100 THE PIKE. 



CHAPTER IV. 

 MID-WATER FISHING. 



THB PIKH SPllOnWO- TBOLLINO "WITH THB DEAD QOROB LIVE BAITING, ETC. 



THE PIKE (Esoxluciui). 



THE pike plays no little part in the literature of angling ; 

 indeed, he has even been deemed worthy of a book to 

 himself. I, however, cannot afford to give to him more 

 than a limited space. 



Pike, under favourable circumstances, grow to almost 

 any size a freshwater fish could be supposed to attain. 

 In this country they have rarely been known to exceed 

 eighty pounds ; but Sir J. Hawkins speaks, in his notes to 

 the * Complete Angler ; ' of one caught at Lillieshall Lime 

 Works, in 1765, which weighed one hundred and seventy 

 pounds. The story runs thus: 'On Tuesday last, at 

 Lillieshall Lime Works, near Newport, a pool about nine 

 yards deep, which has not been fished for ages, was let 

 off by means bf a level, brought up to drain the works, 

 when an enormous pike was found. He was drawn out by 

 a rope fastened round his head and gills, amidst hundreds 

 of spectators, in which service a great many men were em- 

 ployed. He weighed upwards of one hundred and seventy 

 pounds, and is thought to be the largest ever seen. Some 

 time ago the clerk of the parish was trolling on the above 

 pool, when his bait was seized by the furious creature, 

 which by a sudden jerk pulled him in, and doubtless would 



