PIKE AS FOOD. 31 



a companion and myself had forty pike, the largest 

 ten weighing, two days after capture, at the 

 Gresham Angling Society, London, 135 Ibs. 5 

 ozs., of which the three heaviest weighed together 

 59 Ibs. This capture represented two days' fish- 

 ing, which "Red Spinner" (Wm. Senior) referred 

 to as having " no parallel in angling history so far 

 as London clubs were concerned, because the fish 

 shown were only the largest ; and the anglers took 

 thirty more, from 3 Ibs. to 7 Ibs." However, it was 

 excelled in 1884, when on January iQth I broke 

 my own record, and caught five pike weighing 

 together 103 Ibs. 



Pike are nutritious food, and contain more 

 nitrogenous or muscle - forming qualities than 

 meat, as was shown by the " Analysis pike as 

 Tables of the Food Collection" at the food 

 Bethnal Green Museum ; and as an adjunct to the 

 domestic bill of fare, a small pike of from 5 to 8 Ibs. 

 weight, caught during November or the next three 

 months, when fat and nicely cooked, is a dish by 

 no means to be despised. There are various ways 

 of making these fish very pleasant to the taste, 

 for which some excellent recipes are given on 

 pages 37 and 38. 



The pike, in spite of his many vices, is indeed 

 worthy of more attention than he usually obtains ; 

 he is a most toothsome food when he has been pro- 

 perly sujected to the culinary art. His merit was 

 so acknowledged in early times by King Edward 

 I., who saw no reason why his subjects should be 

 left to the mercy of a fish " ring." Regulating the 

 prices of the different sorts of fish then brought 

 to market, he fixed the value of pike higher 

 than that of fresh salmon. But those patriarchal 



