THE GAME FISHES OF THE WOELD 



crowd of men bore it from the wrecked net. Close examination 

 of the monster showed a brass ring fastened to its gills on which 

 in ancient Greek was this : ' I am that fish that was first put into 

 this lake by the hands of Emperor Frederick II on the 6th day 

 of October 1230.' This illustrious pike was then two hundred 

 and sixty years old. The taking of this fish, the means of making 

 the Emperor known to history, was a crime against law and order. 

 He should have been returned to the water where he would now 

 be the proud Wasserwolf of Suabia and six hundred years or 

 more of age. Frank Buckland, beloved by Americans as well as 

 Englishmen, was more of a naturalist than angler. He lacked 

 the imagination of the latter, and accepted nothing that did not 

 ' come under his own personal knowledge.' He has, however, 

 left us some accurate records of pike : thirty-five pounds, forty- 

 six and one-half inches ; seventy-two pounds, seven feet. Pen- 

 nell refers to pike of one hundred and forty-five pounds, taken 

 in Bregenty in 1862. The pike is a Uving lance, a freebooter 

 and pirate, or anything you may call him, even a fresh- water 

 shark ; but yet jack fishing is a sport and the fish is taken with a 

 float, paternoster, or by spinning, legering and trolling in England. 

 In America mainly by trolling, using a large spoon. 



Walton gives a chapter to the pike and says he is ' choicely 

 good ; too good for any but anglers and honest men.' In his 

 invaluable BooTc of the All-Round Bgler, John Bickerdyke gives 

 the complete details of the methods of taking and propagating 

 the pike and many interesting stories about this fish, which has, 

 beyond peradventure, a strong personality. 



S"o matter what one's opinion in private or pubhc may be 

 regarding the pike or pickerel, American or English, there is one 

 member of the tribe above suspicion, a game fish of regal quahties 

 and proportion. This is'the much-named muscallunge of America, 

 Esox masquinongy. 



' Whence and what are you, monster grim and great ? 

 Sometimes we think you are a " Syndicate," 



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