THE EISIIING GAZETTE 
9 
January 7, 1893] 
thon bigoted defamer of the useful gorge hook), 
baited with a roach over half a pound, and this I 
fixed on the hank just over a decayed weed bed. 
The line I pegged lightly into the hank, firmly 
enough to prevent the bait from getting into the 
weeds,hut not firmlyenough to prevent a pikefrom 
freeing the line and making off with his prey. 
Leaving this to itself, I mounted a dace of five or 
six ounces on Jardine snap tackle, and, accom¬ 
panied by my friend S-, who carried landing 
net and gaff, started fishing under the ivy-covered 
l)ridge, by which the drive crosses the lake. In 
less than ten minutes I was fast in a good one, 
which gave me some ripping sport, hut, after 
some six or seven minutes, he was within reach, 
and S-slipped the net under him. It was a 
male fish, which the spring balance showed to he 
just over 121b , and was in grand condition. 
So far, good! As I was re-baiting we saw a 
pike about a hundred yards below us, chasing a 
roach of at least a pound ; and a swirl in the water, 
while the roach was flopping on the top (I know 
no more expressive word), followed by the dis¬ 
appearance of the roach, made me determine to 
give that pike half an hour for digestion before 
introducing a bait to his notice. 
That half-hour was a blank so far as the snap- 
tackle was concerned, but my friend R. strolled 
round to see how the other rod was getting on, 
and found about forty yards of line out. 1 came 
round, and after waiting a good ten minutes, I 
reeled in, and speedily found that I had a monster 
on. Woe is me ! 1 hat pike was too many for 
me! He deliberately and rudely smashed my 
gut-trace as though it had been thread. I was 
at once inclined to set him down as a forty- 
pounder at the least, and yet, as I afterwards 
discovered, he could not have been more than 
2.'>lb. But of that later on. 
By the way, let me here observe that, though I 
do not join in the rabid abuse of gorge-tackle, 
which is now the proper thing apparently for 
every sporting angler to indulge in, I never use 
gorge-taclde with a small hail. In this way I have 
rarely killed a fish that is not large enough to 
satisfy even Mr. J. P. Wheeldon, who, and rightly 
too, I think, fixes the limit at 41b. 
S. was inclined to be merry over the loss of the 
large fish, and I fancied that I heard a muttered 
allusion to “ skull-dragging,” which was, of 
course, inapplicable to me ! 
A rather amusing incident occurred at this 
point. Mr. T., Lord-’s brother, was shooting 
rabbits in the park, and just as I had re-baited 
my gorge-tackle and placed it not very far from 
my other rod, he came up to see what I had 
done. 
Before I had time to show him the fish I had 
taken, bang ! went my float out of sight. It was 
the gorge rod, so I went to move the snap-tackle 
out of harm’s way, saying, ‘‘I’ve just got a run, 
so perhaps you will see a pike caught.” 
“Nothing I should like better,” said Mr. T.; 
“ haul him otit.” 
I pulled out the snap bait and put it in the bait 
can, and was then astonished to hear a derisive 
laugh from Mr. T-, and the remark, “My 
sainted aunt! If that's sport you’re welcome to 
it, give me rabbit shooting ! ’’ 
Knowing nothing about pike fishing, and not 
understanding the reason of my removing the 
live bait, he had concluded, and not unnaturally, 
that the bait was the fish whose capture he had 
been invited to witness. In explanation, and with 
tlie laugh on my side, I pointed to the still 
rapidly revolving reel on the other rod (alliteration 
quite accidental), and after a due interval for 
pouching, I played and landed a short thick fish 
of nearly filb., which the keeper took up to Mr. 
'F-'s house, as an evidence that quarter-pound 
dace were not the sort of thing which I captured 
on pike-tackle. 
After lunch I made an attack on the big pike 
below the bridge. I used a half-pound roach on 
Jardine snap, mounted on No. 0 gimp, the bottom 
part silver-coloured, so as not to show against the 
side of the bait, and the rest stained copper 
colour, as being the least observable in the water 
(for this hint I believe I am indebted to 
“ Templar,” and a very useful one it is) and above 
this one yard of strong salmon gut, which I 
always find quite enough, unless fishing very deep 
water. 
While I was unsuccessfully searching the water 
round a large rush bed, my friend called out that 
there was another run with the gorge tackle, 
which I had left nearly opposite on the other bank. 
I shouted back to him “ to let him run,” and, 
five minutes later, I was just going round to reel 
in, when my bait nearly jumped out of the water, 
and was instantly seized by what I could see, as 
he rushed back into the rush bed, was a very 
large pike. I tightened up, with a steady, strong 
pull, and, after he had vigorously shaken his 
head two or three times, away he went with 
a glorious burst down stream, my gut trace 
cutting safely through the rotten rushes. I 
called out to R-to reel in the other fish as 
quickly as possible, at all hazards, as I was 
frightened to death lest the two lines should foul. 
He did as I directed, and I at once saw that he 
was also fast in a good one. 
I consequently rushed down stream after my 
fish, intent on keeping the two apart as much as 
possible, and a rare dance my pike led me. After 
five minutes or so I had the satisfaction of seeing 
S-get the net under a nice fish, which after¬ 
wards jDroved to be I31b., and I must say that, for 
a novice, he managed that pike splendidly. 
As many of my readers doubtless know, it is no 
very easy thing to get a large pike safely into the 
net with no one to help you, especially if the 
water’s edge is lined with reeds and rushes. 
R- uttered a loud “ whoo-whoop,’’ and ran 
round with the gaff to my assistance. I had five or 
six minutes more anxiety, as, after his first two or 
three really brilliant rushes, my fish settled down 
to steady boring at the bottom, and I was in con¬ 
stant dread of his getting the trace round one of 
the “snags,” which were, just there, rather too 
thick to be pleasant. 
However, everything held, and at last my con- 
quered fish lay on his side against the bank, and 
R——■ plunged the gafl; into him with a prompti¬ 
tude which did not surprise me so much, after 
witnessing his fine performance on the other side 
the lake. 
Unfortunately, we could not find the spring 
balance, which had somehow been lost in the 
coarse herbage, so we were for a time left in doubt 
as to the pike’s weight. R-said he should think 
that he (or rather she, for it was a female) was 
barely 16Ib. But S-’s experience of the past 
half-hour had suddenly aroused in him a passion 
for angling which, I think, will never die out, and 
I put down his disparaging estimate as being the 
result of professional jealousy. 
At six o’cloek that evening, three hours after 
capture, the pike weighed 19Ub., and I think that 
I am justified in calling it a 20-pounder, for it 
would surely have reached that much-coveted 
weight when first brought to bank. 
This was the culminating jDoint of that eventful 
day, and we only caught one more pike, a small 
one which was replaced unhurt, but I need hardly 
say that we drove home well satisfied with the 
day’s proceedings. 
From that day till Jan. 20, frost prevented 
any more pike-fishing in the lake, and what 
sport I had in the river was but poor com¬ 
pensation. 
Jan. 20, produced but one sizeable fish ; he was 
a good one—l!I|lb.; Feb. 0 and 11, however, gave 
better sport, the gross take of the two days 
being eleven pike weighing 1041b. The two 
largest scaled 151b. and IJ^lb. respectively, so 
that the average was remarkably good. 
This proved to be the end of my pike-fishing 
in Lord-^’s lake, for King Frost maintained 
his sway thenceforth, until it was time to think 
of overhauling trout tackle, but I consoled myself 
for the experience of a remarkably aggravating 
winter, ivith the thought that, witli a renewal of 
the generous permission I had hitherto enjoyed, 
I might beat my previous records, in the season 
1892-93. 
This, however, was not to be ; as, one morning 
last June, I received a note from Lord-’s 
most courteous agent, saying that the lake w'as 
to be emptied with a view to cleaning out the 
mud, and kindly asking me to drive over to 
witness the fun. With mixed feelings, it must be 
owned, I drove over early after breakfast; regret 
at the loss of the pike-fishing struggling with 
curiosity to see what monsters might inhabit 
the lake. 
The water had previously been gradually let 
off, until all the fish were congregated at the 
bottom end of the lake, where the water was 
fully four feet deeper than in the upper part. A 
long bag net was stretched below the sluice, and 
tens of thousands of roach and small pike were 
caught therein as the muddy torrent rushed 
forth; but the larger pike wallowed in the mud 
until lifted out with the large square nets fastened 
on strong poles, with which the keepers were 
provided. Much to my surprise, there were only 
four pike ov^r 201b., and the largest did not 
greatly exceed that weight, but there was a great 
number ranging from 81b. upwards. 
It seemed to me a sad thing that all this 
splendid fish-life should be wasted, and I managed 
to save the lives of some 150 pike, weighing from 
^Ib. to 51b. or filb. each, and to place them safely 
in the small river which runs below the lake. 
There, in a mill-pond about fift. deep, they are now 
doing well on an unlimited diet of roach. The 
remainder were distributed amongst the work¬ 
men of the estate and district, excepting the eels, 
which were sent to Birmingham fish-market. 
I much fear that I shall never again come 
across such an ideal water for the pike-fisherman, 
and, with my gratitude to Lord-for the 
splendid sport which he so generously permitted 
me to enjoj’, will always be mingled a feeling of 
regret that a water so eminently fitted for pike 
should not havo been re-stocked when the clean¬ 
ing operations were finished. This, however, may 
yet be done. 
MYAMMA.” * 
TirE authors of that most useful volume to 
anglers, “ The Rea and The Rod,” have again 
collaborated, but this time the subject of the 
volume produced is a very different one. 
“Myainma” is a description of some years official 
residence in Burmah between thirty and forty 
years ago, when we were beginning to annex 
that eountry. It begins with a description of 
the writer’s voyage under canvas to Calcutta, in 
one of the old East Indiamen, somewhere among 
the fifties, with its various incidents and charac¬ 
teristics so different from those of the rapid 
modern journey by steam. Although, of course, 
the subject has been written upon times without 
number, and the book can hardly be called “ up 
to date,” it is pleasantly and amusingly written, 
containing descriptions of operations in the 
field (or rather jungle), of sport and of adventure 
among the various wild animals, besides a good 
deal with reference to the Burmese, their nature, 
religion, habits and customs. Certainly Surgeon- 
General I’aske’s account of life in the East is 
not calculated to make the reader long for a 
lengthy sojourn in these parts, for what with 
heat, cholera, fever, rats, snakes, and venomous 
insects of various kinds, &c., existence would 
seem to be a doubtful pleasure. 
The chapter upon “ The Teaching.s of Buddha,” 
is an especially interesting one, and the singular 
doctrine of “Complete Nirvana,” is dealt with. 
Although the theory is so well known, it is some¬ 
what startling to read “The Contemplative 
One,” after sacrificing all manner of brilliant 
worldly prospects, retiring in lieu thereof into 
remote places for the purpose of indulging in 
holy meditation, reached his eightieth year, 
and having completed the necessary cycles of 
transmigi'ation, passed away to “ Complete 
Nirvana,” the coveted annihilation and end of all 
things. 
And again : “The fountain head of every mis¬ 
fortune lies, according to the teachings of Buddha, 
in having been born into this world at all, in 
expressing which opinion ‘ The Contemplative 
One’ spoke, at all events, in direct defiance of 
all lawq where recent causes are always preferred 
to those more remote. This unfortunate begin¬ 
ning necessitates a frequent repetition of the 
same process under different forms, animate or 
inanimate, the great aim of this life being to 
attain ‘ Complete Nirvana," of which, how'ever, 
only those seem to havo the least ehance wlio, 
from the first, embrace a religious aud ascetic 
life.” 
Altogether, although applying to a somewhat 
remote period of our connection with Burmah, 
Rurgeon-General Paske’s book may be read with 
pleasure and interest. 
* “ Mtamma ” : A Retrospect of Life and Travel in 
Lower Bnrraali. By Deputy-Snrgeon General C. T. 
Paste, late of the Bengal Army. Edited by F. G. 
Aflalo. London : W. II. Allen and Co,. Limited. 
