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Roy Glashan's Library
Non sibi sed omnibus
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RGL e-Book Cover
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A YOUNG angler, quite a novice at the game, has had the luck to capture a monster pike which for years past has troubled the waters of the lake at Beeston St. Lawrence, in Norfolk.
This fish proved to be 4-1/2 feet long, 2ft. in girth, and to weigh 26lb.
In large sheets of fresh water pike grow to a very great size, and there is no other fish concerning which so many stories, both true and false, are told. The pike is omnivorous, will take any bait, from a spoon to a frog, and, when hungry, has been known to attack swans and other water-birds.
Only a year or two ago a Thames pike tried to drag down a swimming dog, and it is said that large pike have even been known to attack human beings.
The biggest pike of which there is any record that can be called authentic was taken many years ago in Lough Ken in Scotland. It is said to have weighed 72lb. At any rate, its head, which was preserved in Kenmure Castle, was nine inches across.
A curious pike story appears in a London paper dated January 25, 1762. The clerk of the parish of Lilleshall was fishing in a deep pond near some lime works when he hooked a monster which actually pulled him into the water.
"Doubtless," says the writer, "it would have devoured him but for his wondrous agility and dexterous swimming."
It was then decided to drain the pond, which was nearly thirty feet deep. As the water receded a great form was seen to be flapping wildly in the mud. A rope was got round it, it was hauled out, and proved to be a pike 170lb. in weight.
The strangest pike story, and one which has come down to us through the centuries, is that of the Mannheim pike, caught in the year 1497. According to the legend this creature was no less than 19 feet in length. Its weight is not stated. In its gills was found a brass ring with an inscription to the effect that it had been placed in the lake by Frederic II, in the year 1230.
This made it 267 years old, but while pike are undoubtedly very long-lived, this seems to be stretching the long-bow a little too far.
To-day any pike of over 25lb. is worth setting up, and a 30-pounder is a great prize.
There are huge pike in Lough Corrib in Connemara, and many specimen fish have been caught there. The largest taken in England rarely exceed 35lb. One of the best was that caught at Amersham by that famous pike fisher, Mr. A. Jardine. It was a shark-toothed giant of 37lb.
Roy Glashan's Library
Non sibi sed omnibus
Go to Home Page
This work is out of copyright in countries with a copyright
period of 70 years or less, after the year of the author's death.
If it is under copyright in your country of residence,
do not download or redistribute this file.
Original content added by RGL (e.g., introductions, notes,
RGL covers) is proprietary and protected by copyright.