io THE PIKE. 



fifty years. Keenc put in the nets, and brought 

 out a number of carp, tench, &c. ; and he thought, 

 from the jump of something in the net, that he 

 had caught an unusually large fish. When the net 

 shoaled, he was delighted to find a monster pike in 

 it ; the fish darted between his legs and nearly 

 upset him. This magnificent pike (I never saw 

 one in more perfect condition) weighed 35 Ibs. ; 

 length, 3 ft. ioi in. ; girth, 2 ft. The eyes were 

 exceedingly beautiful ; the head shone like smoked 

 mother-o'-pearl ; every scale was perfect, and fins 

 as red as those of a perch. Mr. Keene asked me 

 what I thought the age of the fish ; I guessed off- 

 hand from twelve to fifteen years, and it appears I 

 was not far wrong ; for, about twelve years before, 

 Sir James Clarke's butler put six or eight jack, 

 weighing about i Ib. each, into Rapley Lake." 

 The pike (a female) contained over 43,000 

 eggs ; consequently in October was forward 

 in spawn. From the above record, this fish 

 appears to have increased from i Ib. to 35 Ibs. 

 in twelve years. No doubt it was the excellent 

 quality and quantity of the carp in this pike's 

 larder that enabled her to grow large and lusty 

 in so short a time, for, of course, she would not 

 touch the tench, if Izaac Walton was correct 

 in asserting that 'the pike forbears to devour 

 him (i.e. the tench) be he never so hungry ; ' 

 or the Rev. J. J. Manley was right, when he says, 

 in Notes on Fish and Fishing, p. 252, 'We may 

 take it as a fact, that the omnivorous pike refuses 

 under all circumstances to take tench as food.' " 



He suggests that this may be because tench 

 swim lowest in the water, and out of sight of 

 the pike, which, their eyes being on the top of the 



