KILLING THE TROUT'S ENEMIES 359 



fish should be killed down where possible, the case 

 of the pike is far more serious, and the war to 

 be waged on them must be carried out on well- 

 defined lines. I propose devoting some considerable 

 space to this branch of the subject, and invite my 

 readers to study carefully the suggestions made here 

 as to the best methods of dealing with the pike. 



The late Francis Francis placed the pike at the 



head of his list of poachers 

 Francis Francis on on a trout-stream. In con- 



the pike. versation with the. proprietor 



of a well-known chalk-stream 

 fishery he held forth, in reference to one of those 

 fresh-water sharks that he had wired, in some such 

 language as the following : " Look here, you let a 

 certain number of rods on your water at ^^30 a 

 season ; that brute would kill more trout during the 

 year than any of your rods — ergo, its destruction is 

 worth more than ;^30 per annum to you." History 

 relateth not whether he proceeded to capitalize the 

 yearly rental on a 5 per cent basis, and show his 

 friend that the death of a 2-lb. pike was equivalent 

 to putting ;!f6oo into his pocket. If he had, it could 

 hardly have been deemed an exaggeration. This 

 insistence on the importance of the pike question may 

 lay me open to a chance of repeating myself; but in 

 the opinion of all the best judges among modern 

 authorities it is the paramount duty of every pro- 

 prietor or manager of a stretch of the Test or Itchen 

 to din into the ears of his keeper, daily and hourly. 



