28 THE PIKE 



the rear, for it has accounted to me for pike over 

 20 Ibs. each, and a monster of 36 Ibs., February 4th, 

 1877, caught at Maidstone, relative to the capture 

 of which the late Frank Buckland gives the follow- 

 ing particulars in The Natural History of British 

 Fis/ies, page 1 56 : " On arriving at the water, which 

 for some days previously had been thick from rains, 



Mr. J found the fish feeding ; and snapfishing 



with a large dace, Mr. J fancied he had hooked 



only a small pike, as it came along towards him 

 without much pulling ; when however the fish was 

 struck smartly, she began to show fight, tried to 

 make a bolt of it, and then rushed violently 



through the water with open mouth towards J , 



the tightened line still in her jaws. Coming along 

 the side of the boat she grinned a ghastly grin, 

 and two pairs of eyes met the man's and the fish's 

 in dire defiance of each other. The pike then 

 shook her head smartly, after the manner of a dog 

 worrying a rat ; all in vain, the hooks were too 

 firmly fastened in her tongue, and they could not 

 be shaken out. Off went the pike again round the 

 pool, and then came a deal of manoeuvring on the 

 part of the fisherman. The skiff not a flat- 

 bottomed boat was anchored in deep water by a 

 rope and chain, and the angler's fear was that the 

 fish would manage to twist the line round the rope, 

 in which case the line would, in all probability, give 

 way. He therefore tried all he could to get up the 

 anchor. Kneeling on one knee, he pulled hard at 

 the anchor-rope, while he played the pike with the 

 other hand ; but no, the anchor would not come up, 

 so he devoted his entire attention to the fish. After 

 dancing a pas de deux with his partner for a long 

 time, the fish began to give way, and to roll herself 



