PIKE. 
1007 
How widely such computations may differ, appears 
from Ekstrom’s observations. He found that Pike-fry 
37 — 49 mm. long, kept in a spring with muddy bottom, 
only attained in 5 years the size of a common Herring; 
but that a specimen 15 cm. long, kept in another spring 
with smaller fish to feed on, attained in 5 years a 
length of 4 dm. The statements we possess of the Pike’s 
duration of life — according to old accounts over 200 
years — whatever may be their authenticity, only show 
that this fish may probably live to a very great age. 
As a food-fish the Pike is of no small value. The 
flesh is white, firm, wholesome, and comparatively free 
from bones. Fresh Pike is by no means bad eating; 
and the flesh has an advantage over that of many other 
fishes: it may be kept for a long time, without de- 
teriorating, in a salted or dried condition. The great 
havoc wrought by the Pike among other species of fish 
has given rise to proposals for its extermination, at 
least in small pieces of water. But the only result of 
such a procedure would be the increase in number of 
the smaller species to so great an extent that the 
supply of food would at length fall short, the develop- 
ment of the fish be arrested, and a. great proportion 
of them die out. 
Some stated peculiarities in the history of this 
species may lastly be adduced. The fishermen in ge- 
neral believe that at certain seasons of the year the 
Pike entirely abstains from food ( tager icke svalg as 
the Swedish fishermen say), and at others is excessively 
voracious. These seasons are said to be periodical and 
regular in occurrence, the observant fisherman being 
able to predict the time when the Pike is on its feed 
(i taget), as it is called. But these periods are said 
not to occur at the same time year after year, and 
according to some observations they are determined by 
the spawning-season, for the period of voracity begins 
in the same change of the moon (waxing or wane) as 
the Pike finishes spawning. There is one exception, 
however, the Pike being always on its feed throughout 
the dog-days. This periodical voracity and moderation 
is said to depend on the circumstance that, when the 
Pike is off its feed , the gums are so swollen that the 
points of the teeth hardly project above the flesh, some 
tenderness of the gums being thus the curb of the 
Pike’s usual rapacity. Perhaps we have here some 
observation of the manner in which the Pike casts its 
teeth, or we may find a more probable explanation in 
the fact that the fish requires some time to digest the 
great quantity of food which it devours during the pe- 
riod of voracity. Another singularity is that the Pike 
can disgorge its prey, a consequence of the structure 
and simplicity of the intestinal canal. 
Most of the fishing methods employed for the Pike 
depend for their success on its rapacity. It is this 
quality too that entices the Pike to the spawning-places 
of most other fishes, where it finds prey in abundance, 
and is always on the alert. The Pike is consequently 
taken on many occasions in the tackle set for other 
spawning or schooling fishes. We may also assume 
that the Pike is caught with almost all kinds of fishing 
engines. We shall confine our attention, however, to 
those which are used in Sweden especially for Pike. 
Among them we find: 
The ryssja (fig. 7, p. 33, above), in which Pike 
are taken principally during the spawning-season, when 
they ascend into inlets and channels, to low-lying, in- 
undated meadows or marshland, and to grassy shores 
where the water is shallow. 
Nets (ordinary gill-nets, Pike-nets, with a mesh 
of more than 25 mm.) may be employed all the year 
round, so long as there is open water, but are al- 
ways unproductive tackle. When used for Pike, they 
are set in shallow, grassy inlets, and sometimes to 
close broader pieces of water and thus guide the Pike 
into ryssjor or similar traps. 
The trammel-net (fig. 183, p. 741, above) is plied 
only in summer, and always with success off shores 
fringed with reeds and rushes, where the Pike usually 
takes its station on bright and warm summer days. 
The long-line ( backa , g add-ref) is used from the 
end of May, when the Pike has finished spawning, till 
late in autumn. The warmest part of the summer is, 
however, an unfavourable season, partly because the 
high temperature of the water soon kills the bait, which 
should always be alive in this method of fishing (fig. 
256), partly because the Pike then has an abundance 
of small fish to feed on. In early summer the lines 
should be set on grassy shores and round shallows 
and islets, some yards outside the edge of the reeds, 
but from September and during the rest of autumn 
in deep inlets, with stony or sandy shores thinly fringed 
with reeds. 
The angelkrok (really triangle-hook , originally in 
the form of a triangle with one side open, fig. 257). 
The winter is the only season. The fisherman chooses 
his pitch in bays or creeks of no great depth, with 
Scandinavian Fishes. 
127 
