LIVE-BAITING. 147 



I extract the following from the published works of the 

 authors mentioned : 



Nobbes says : 



One pike of 40 inches might haply be of as many years standing; 

 not that a pike grows just about an inch a year, for that is a thing 

 that is hard to determine ; some grow faster, some slower, accord- 

 ing to the diversity of their water and their feed. River fish are 

 thought to grow much faster than pond fish, except the pond be 

 very large and have a good stream run through it ; for there is 

 nothing helps so much to the feeding of pike as fresh water. Jacks 

 or pickerels grow faster than great ones, and I have observed in a 

 clear and springing brook that a jack spawned in March will take 

 a bait in October following, and will be increased to 18 inches the 

 next March (?). In standing water, as moats and ponds, he grows 

 nothing so fast ; for to try the experiment I have taken one out 

 with a cast-net in May, measured him and marked him on his tail, 

 and about Michaelmas I have taken the same fish, and he hath 

 not increased in length above 2 inches, and very little in breadth. 

 A river fish will grow very fast until he come to be 24 or near 30 

 inches, then he stands a little more at a stay, and spreads himself 

 in thickness ; after that he will grow a long time, and be much 

 longer growing to his full bigness from 30 inches than he was 

 increasing to that proportion. 



The following is 'Ephemera's' opinion : 



Young pike grow rapidly, and it is said by the end of the first 

 year attain a weight of 2 Ibs. I doubt it, and am persuaded that 

 pike do not each add every year a pound to its weight. They 

 may do so for a few years, but the time comes when their growth 

 is stationary (!), size varying according to their good and bad con- 

 dition, which is regulated by food and the seasons of the year. 

 (From Yarrell): ' Block says the young reach the length of 8 to 10 

 inches the first year; 12 to 14 inches the second; 1 8 to 20 inches the 

 third ; and there are proofs on record that from this last size, pike, 

 if well supplied with food, will grow at the rate of 4 Ibs. a year for 

 six or seven successive years. Rapid growth requires to be sus- 

 tained by a proportionate quantity of food.' 



' Piscator ' (' Practical Angler,' p. 240) has the following : 

 The pike is a rapid-growing fish, though his increase in bulk 



