286 SPORTING STORIES 



Sir John Hawkins, a credible person, and, as the author 

 of The General History of Music, entitled to respect, gravely 

 tells us, in his introduction to Izaak Walton's Compleat 

 Angler, of a pike taken in 1765 in a pool at Lilleshall Lime 

 Works that weighed 170 lbs., and had to be drawn out by 

 several men with stout ropes fastened round its gills. 

 I am thankful to say that no one has yet attempted to go 

 one better than that. 



One wonders what a monster like this could have fed 

 upon. Why, he might have dragged a calf into the water 

 and devoured it ! To show the voracity of even pike of not 

 a fifth the size, take the following: An enormous pike, 

 caught at Chillington Pool in Brewood, Staffordshire, the 

 seat of C. F. Gifford, Esq., weighed 46 lbs. and measured 

 from head to tail 4 ft. 3 ins. In its belly was found a 

 trout weighing \\ lbs., and a mole, which it was devour- 

 ing when caught. My authority for that incident is the 

 County Chronicle, June 1822. 



Here is another pike story, which I give on the authority 

 of the Derby i^^/^^r^'^r of September 1833 : " Two gentlemen 

 were lately perch fishing in a pond belonging to Sir G. 

 Crewe, when a pike, apparently about 2 lbs., was hooked. 

 The assistance of the angler's friend was required to land 

 the fish, but before this gentleman could reach the place, 

 the feel of the rod suddenly indicated an additional weight 

 or resistance. When they were able to show the fish he 

 was found seized across the back by a much larger — about 

 10 lbs. weight. A large treble hook was attached to a 

 stick, and with this the heavier fish was struck — the hook 

 being introduced into the side of the mouth. By a sudden 

 strong lift the fish were landed, the parties being highly 

 delighted with their success." 



But let me pass on to what Sir Walter Scott calls that 

 noble branch of the art, which excels all other use of the 

 angling rod as much as fox-hunting excels hare-hunting. 

 I am not going to enter upon a rhapsody of fly-fishing ; 

 but I will frankly admit that Charles Cotton, as one of the 

 fathers of fly-fishing, seems to me a greater man than his 

 more renowned friend Izaak Walton, who was for the 

 most part a bottom-fisher. The man who has never hooked 



