UNTRUSTWORTHY RECORDS. 17 



A Lough Conn pike captured in September, 1894, 

 was forwarded to a London fishing-tackle shop in 

 Great Queen Street, W.C., to be set up in a glass 

 case ; but before it was sent to the taxidermist, the 

 shopkeeper lent the fish to a neighbouring angling 

 society for exhibition at their weekly club meeting ; 

 the members present, instead of weighing the fish, 

 guessed it to be 37^ Ibs. ; the following Sunday it 

 was reported in The People newspaper as 47^ Ibs. ; 

 but its real weight was short of 30 Ibs. In June, 

 1895, a pike of 28 Ibs., netted in Lord Calthorpe's 

 lake, Elvetham Park, Hampshire, was recorded in 

 The People as 36 Ibs., and was stated to have been 

 " sent to a taxidermist for preservation " ; but the 

 fish was buried, after being kept some days for his 

 lordship to see. 



These instances will suffice to show what fishy 

 exaggerations are disseminated by some newspaper 

 angling reporters and correspondents. 



The following query and reply appeared a short 

 while ago in the Fishing Gazette : 



" DEAR SIR, Will you inform me in your next 

 edition whether a pike would weigh less or more 

 eighteen hours after being killed than it did when 

 just taken out of the water, and what would be the 

 increase or decrease in the weight of, say, an n-lb. 

 pike ? " Yours truly, 



"HENRY GREENWAY. 



"TONBRIDGE, KENT." 



" [A pike of 1 1 Ibs. ought in theory to weigh 

 about 1 5 Its. eighteen hours after being caught ; 

 it is a poor pike anyway which cannot do that. 

 ED. Fishing Gazette]? 



C 



