Note 36 — Chapter VIII

Numerous accounts have been given of the voracity of the pike. K——g told me of a very remarkable instance, and one which clearly shows that fish do not always suffer so much torture when hooked as many suppose. He was spinning a gudgeon for pike in the river Stour, near Chilham, having bent on four large hooks, back to back, and a large lip-hook. He was run at by a pike, which he struck, but the line unfortunately breaking, the fish carried off fully four yards of it, together with half a yard of gimp, two large swivels, and a lead. K——g put on fresh tackle and bait. At the very first cast he was run at again, and succeeded in landing the fish, which weighed 12 lbs. To K——g’s great surprise, he observed the lost line, swivel, and lead hanging out of its mouth, while,—apparently not much to the animal’s discomfort,—the bait and hooks quietly reposed in its interior. On turning the gullet inside out, K——g found the bait so uninjured that he again fastened it to his line along with the recovered tackle, and actually caught another pike weighing 4 lbs., and a perch of 2½ lbs., with the very gudgeon that had been in the stomach of the large pike for nearly a quarter of an hour.

Those who are fond of trolling for trout would not find their time thrown away in reading Wheatley’s novel hints on all kinds of spinning baits. His “Rod and Line” is an excellent little book.