THE PIKE. 63 



CHAPTER, V. 



THE PIKE (Esox Indus.) 



THE pike has a widish range, being found all over Europe, 

 and having two or three representatives in America. In 

 this country we have all sorts of stories extant of the 

 enormous size at which they have been taken ; but some- 

 where about seventy pounds seems to be the outside that 

 we may take it has really been captured, and an angler 

 may count himself fortunate if in the course of his life 

 he ever get on equal terms with one half that size. 

 Twenty-pounds pike are now sufficiently common much 

 more so than they were formerly ; but every pound above 

 twenty-five adds more and more to their rarity; while 

 thirty or over are by no means common. The Lillieshall 

 pike story has many of the elements of fable about it, and 

 all the elements of gross exaggeration ; while the Manheim 

 pike reached much of his length by supplementary verte- 

 brae which never belonged to him. Pike may be caught, 

 1st, by spinning ; 2ndly, by live bait ; 3rdly, by trolling 

 these being the three chief ways of taking him. The 

 most sportsmanlike, as well as the most attractive and 

 lively, is undoubtedly by spinning. 



The art of spinning consists of placing a fish bait on a 

 set of hooks in such a manner that when the bait is drawn 

 through the water it revolves rapidly, and to this end the 



