PIKE AND PIKE-FISHING. 55 



although Mr. Alfred Jardine's 37-pounder stands as the record 

 English pike taken by fair rod and line angling. 



The first mention of pike-fishing in this country appears to 

 have been made in a book written some four hundred years ago by 

 Dame Juliana Berners ; though Ausonius wrote of " the wary luce" 

 some time about A.D. 309. Highly esteemed as a table delicacy, 

 pike were much in demand at most of the principal banquets and 

 civic feasts held in days of yore, during the fifteenth century in 

 particular. King Edward I. was passionately fond of the flesh of 

 piks, which he proclaimed to be far tastier than that of any other 

 fish from waters either fresh or salt. During the reign of this 

 monarch, the pike, as a food, commanded a considerably higher 

 price than even the noble salmon ; from which fact it may be 

 inferred that the " tiger of the stream " was then exceedingly scarce. 

 And, incidentally, this deduction supports the theory, favoured by 

 some authorities, that pike were not indigenous to our waters, but 

 were introduced into the British Isles in some age uncertain and 

 remote. In Lapland whilst pike are spawning, the natives capture 

 these fish in thousands, and gut, dry and store them for future use. 



Concerning the growth of pike, authorities are at variance ; but 

 one of the most famous of them considers that it " largely depends 

 upon the nature of the water and supply of food, but that in open 

 waters the growth seldom averages more than ilb. a year during 

 the first two years, and from i^lb. to 2jlb. a year afterwards, de- 

 creasing again after eight or nine years to the original ratio." 



The pike is known proverbially as a voracious fish, bold, 

 cunning, and pugnacious ; and, as Walton says, solitary in his 

 habits, inasmuch as " he always swims or rests himself alone, and 

 never in shoals or with company " excepting, of course, in the 

 early months of the year, when the male and female have mated. 



During the summer and early autumn the pike haunts the 

 vicinity of bulrushes and flags, concealing himself under the 

 Ranunculus aquaticus and amongst other weeds that flourish profusely 

 at this season. But later, when the subaqueous vegetation has died 

 down, he repairs to deeper water, and also lurks beneath clay banks 



