132 Fishing in North Carolina. 



13 overstocked, the fish will forage for their own 

 food and thrive. 



Buckland, the great naturalist, speaking of 

 pike, says at one year old the fish will weigh 

 half a pound, at two years, two pounds, and will 

 attain as much as six pounds in his third year ; 

 after which his growth slackens like the hen in 

 demonstrating her egg plant. There are excep- 

 tions, however. The largest pike which ever 

 came under his personal observation measured 

 46 inches in length, weighed 35 pounds, and 

 was 15 years old. He also refers to the habit 

 of pike when their stomach is full, of basking 

 in the sunlight at the top of the water; and 

 states that in this condition they are frequently 

 attacked by kingfishers and eagles, when a big 

 pike will put up a nasty fight. 



The eagle is sometimes the loser, his talons 

 becoming embedded in the back of the fish and 

 being unable to let go and unaccustomed to div- 

 ing he is taken under and drowned. 



The wound on the fish rapidly heals and fish- 

 ermen always get scared when they hitch on to 

 such a pike with the skeleton of the eagle on 



