CHAPTER I 



THE PIKE OF FABLE AND FANCY 



WE may not deny the popularity of the pike, for there 

 is no British freshwater fish better known amongst 

 the masses. ' The classes ' of course place their 

 salmon and trout first, and other species thereafter, 

 anywhere or nowhere, admitting the pike, neverthe- 

 less, very often as a sporting, if not a technically 

 game fish. But the pike or, as it is more commonly 

 termed, the jack is to our countryfolk in England 

 still the fish of fishes. It may be different in the next 

 generation, when the modern system of fish culture 

 has had time to develop, and pike have been ousted 

 to make room for something of more value as a rent 

 producer. At present in rural districts the pike 

 remains what it has been from time immemorial, the 

 type of mastership and headship among the denizens 

 of our lakes and rivers. 



It would be vain to speculate upon the reasons 



B2 



