The Domesday book of mammoth pike / 0091361702

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TheDomesdayBookof Mammoth Pike FredD uller »»I

For Louisa and Frederick James Buller

By the same author Pike Rigs and Tackles With Hugh Falkus Freshwater Fishing With Richard Walker, Fred Taylor and Hugh Falkus Successful Angling Stanley Paul & Co. L td 3 Fitzroy Square, London W 1P 6JD A n im print o f the Hutchinson Publishing G roup London Melbourne Sydney Auckland W ellington Johannesburg and agencies throughout the w orld First published in 1979 © Fred Buller 1979 The paperback edition o f this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way o f trade o r otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated in any form o f binding or cover other than that in w hich it is published and w ithout a sim ilar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser Set in M onotype Times New Roman Printed in Great B ritain at The Anchor Press L td and bound by W m Brendon & Son L td , both o f Tiptree, Essex B ritish Library Cataloguing in P ublication D ata Buller, Fred H ie Domesday book o f m am m oth pike 1. L

Pike fishing T itle

799.IT O

SH691.P6

■IS B N fi|. 09 136170 2 cased V0.J09 1361-71 0 paper

The a u th o r w ould welcom e fu rth e r in fo rm a tio n about b ig p ik e ; readers m ay w rite to him a t: H o lly tre e W ood Lane South H eath G reat Missenden Bucks.

C ontents Foreword by Hugh Falkus

6

Preface

7

Introduction

9

Lord Inverurie’s Big Pike List

11

The author’s biggest pike

17

Maps o f Ireland and the United Kingdom

18

The Big Pike List

21

The pike

37

Late entries

268

Appendices 1 W eight/length scales fo r pike

272

2 The Northern European Big Pike List

274

3 W. B. Griggs: a memoir by the late Edward E. Alston

278

Index o f names

281

Index o f places

285

Forew ord In the vast field o f Esox lore there has never been anyone remotely like Fred B uller. Indeed, among the more eccentric o f my fishing friends he occupies a special niche. For many people fo r many centuries the pike has held a powerful fascination. Its very name fires the m ind, evoking pictures o f half-forgotten things: w ind-blown leaves o f autum n, slanting to dark, reedy meres where log-like monsters w ith marble eyes hang motionless on fa in tly quivering fins . . . before a sudden slash sends shoals o f prey-fish scattering in confusion through the mist. W hat other fish so grips the im agination, fillin g it w ith terror, repugnance, wonder, awe? But pike-especially those leviathans o f m yth and legend - have meant so much more than this to Fred. Impelled by his own peculiar daemon to seek out and disseminate the tru th about them, he has scoured the northern hemisphere in an un tiring quest fo r new weights and w it­ nesses. To call him a pike fanatic w ould be a foolish understatement. N o A rth u ria n knight faced by the H oly G ra il would have fe lt an excitement h a lf as great as B uller’s at his discovery o f a huge crum bling pike skull, forgotten fo r h a lf a century in some dark attic. In his preface he has called his quest a ‘delici­ ous illusion’, bu t to those o f us who know him well it was ju st plain daft. A t the very m ention o f some hitherto undream ed-of capture; at the merest w h iff o f rum our - fro m old books, o r word o f m outh, or even, as I suspect, brought to him on the w ind - he w ould leave his friends and drive o ff in to the night, seemingly content to lose much good sport in consequence, so

6

insistent were the voices in his head. A n d we who were le ft behind to continue o u r fishing o r shooting w ith o u t him w ould glance at each other and raise our eyes, and wonder. On a few o f these m issions I have fou nd m y­ self in attendance, kno cking at lonely cottages in the haunted dusk o f Iris h bogs; searching through castle halls o r the yellow in g pages o f old record books fo r crum bs o f evidence th a t m ight support, o r dem olish, yet another im ­ probable big-pike story. D u rin g m any a n ig h t we have sat together in my ow n cottage debating the m erit o f some new claim to inclusion in his proposed Esox H a ll o f F a m e -th e lite ra ry chim era th a t seemed to dance fo r ever o u t o f reach; fo r no one re ally believed th a t such a m onster could ever be captured between tw o covers. A nd yet, now the unbelievable has happened. A fte r a ll these years the quest is done; the fin a l ghost is la id ; the last great fish has fou nd its allotted place. A n d lo ! - here is The Domesday Book o f M am m oth Pike. One reads it w ith in cre d u lity. I t blow s the m ind. The author, one feels, must be mad. W hat norm al person w ould have em barked on such a project? B ut is no t such madness a kin to genius? T hat you m ust decide fo r yourself. F irs t, sit down and read this book. I t is the m ost rem ark­ able piece o f research in the h isto ry o f angling. L ike me, you m ay th in k th a t no man b o rn o f woman could have done it. B ut Fred B u lle r has done it. A nd it is w onderful. H ugh Falkus Cragg C ottage, 1978

Many years ago - like the squirrel that has no knowledge o f the coming winter but collects its food instinctively - I collected data on big pike. In those days I had no notion o f w riting a book, but as time went on I aspired to compile a definitive history o f big pike caught in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Now that the book is finished my readers may discover a difference between aspiration and performance. But if I were deluded in conceiv­ ing such a task, at least my delicious illusion, while it lasted (and it lasted for fifteen years), was something that inspired me to write hun­ dreds o f letters, meet dozens o f people and travel thousands o f miles. During these travels, searching for the story or the body or a photograph o f a big pike, there were times - in those intervening moments after I had knocked at some cottage or castle door when I wondered nervously how the person who was about to open it would react to the curious questions asked by this potty-looking stranger. In the event no lady ever screamed at me, nor was any door slammed in my face. And it is partly on such good-natured response and partly on the kindness o f people who wrote to me ‘out o f the blue’ with details o f some monster pike, that the successful compiling o f this book depended. I owe much to my ‘special agents’ - friends who always contact me when they discover some reference to an extra big pike. They include Alwyne Wheeler o f the British Museum (Natur­ al H istory); Colin Graham and Colin Dyson o f Angling News Services; Ron Coleby, a most helpful and authoritative angling bibliophile; D r Michael Kennedy, Hugh Gough and Des Brennan o f Ireland’s Inland Fisheries Trust; Arne Broman, the fine Swedish angler and w riter; B ill Giles, N o rfo lk’s famous pike ang­

ling schoolmaster; journalists Peter Collins and Gerry Hughes; and fellow pike angler Michael Prorok. Others who gave sterling help are the late Rev. E. C. Alston; Danny G oldrick; M rs Davidson; H. Mossop; J. Mossop; Paul Green; Pat D ay; George Burrows; Joe A lle n ; Desmond Nolan; John E llio tt; Bob Church; B ill Blake; Brendan Faragher; Dan McCrea; David Barnes; Per Pethon o f Oslo University; E irik Indset o f Villm arksliv, the Norwegian sporting magazine; Richard Liitticken o f West Germany’s Blinker angling magazine; the Rev. John O’Donovan o f Whitegate, Co. Clare; Tadeusz Andrzejczyk o f Warsaw; Derek R. Gamble, who has taken so much trouble to paint the German pike angling scene fo r me; Kevin C lifford; R. C. McLaren; and John Tollady o f Toronto. The perennial assistance I get from my secre­ tary, Mrs M . G. Lewin, is gratefully acknow­ ledged, as is that from Ken Sutton, who read the proofs. I thank my friends Richard W alker and Hugh Falkus fo r listening and fo r bringing their keen minds to bear on any matter that I brought to their notice. I am in debt to the British Museum fo r the fine facilities and service which they provide at their newspaper library in Colindale and I am grateful to all the editors who have given me permission to reproduce extracts from their newspapers and angling magazines. In particu­ lar I would like to acknowledge the thanks that I owe to past angling editors o f our two most famous sporting journals, the Fishing Gazette and the Field. The excellence o f their work w ill rarely be equalled, let alone exceeded, and the reprinting o f many extracts in the pages that follow is a testimony o f my appreciation.

7

Introduction A specimen pike is one that has reached a weight o f twenty pounds. Only a tiny proportion o f pike anglers succeed in taking one o f this weight. Thirty-pound pike are comparatively rare - a pike angler dies happy if he has caught one. A pike o f thirty-five pounds or more is o f such rarity in Britain and Ireland that it is safe to make such a weight the base line o f a Big Pike List, since probably fewer than 300 have been caught in as many years-of which some 230 are recorded here. In English waters a pike o f forty pounds represents the pinnacle o f a pike angler’s dream, since it would seem from the record that few English pike have ever exceeded this weight. The best known correlation between a pike’s weight and its length is that o f a 20 lb pike measuring 40 in., i.e. 2 in. per lb. From my studies o f big pike, I find that by the time they reach 35 lb, on average they measure only in. per lb. Pike weighing between 50 lb and 60 lb measure approximately 1 in. per lb, and very, very big pike have lengths down to as little as | in. per lb (see Appendix 1 for weight/ length scales fo r pike). A pike o f over sixty pounds may never be caught again, since it is likely that such a weight can only be achieved in a lake or river where a pike - already large by ordinary standards - is able to prey on the large runs o f salmon and sea-trout moving to and from their spawning grounds. In Britain, now that the runs o f salmon and sea-trout have dwindled to a pathetic trickle, this harvest from the sea can no longer enrich river and lake to the same degree as hitherto.

A glance at the entries o f all pike over sixty pounds shows that each fish came from a rich habitat made even richer by huge runs o f migrating fish and counter-runs o f kelts.* In an age when those who sit on Record Fish Committees seem to delight in getting rid o f old records, I would like to make a plea. There is no country in the world that has such a fu lly docu­ mented angling history as that o f Great Britain and Ireland. For hundreds o f years, documen­ tation o f bigger fish o f all species has provided an inspiration for anglers to plot and plan their trips, besides providing them w ith the means fo r endless debate. To get our inspiration we mod­ erns don’t have to ‘clear the decks’ by sweep­ ing away the fish records that delighted our forebears. Were I an Irishman, I would be proud to acknowledge John Naughton’s 90i lb world record rod-caught pike taken in 1862 from Lough Derg (No. 2). Were I a Scot, I would lament the fact that my country’s biggest pike, the celebrated 72 lb Kenmure Pike (No. 5), has been discounted for so long. But I would trans­ port the British Record (rod-caught) Fish Committee en bloc to Botany Bay for throwing out Tommy Morgan’s 47 lb 11 oz Loch Lomond pike (No. 42) that was witnessed by so many people. Since I am neither Irish nor Scottish, but English, I regard John Nudd’s 42 lb Wroxham pike (No. 70) as the English record. And I feel sorry for Messrs Fennings, Young and Hancock, each o f whom caught a 40-pounder - but not too sorry, because I would be very proud to have caught one as big. In my opinion, so far as the keeping o f records is

* Hugh Falkus does not share my pessimism. In a recent letter he has said: ‘There may be reasons why pike over 60 lb w ill not be caught in the future, but I feel certain that a shortage o f food in the shape o f m igratory fish w ill not be among them. Q uite apart from river pollution , disease and heavy netting, the dim inishing runs during recent years are, I believe, m ainly due to a natural cycle. F or reasons unknown,

a ll animal species suffer violent fluctuations o f numbers from tim e to tim e, and m igratory fish are no exception. I f we use our common sense (as I am sure we w ill) to keep netting w ithin reasonable proportions and refrain from using our rivers as common drains, nature w ill do the rest, and I predict that runs o f salmon and sea-trout w ill show an upward trend during the next decade.*

9

concerned, Richard W alker has w ritten the last word on the subject: Record breaking has been treated as a competition and the acceptance o f a fish as a record has been regarded as a prize. That is quite wrong. The Record Fish Committee has only one object which is to record the largest fish o f each species caught legally and by fair angling in British waters. Each pike in the Big Pike List has been given a number; but although there are 230 entries in the list, it has not been possible to find out more about all o f them. In such in ­ stances, what inform ation as is known is given in ‘footnotes’ to the text, numbered to accord w ith the pikes’ numbers in the m ain list. It was inevitable that details o f some freshly caught p ik e -b ig enough to qualify fo r the Big Pike L is t-w o u ld arrive too late to be included in the list. These appear as ‘Late entries’ on page 268. Whenever I was able to discover the length measurement o f any pike that qualified by weight fo r an entry in this book, I was faced w ith a problem o f how to record it. I knew that anglers invariably measure their pike from tip o f nose to tip o f ta il (extreme length), whereas scientists, fo r reasons known only to themselves, measure pike from tip o f nose to o f ta il. In my book. Pike (1971), w ith the aid o f D r W inifred Frost’s form ula,* I attempted to rationalize the measurements by converting anglers’ extreme lengths, where they existed, to scientists’ fo rk lengths. A fter due consideration, I have now reversed that plan, so that all lengths quoted in this book are angler’s lengths, i.e. extreme lengths. I am quite sure it makes better sense to fo llo w * D r Frost’s form ula: to convert extreme length to fork length, divide by 1*055. To convert fork length to extreme length, m ultiply by 1*055.

10

em pirical rather than new-fangled methods o f measuring fish. I t has been necessary to convert to extreme length all the measurements recorded fo i Irish pike since the inception o f the Irish Record Fish Com m ittee in A p ril 1955, as tha t com m ittee has follow ed the scientists’ m ethod. F in a lly a w ord about the weights o f C o n ti­ nental pike given in the lis t: the B ritish angling correspondents and editors who recorded the capture o f big pike, weighed in kilogram s, tended to give weights in pounds th a t are heavier than a standard conversion table w ould allow . However, it is alm ost certain th a t the kilogram weights were themselves rounded-off, rather than s tric tly accurate, figures; hence there w ould be little p o in t in ‘correctin g’ the pound equivalents recorded in the B ritis h ang­ lin g magazines. In these cases (e.g. N os 100,130, 181), I have sim ply let the w ritte n h isto rica l record stand. However, fo r the convenience o f readers who w ould like to attem pt the conver­ sions themselves, I include the fo llo w in g abbrevi­ ated tables: Pounds to kilogram s

Kilogram s to pounds

lb

kg

lb

16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42

35-27 39-69 44-09 48-50 52-91 57-32 61-73 66-14 70-55 74-96 79-37 83-78 88-18 92-60

kg

35 15-87 40 18-14 45 20-41 50 22-68 55 24-95 60 27-21 65 29-48 70 31-75 75 34-02 80 36-29 85 38-55 90 40-82 95 43-09

lo rd Inverurie'sBigPikeList N o t by any means is my attem pt the firs t to lis t a ll the big pike caught in B rita in and Ireland. The firs t was made by L o rd Inverurie o f Aberdeenshire. H is appeal fo r details o f big pike was made in the Fishing Gazette and the F ie ld in January 1897. G iven tim e, Inverurie w ould have made greater progress w ith his investigations, but he died (on 26 A ugust 1897) soon after publishing his prelim ina ry findings in the same jo u rn a ls some seven m onths later. From those tim es u n til the present, various authors have added to his orig inal lis t details o f m ore recent catches, w hile subtracting from it details o f less notew orthy pike. H is early account fired m y im agination and lured me to the places where the pike were caught. I t is fo r this reason th a t where possible I have photographed those actual locations so tha t my readers can at least relate a big pike to the place o f its capture - before allow ing im agi­ nation a loose rein. Since In ve ru rie ’s lis t was one o f my sources o f in sp ira tio n I have reproduced pa rt o f it, together w ith his le tte r o f appeal.

Letter in the Fishing Gazette, 2 January 1897 Inform ation wanted as to capture o f large pike Dear Sir, - 1 should be extremely obliged if any o f your readers could furnish me w ith a list o f any pike o f remarkable size which have been caught w ithin their memory. Also o f authenticated speci­ mens since 1800. I f space would not admit o f a list in the Fishing Gazette, I should esteem it a favour to receive such communication by post. Any interesting details, mode o f capture, success­ fu l angler, and water in which the fish were captured would be very acceptable. Apologising fo r troubling you. Yours, etc.,

The letter in which the Fishing Gazette's editor, R. B. Marston, acknowledged receipt of Lord Inverurie's Big Pike List.

INVERURIE,

K eith H all, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire. 11

TH E BIG P IK E L IS T Being the authentic record o f more than eighty large pike killed in the B ritish isles Year *1784

Date Weight {lb)

Place

Captor

Mode o f capture

June 49J

Loch Petuliche, Scotland

Col Thornton

Trolling

An illustration from a drawing appeared, together with a fu ll account o f the capture o f the fish, in the Sporting Magazine o f the year. It appears that the fish was hooked and lost some time before, fo r a scar wasfound on the belly, from which a double hook was extracted. *1796 May 31$ Isis M r Bishop N ot stated This fish, before being weighed, was disgorged o f a 6 lb barbel and a chub o f 3 lb 1796 *1797

June 37 July 40

Private pond Totteridge, Herts.

Lord Gainsborough Not known

Not stated

Out o f this fish a 4 lb tench was taken. *1799 June 47 Private lake. Lines. Sir Cecil Wray's lake was emptied and the fish stranded. The head is now in possession o f Horace St Paul, Esq.

*Though the authenticity of these fish may be doubted, I include them in the list as in the sporting journals of the time the weights were corroborated. Other large fish caught in the last century, or in the early part o f the present century, o f which merely mention is made, I omit. It w ill be noticed that these five large fish were killed out o f season; had they been caught nearer Christmas they would, undoubtedly, have been still heavier. F.B.

Eighty pike o f recent years, weighing together more than a ton Year Date

Weight {lb)

Place

Captor

1850 1869 1870 1874 1875 1875 1876 1876 1877 1878 1878

32

Pond near Worcester Loch Awe in N orfolk

M r Essington

12

March 28 Oct. 2 A pril Oct. Jan. 2 Jan. July 24 Jan. 3 Jan. Feb.

28 32 35 36 26£ 21 20 36 21i 29

Rapley Lake, Bagshot Luton Hoo, Beds.

Mode o f Capture

M r E. Rooper not known netted

The late G. Forbes, Esq. snap Hampton Deeps, Thames M r Luton snap River Frome, Dorset A. Jardine, Esq. snap Thames, Marlow M r Ritchie perch paternoster Maidstone, Kent A. Jardine, Esq. snap Thames, Sonning snap A. Jardine, Esq. near Norwich M r English snap

Yt '/

Drite

Weighf \ !i))

Place

7878

30 Jan.

27-J

Ham pton Deeps, Thames M r Barker

paternoster

1878

23 Feb.

30

Lough Erne, Ireland

not known

pike fly

1878

24 Feb.

36

near N orw ich

M r Thome

snap

1878

27 Feb.

23

near Petworth, Sussex

A . Jardine, Esq.

snap

1878

4 Feb.

22

R iver Frome, Dorset

A . Jardine, Esq.

snap

1878

26 Sept.

35

R iver Shannon

M r Matthews

spinning

1878

14 M arch

22*

near Chippenham

A . Jardine, Esq.

paternoster

1878

17 Feb.

22

Bardney, R iver W itham

1879

14 Feb.

2 \\

near Petworth, Sussex

A . Jardine, Esq.

1879

24 Feb.

24

near Chippenham

M r Pallinson

1879

28 Feb.

24*

Eastwell Park, K ent

H R H Duke o f Edinburgh

1879

4 Sept.

37

near Amersham

A . Jardine, Esq.

paternoster

1879

4 Sept.

40

Epton House, Edgehill

1879

4 Sept.

32

A von, Hants.

1880

8 M arch

22

near Petw orth, Sussex

A . Jardine, Esq.

snap

1880

10 A p ril

27

H alberton

M r Frost

1882

3 Jan.

23

R iver Frome, Dorset

A . Jardine, Esq.

snap

28$

Chippenham Park, New m arket

T. A . Johnson, Esq.

spinning (natural)

1882

Captor

Mode o f Capture

gorge snap

1882

23 Feb.

30*

near G lynde, Sussex

A . Jardine, Esq.

paternoster

1882

21 A p ril

29

Slapton Ley

L. P. A llen, Esq.

live-bait

28*

Euston H a ll, N o rfo lk

F. Johnson, Esq.

spinning (natural) worm w hilst barbel fishing

1882 1883

2 July

24

M a rlow , Thames

M r Bedford

1883

27 N ov.

24$

near N orw ich

M r English

1884

19 Jan.

23

near Chippenham

A . Jardine, Esq.

paternoster

1884

19 Jan.

21

near Chippenham

A . Jardine, Esq.

snap

1884

19 Jan.

20*

near Chippenham

A . Jardine, Esq.

1884

20 N ov.

21*

Sowley, Lym ington

M r B utler

spoon

1884

20 N ov.

28*

Sowley, Lym ington

M r R itchie

spoon

1887

15 Feb.

26

near Chippenham

R. B. M arston, Esq.

snap

1887

15 Feb.

23

near Chippenham

M r Searle

snap

1887

15 Feb.

22

near Chippenham

A . Jardine, Esq.

paternoster

1888

14 N ov.

22

H ayw ood W ide W ater

M r Evans

spinning (natural)

1890

8 O ct.

27

near Reigate

H . Gwiney, Esq.

spoon

1890

1 Feb.

20*

H ayw ood W ide W ater

M r Preece

snap

13

Year Date

Weight (lb)

Captor

Place

Mode o f Captu.

M r Pank live-bait River Rudd, N orfolk 1890 8 Nov. 301 This fish when opened was found to contain the remains o f a large bream and a water rat. paternoster not known (?) private lake, W ilts. 25 1890 trolling Lough Arrow, Co. Sligo M r Rothwell 261 1892 33

1892

M r Lawrie

Lough Mask

Haywood Wide Water 221 1892 1 Dec. 1893 37 River Shannon This fish was presented to M r R. B. Marston Lough Mullaghmore 35 1893

M r Osborne

snap

not stated

not stated

M r Conway

28

Lough Mullaghmore

M r Conway

211

Haywood Wide Water

M r Evans

snap

Beaulieu, New Forest

M r Ritchie

spoon

1893

211 32

Lough Sheelin

M r A. N. Smith

live bait

1893

31

Lough Sheelin

M r A. N. Smith or M r Dawson

live bait

1894 April

32

Lough Conn

M r E. H. C. Smith

trolling (with artificial)

1894 Sept.

32

Lough Conn

M r W. H. Brougham

1893 1893 1893

13 Nov.

1894 uncertain 34 1894 Dec. 261 1895 Dec. 25

Clumber Park, Notts.

1895 Dec. 1895 Dec.

Clumber Park, Notts.

Duke o f Newcastle

River Dove

M r J. C. W right

snap

21

Barratt’s Pool, M oria

not stated

live bait

25

Clumber Park, Notts.

Name forgotten

snap

1895 June 1896 Sept. 1896 Nov.

36 35 30

Lough Sheelin

Capt. Peacock

Lough Conn

M r Roberts M r Waller

1897

201

Dagenham Lake, Essex Oulton Broad

13 Feb.

M r Dixon

snap

so u rce : Fishing Gazette, 10 July 1897.

Lord Inverurie In July 1977, in response to my letter o f inquiry, I was invited to K e ith H a ll at Inverurie in Aberdeenshire. The present Earl o f K intore, nephew o f the Lord Inverurie who compiled the preceding Big Pike List, kindly allowed me to lo ok through his uncle’s papers and correspondence. From 14

what I have discovered o f the talents o f the ill-fated lo rd I believe that but fo r his prem ature death (peritonitis) in 1897 at the age o f tw enty, he m ight have w ritten one o f the best angling books in the English language. In a fram ew ork layout o f the book th a t he intended to w rite - prefixed by a loving relation as ‘the book tha t was never w ritte n ’ - he had practically completed the illustra tions, b u t alas

such varied headings as ‘Tench fishing’ and ‘The introduction in to B ritish waters o f the kin g carp’ .

The oldest part (built in 1 542) of the present-day Keith Hall was a Scottish defensive castle called Caskieben. Later., when it was in a ruinous state, it was bought by Sir John Keith, w ho was created first Earl of Kintore in 1677 by Charles II for the part his son played in preserving the Scottish crown, sceptre and sword of state from Cromwell. Many people had a hand in laving out the beautiful grounds of Keith Hall, including Capability Brown, w ho was reponsible for the woodlands, and Lord Inverurie's father, who made the lake w hich stands immediately behind the place where this photograph was taken. {Author's photo)

the m anuscript, except fo r the piece that follow s this note, consists o f but a few pencilled notes. Inverurie, the son o f the ninth Earl o f K in to re , who was at that tim e governor o f South A ustralia, grew up on an estate that included ten miles o f Scotland’s best ‘browntro u t river - the D on. Inverurie’s love o f coarse fishing came from the hours he spent fishing at W indsor and G reat M arlow during the tim e that he was at Eton. H is influence, his personality and his love o f the affairs o f anglers and fishermen brought him the presidency o f the K ingston Piscatorial Society. N o t surprisingly these stim ulating activities aroused his creative capacity as w rite r and artist, w hich found expression in the articles he w rote fo r the Thames A ngling News under

That Inverurie must have been fascinated by big fish and stories about them is clearly evidenced by a note in the F ie ld o f 30 M ay 1896, in which the editor mentions th a t L o rd Inve­ rurie purchased a salmon (from the F o rth D istrict) weighing 49£ pounds fo r his collection o f specimen fish. C uriosity and a desire to know the facts about pike, ‘any pike o f remarkable size’ - a species that has always been and presumably always w ill be the subject o f much speculation - were Inverurie’s spur, as indeed they are mine. The follow ing lines, w ritten on 4 October 1895, which form the only completed page o f his book, w ill, I suspect, te ll you more about the man than anything I have w ritten. We angled on far into the w inte r evening t ill the blood-red sun sank from sight and the cawing o f the rooks as they circled above the leafless treesgradually ceased and a ll was s till. Occasionally a w ild duck w ould w histle b y - a mere dark spot against the tw ilit sky - but save fo r this and the occasional scamper o f a ra b b it across the frozen snow there was nought to distu rb the tra n q u illity o f the scene. M y thoughts were wandering fa r away and I fe lt a little sad - a sadness w hich a beautiful evening often inspires-w hen the solemn chime o f the village clock bade me hasten home. As I was tu rn in g m y steps to leave - 1 looked back once more on this beautiful sheet o f water. I t was no longer now some painted pool reflecting the pale glow o f a w in te r’s gloam ing - but dusk had - even as I waited - given place to her more stem com panion N ig h t and the long brow n reeds w ith th e ir broken heads s tiff w ith cold ju st nodded to and fro against the in k y depths bidding me farewell. Across the crackling snow I directed my hasty steps t ill the cheerful glow o f some wayside cottage - g lin tin g through the bare boughs - to ld me I was home and proud indeed was I th a t evening when to the adm iring eyes o f a ll I la id m y 20 lb pike o u t to view.

15

TheAuthor'sBiggestPike

T h is, m y largest p ike , w eighed 32 lb . I t had a g irth o f 23 \in . I caught it on a red and A tla n tic S alm o spoon, w h ile fis h in g on the R iv e r A ille w ith m y frie n d , N ed M in ih a n , in C o. M a y o , on 25 O cto b e r 1977. I f o n ly th is p ik e had w eighed the expected w e ig h t fo r a p ik e th a t measures 47£ in . lo n g (see A p p e n d ix 1) it w o u ld have exceeded the m in im u m q u a lify in g w e ig h t fo r an e n try in th is b o o k - 351b.

T o m o rro w perhaps I sha ll catch one 50 in . silve lo n gr th a t w ill be as fa t as a p ig . T h a n k goodness fo r tom orrow - th a t qu intesse ntial day w h ic h generates o p tim ism fo r a ll anglers. In ancient Greece the y already kne w w h a t w ent on in an angler’s m in d - o r a t least T h e o critu s d id when he w ro te :

. . . In sleep, dogs dream o f [hunting] bears, and o f [large sized] fish dream I.

17

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