpool that succeeded, 

 and the electrical tug of the fish, as he fiercely seized upon the 

 bait almost the instant that it touched the water. 



But the place 1 have just alluded to was by no means the only 

 one that I have known these fish select as a favorite feeding place, 

 there being scarcely a water in which I have fished for them that 



