LIVE-BAITING. 151 



that across the back of the head, the width of which was nine 

 inches. 



Of this pike, Stoddart says that it is the largest known to 

 have been captured in Scotland with the rod and fly. Colonel 

 Thornton, however, in his ' Sporting Tour,' refers to one taken 

 from an insignificant sheet of water on Lochaber, of the extra- 

 ordinary weight of 146 Ibs., and in Loch Alvie, which is not far 

 distant, he himself caught one that measured 5 ft. 4 in. in length, 

 and which weighed 48 Ibs. This fish Colonel Thornton states 

 he caught with a gorge-hook ; but Hofland has this note on the 

 subject: 'The gallant Colonel has been celebrated for the 

 use of the long bow, and I have heard it stoutly asserted on 

 the other side of Tweed, that the fish was taken with a 

 Trimmer ! ' Again, as to the measurements, ' Piscator ' (' Prac- 

 tical Angler ') gives the length at 4 ft. i in. from eye to fork, 

 extreme length 4 ft. 9 in., instead of 5 ft. 4 in. as stated by its 

 captor ; and even in the question of the locus in quo, as to 

 which one would suppose that he could not be mistaken, the 

 Colonel's accuracy has been grossly impugned, for Daniel 

 asserts positively that the water in which the fish was captured 

 was not Loch Alvie, but Loch Paterliche ! 



Well hast thou said, Athene's wisest son, 

 All that we know is nothing can be known. 



The attempt to delineate a great fish, or the taking of him, 

 must certainly exercise some mystifying influence upon the 

 piscatorial mind, for we find even Stoddart, generally so ac- 

 curate, when alluding to the celebrated Kenmure pike, going 

 out of his way to describe him as having been taken with the 

 fly, whereas, from the account which I have in my possession, 

 written on the spot by the desire of Mrs. Bellamy Gordon, it ia 

 clear that he was captured by the spinning-bait Sir John 

 Hawkins in his notes to the ' Complete Angler ' mentions the 

 case of a pike taken in 1765 in a pool at Lillishall Lime Works, 

 which weighed 170 Ibs., and had to be drawn out by several 

 men with a stout rope fastened round the gills. 



