ioo THE PIKE. 



too pretty and plump to have her lovely body torn 

 and disfigured by the gaff. By February pike 

 have paired, and we know that her mate should be 

 somewhere near : so we put on another dace and 

 try the lower end of the pool, where the water is 

 less deep, and are rewarded with a splendid run 

 from a good fish, which when landed, proves to be 

 the male, a handsome tcn-poundcr. Thus at the 

 commencement of their honeymoon, we capture 

 both bride and bridegroom, and put an end to 

 their connubial joys. Why are most of the largest 

 pike females ? In the early part of the year when 

 pike are paired, on catching a female fish, say of 16 

 Ibs. or 1 8 Ibs. and going for and capturing her 

 mate, I have generally found him to be about a 

 twelve-pounder. Is it because large lady pike 

 prefer the attentions of young and active husbands, 

 or is it rather that male pike seldom attain to the 

 splendid development, and handsome proportions 

 of the gentler sex ? I never saw a really hand- 

 some male pike of heavy weight but once, and 

 that was a grand specimen of 28 Ibs. which came 

 from Lord Normanton's fishery on the Avon. My 

 37 Ibs. 36 Ibs., and 31 Ibs. pike were all females. 



The haunts of pike are close to weeds, near beds 

 of sedges or spcargrass growing up through the 

 water, where they lie in ambush, ready to dart out 

 at any small fish which happens to swim by. These 

 places, and the tails of islands, where the divided 

 stream reunites and forms eddies ; deep holes, and 

 the vicinity of old weirs, the entrance to deep 

 ditches and backwaters, are all likely localities in 

 which anglers may calculate on catching pike. 

 But after November, when frosts have despoiled 

 the weeds and rushes, pike will be found in the 



