3 oi 



CHAPTER XII. 



PIKE-FISHING. 



" Go on my muse, next let thy numbers speak 

 That mighty Nimrod of the streams, the Pike." 



The Innocent Epicure. 



" Wolf in greediness, dog in madness, lion in prey." 



King Lear. 



all the names that have been bestowed upon 

 this fish, there is none more significant than 

 the German one of water-wolf. Whether, in the 

 old English name of luce, 1 its nature stands as 

 clearly revealed or not, there is for the angler no 

 necessity to inquire. Of the true character of the 

 fish he entertains no doubt : it is in a firm belief 

 in its greed that he prepares the lures for its death. 

 These lures are, for the most part, fish-baits, for it 

 is upon its fellow-inhabitants of the waters that it 

 chiefly loves to prey. Jack lords it mercilessly 



1 Liice is generally held to be derived from lukos, a wolf. 



