PIKE. By Fred Buller. First edition. Hardback.

1971 1st edition. 4to (188 x 255mm). Pp318. B/w photographs, illustrations, bibliography. Dark blue cloth, spine titled in silver gilt.

An erudite and informative monograph on pike and pike fishing, and one of the most collectible angling books. The book is divided into three parts; Great Pike, The Fish, Catching Pike. Chapters include: The big pike list; A chapter of errors; John Garvin's record rod-caught pike; The great pike of Whittlesea Mere; The 60lb Dowdeswell pike; The Kenmure pike; The Endrick pike; Thirty-nine pounder caught on a 5lb live-bait; Hancock's pike; The fighting qualities of big pike; Anatomy of the pike; Fossil pike; The diet of pike; How much does a pike eat?; Big waters - big fish; Age of pike and growth rate; Spawning and fecundity; Hybrids of the pike family; Notes on the pike in North America; Weather; Locating pike in large waters; Do pike shoal?; Rigs, tackles and methods (2 chapters); Spinning; Dead-bait and live-bait mounts and rigs (several chapters); Paternoster rigs (several chapters); Nylon and wire traces and similar (several chapters); The strike, pike for the table, preparation, cooking. Appendices are contributed by Bill Giles, Notes on Norfolk Pike fishing, and E.J. Crossman, PhD, Pike - Related Forms and History.