H4 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FlStf. 



were strongly urged by a few fanatics to take means for turning 

 the Thames into a trout stream a salmon river also, if I re- 

 member rightly at the expense of its ancient inhabitants, the 

 pike. At the time this attempt was made I took the oppor- 

 tunity of expressing my views on the subject in a leading 

 angling journal, and, as the warning which I then endeavoured 

 to give, I hope not altogether unsuccessfully, is not without 

 application to other rivers similarly situated and threatened, 

 I here reproduce it : 



THE PRESERVATION OR NON-PRESERVATION OF 

 THAMES PIKE. 



There is a rumour that an attempt is being made to excite 

 amongst fishermen a feeling hostile to the Thames pike, on 

 behalf and in favour of the trout which the Thames Angling 

 Preservation Society have been for some time past industriously 

 breeding at Hampton, and turning into the river ; and also that 

 this ' trout mania,' if the expression is admissible, is now alleged 

 as an excuse by a good many fishermen for an indiscriminate 

 slaughter, by fair means or foul, of all pike that may fall into 

 their hands, whatever be their size or condition. I trust this 

 report may prove to be unfounded, or at any rate greatly exag- 

 gerated ; but yet I have generally found the proverb true, which 

 says that there is ' no smoke without a fire,' and therefore as 

 one who, in common with, I am sure, thousands of my feUow- 

 trollers, has stored up many pleasant memories of many pleasant 

 days spent amongst the 'lazy lilies' and pikey pools of the 

 Thames in pursuit of this fish, and the sport against which a 

 set is now, it appears, being made, I cannot allow the occasion 

 to pass without raising my voice in terms of strong warning 

 and protest, protest against the unsportsmanlike proceedings 

 alluded to, and warning against the strong delusion on which 

 they are apparently based. Moreover, even if the reports of 

 what has actually occurred have been exaggerated, there is 

 another very excellent proverb, more generally acknowledged 



