LARGE POND AT CLEVELAND HALL. 



set of Limerick roach hooks, as I found that he 

 had been in the habit of fishing with some large 

 enough to take a shark, and thought that any thing 

 of a smaller size would be sure to break. 



After a few more casts, I had a run which con- 

 vinced me that I had hooked a fish of a very un- 

 usual weight. It soon ran out nearly the whole 

 length of my line, and I began to feel that sort of 

 anxiety which an angler experiences when he thinks 

 a fish may be too strong for his tackle, when luckily 

 it turned towards the left and I then had it more 

 at command. Those who have taken large pike in 

 trolling, know that after the line has been shortened, 

 the angler is pretty certain of his capture. This 

 was now my case. I felt that I had a command 

 over the fish after his two or three first struggles 

 and I could turn it which way I pleased. My 

 expected prize, however, was still in deep water, 

 and I had not yet been able to make him show 

 himself. Some weeds had got over the line when 

 the pike ran to the left, and this added considerably 

 to the strain upon it as well as upon the rod. I 

 knew however the goodness of my tackle, and 

 kept the fish on the move, and looked out for a 

 place where I could best land it. At last I drew 

 it towards me, but it felt more like a log than 

 a fish, till I got it near the side, when John Porter 

 gaffed it to my great content. It was the largest 

 pike I had ever taken, weighing very nearly twenty- 

 E 3 



