144 THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. 



gravely given by Eleazar Block, quoted by Gesner and by Posson Maison- 

 neuve, as well as by every writer on fishes since, for the sake of con- 

 sistency, must again be given. " In the year 1497 a person caught at 

 Kaiserlautern, near Mannheim, a pike which was 19ft. long, and which 

 weighed 3501b.! His skeleton was preserved for a long time at Mann- 

 heim Museum. He carried round his neck a ring of gilded brass, which 

 could enlarge itself by springs, and which had been attached to him by 

 order of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa 267 years before" ! Mon- 

 sieur Posson Maisonneuve, whose words I have used, concludes the 

 recital in a touchingly pathetic manner : " What a tremendous quantity," 

 he says, " of animals more weak and feeble than himself he must have 

 devoured in order to nourish his enormous bulk during so long a series of 

 years." Notwithstanding the array of credulous writers who have given 

 currency to this tale, I must, unwillingly, indeed, beg to doubt the 

 enormous weight of body if not of years. Anyhow, it is a matter of 

 congratulation that no such monsters exist in our own lakes, or it would 

 be necessary to restrict bathing and indiscriminate angling to a great 

 extent. Steam cranes and lifts would in such case be in vogue rather 

 than fishing-rods, and windlasses rather than Nottingham reels ; chains, 

 not lines ; and, for floats and baits, empty barrels and live bullocks. 

 That the pike does grow rapidly and live long I have no doubt at all. In 

 some of the deep mountain tarns of the Principality there are some 

 enormous fish. One of these, it is said (deducting duly for all the national 

 exaggeration), possesses pike to the size of 501b. to 701b. The magnificent 

 pike belonging to Mr. Jardine, and that from Eapley Lake, Windsor 

 Park, are monuments of growth. The age of either does not, however, 

 seem to be great. That of the one from Windsor Park I know is only 

 from twelve to fifteen years old, the circumstances of his career being 

 as follows : In 1861 or 1862 Sir James Clark's butler put some small 

 pike in the lake, which had previously been dry for some considerable 

 time. After that carp in tolerably large quantities were added, upon 

 which fish (and his confreres) he no doubt fed. Pike seem to thrive on 

 carp. 



In his general character the pike is a monogamic fish, and it is a 

 matter of constant remark that where one tolerable fish is to be found 

 another usually is somewhere near, and the duad seems in all cases to be 

 male and female. Another curious fact may be "noted," namely, that 

 after a large fish has been caught from any particular spot, especially in 

 a river, another almost immediately takes the vacant place, as if perform- 

 ing the duty of sentinel over some hidden treasure. 



Pike spawn in April sometimes, and occasionally, if the water, from land 

 floods or any other cause, remain chill and at a lower temperature than is 



