58 ANGLING. 



agers, or frog pikes, (so called from their period of spawning), 

 succeed them. During this period, pike should never be molested 

 or disturbed; and, indeed, until this peculiar season is entirely 

 over, the fish is not worth catching. 



The pike, like some other fish, is supposed to be affected in Ids 

 hues by the complexion of the water in which he lives. However 

 this may be, it is unquestionably true that pike taken out of canals, 

 rivers, and rapid streams are generally of a brighter colour, and 

 more brilliant in their tints than those which frequent deep pools, 

 and large weedy lakes. The latter are commonly much darker, 

 and their sides tinned with a deep yellow ; and some of these taken 

 out of the marais of France, are frequently quite tawny, and striped 

 across the back and sides like a Bengal tiger. The river and 

 running water fish have, too, a finer flavour, and are in every 

 respect, both for the sportsman and the cook, far superior to their 

 brethren of the pond and the pool. 



Formerly, the pike was a scarce and expensive fish in England. 

 During the reign of Edward I., about the close of the thirteenth 

 century, jack was so dear that few could afford to eat it; the price, 

 says Mr. Yarred, was double that of salmon, and ten times higher 

 than that of 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 the Eighth's^ time, these watery 

 tyrants fetched as much again as house lamb in February ; and a 

 very small pickerel would sell higher than a fat capon. Now, 

 however, the pike is to be found in most of the British waters 

 adapted to his nature and habits ; and there is scarcely a private 

 pond in the kingdom, of any respectable dimensions, whicn is not 

 well stocked with these noble fish. 



When the pike is in season, he is a good, firm, and, if cooked 

 brown, after the French fashion, a very fine, and, indeed, most 

 excellent fish. When out of season, he is about as filthy a com- 

 pound as can well be tasted. But, perhaps, there is no fish whose 

 culinary qualities have met, at different times and in different 

 places, with a greater diversity of opinion. _ The sentiment of 

 Ausonius is, we have just seen, strongly against it ; and in the 

 part of France to which he belonged, there is, to this day, a great 

 repugnance to the pike as an article 9f food ; whilst at Chalons-sur- 

 Saone, on the other hand, the fish is in high repute. In Italy, pike 

 are but rarely eaten ; and the Spaniards reject them entirely. la 

 the northern countries of Europe, their reputation rises. Those 

 taken from some of the large lakes of Germany are highly 

 esteemed ; and even in our own country, where once this fish was 

 a first-rate favourite when taken out of clear waters, he is still held 

 as a gastronomic luxury. Those caught in the Norfolk Broads 

 are considered very rich and delicate eating ; and the smelt-fatted 

 pike of the Medway stand high in popular estimation. 



Superstition, which has touched everything connected with this 

 world, more or less, has not spared the pike. A little bone, in the 



