110 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



afford to eat it, the price was double that of salmon, and ten 

 times higher than either turbot or cod. In 1466, pike was 

 one of the chief dishes in the high church festivals given by 

 George Neville, Archbishop of York. In Henry VIII. 'a 

 time, also, these fish fetched as much again as house lamb in 

 February, and a very small pickerel would sell higher than a 

 fat capon. Pike under favourable circumstances and in good 

 localities will grow to a remarkable size. I have heard that 

 in some of the large lakes of Ireland they will attain the ex- 

 traordinary weight of eighty pounds, and in Wales it is said 

 there are enormous fish in its deep mountain tarns, but in 

 England they do not exceed the weight of forty pounds, and 

 it would require to be a carefully preserved and a very 

 favourable water to possess one of even that weight. The 

 lakes, broads, and meres of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Hunting- 

 donshire are credited with holding some big fish. There is 

 a story also of a monstrous pike being caught at Lillieshall 

 Lime Works in 1765 out of a pool about nine yards deep, 

 which had not been fished for ages. The water was let off 

 by means of a level, and brought up to drain the works, when 

 this enormous pike was found at the bottom ; he was dragged 

 out by means of a rope in the presence of hundreds of spec- 

 tators, and was said to have weighed upwards of one hundred 

 and seventy pounds, and was thought to be the biggest ever 

 seen. Such is the story, but whether it is correct or not, I 

 cannot say ; it has, however, been placed on record as a fact. 

 The celebrated naturalist, the late Frank Buck land, in 

 writing about this fish, says, "From the days of Gesner 

 downwards, more lies to put it in very plain language 

 have been told about the pike than any other fish in the 

 world ; and the greater the improbability of the story, the 

 more particularly is it sure to be quoted." Jack, as a rule, 

 do not run very large in the Trent, and it is only occasion- 

 ally that one of twenty pounds is taken, but there are some 

 districts where fish of that size or even a pound or two over 

 are taken. The occasions are, nevertheless, very rare, and a 

 Trent angler must be content if he gets one of that size 

 during the term of his natural life. A ten-pounder ought to 

 content him, a twelve-pounder make him happy, while one 



