2 DAYS AMONG THE PIKE AND PERCH 



A poem entitled " The Innocent Epicure," written in or 

 about the year 1697, has the following lines in one of the 



verses 



" Go on, my muse, next let thy numbers speak 



That mighty Nimrod of the streams, the pike." 



Coming down to later times, we find Pope, too, sings in 

 very much the same strain in one of his poems when he 



" And pikes, the tyrants of the watery plains." 



These quotations go to prove that even old writers, 

 when pike-fishing was little known, and trolling was only 

 in its infancy, looked upon the pike as a fish of prey, that 

 pursued and hunted down its smaller and weaker brethren, 

 while the very aspect of its powerful jaws and cruel teeth 

 was enough to strike terror into the hearts of the super- 

 stitious people of those days. 



I remember as a boy hearing an old Lincolnshire fen 

 fisherman tell tales of this fish tales wild and improbable ; 

 but like a true pupil, who had not even a rudimentary 

 knowledge of the fish and his habits, I believed even the 

 wildest story. Since those far-away days, as the result of 

 close observation, and a practical experience extending to 

 river, lake, and mere, under nearly all conditions, I have 

 been forced to the conclusion that our English pike has 

 been credited with attributes that do not belong to him ; 

 and more stories, fables, and untruths have been told 

 about him than are exactly good for his reputation and 

 character. 



I hope I may be pardoned if I claim to be a common- 

 sense sportsman, who has been intimately acquainted for 

 many years with my friend the jack ; has disturbed him 

 time and again ; has routed him out of his fastnesses 

 of reeds and flags ; has seen him leap like a trout down 

 the shallow streams, and shake his old head like a terrier 

 with a rat ; has felt his sullen tugs at the very bottom of 

 deep and gloomy tarns, far from the madding crowd ; and 

 turned him over to look at his superb markings on both 



