THE PIKE 



There is no need, however, to labour the point as 

 to these big fish, and we may for the moment return 

 to Lord Inverurie's compilation. Against the year 

 1797 is set a 4o-lb. fish caught in Hertfordshire by a 

 person not known and by a method not stated, but we 

 are informed that a 4-lb. tench was taken out of this 

 pike. The period is too remote. Then we have one 

 of 47-lb. taken two years later from a private lake in 

 Lincolnshire, the explanation being that a sheet of 

 water was emptied and the fish stranded. 



There are plenty of pike in English waters between 

 20 Ib. and 30 lb., but the largest of modern times that 

 were until recently absolutely accepted as authentic 

 were the 37-lb. fish caught by Mr. Jardine in a 

 Buckinghamshire lake, and a slightly larger specimen 

 sent over from Ireland in 1896. In these days an 

 i8-lb. pike is, after all, a very good fish indeed, and 

 anything over 20 lb. should set the fortunate angler, 

 if he values trophies, thinking about the taxidermist. 

 A 34 -lb. fish was authenticated from East Anglia in 

 the winter of 1899-1900, and in the 'Angler' of 

 March 31, 1900, Mr. A. R. Matthews published a list 

 of the big fish of the season, which included, besides 

 the Norfolk pike, a 33-lb. specimen caught in Lough 

 Mask. Two or three 37-lb. Irish fish were reported 

 in the spring of 1900. 



