THE PIKE. 179 



Aftbrds the angler good sport. 



As the pike is reckoned a good dish, his days 

 are greatly abridged : the larger he is, the coarser 

 the food, and vice versa. On the Continent, 

 where they are caught in great abundance, they 

 are dried, and exported to other countries for 

 sale. They are extremely prolific; about one 

 hundred and fifty thousand ova being found in 

 the body of a female pike. They spawn in March 

 or -April. 



Pikes afford the angler good sport, being bold 

 biters. For trolling the rod should be twelve or 

 fourteen feet long. The best baits are gudgeons 

 or dace of a middling size; the bait should never 

 be thrown too far. Pike are to be allured by a 

 large bait, but a small one is more certain to 

 take them. The largest pike ever known to be 

 caught by trolling, was in Scotland in 1784, by 

 Colonel Thornton ; it wanted only two ounces of 

 fifty pounds weight. He was an hour and a 

 quarter on the line before he submitted to his 

 fate. There was a wound upon the belly, from 

 whence was taken a hook which had then work- 

 ed itself through the skin ; for upon the dis- 

 coloured part being pressed, the hook appeared, 

 and was extracted; and it was ascertained that 

 he had swallowed and broke away with that hook 

 ten years before. 



Pike are often taken while lying asleep on the 

 surface of the water, by means of a snare at the 

 end of a pole gently passing over their head, 

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