THE PIKE OF FACT 27 



dismissed as a flight of imagination. The ova of a 

 28-lb. fish that was examined numbered 700,000, and 

 of another fish of exactly the same weight a little under 

 300,000. 



The pike remains a long time out of condition, 

 and should not be caught by sportsmen until July or 

 August. In most public waters the date fixed by 

 the Mundella Act for pike fishing viz. June 16 is, 

 to say the least, unsportsmanlike. 



I have endeavoured to obtain some decisive in- 

 formation as to the spawning of pike, and learn from 

 Mr. Thomas Ford, of the Manor Fishery, Caistor, 

 that artificial spawning is not impossible or even diffi- 

 cult, but as there is little demand for the fry it is not 

 much practised. According to his observation, the ova 

 show the eye in from twelve to fourteen days and 

 hatch out in from twenty to twenty-four days ; and 

 if pike were ever cultivated for the market the fry 

 would be ready for despatch in about ten days after 

 hatching. In Mr. Ford's long experience he has only 

 once been asked to supply the fry of pike. 



The fullest answer I received to a question as to 

 the spawning of pike was the following communication 

 from Mr. Wilson H. Armistead, of the Co. Cavan 

 Trout Farm : 



I have six or seven lakes here which I am turning 



