30/10/11 Ole' Snaggletooth....The Return.

After a couple of false starts, the Arun pike season got well and truly under way today. Dave joined me on P #1 for a 7-30am start at the bottom end. We found the river at half ebb and, despite the recent rain and the poor conditions downstream, it was in good health showing ideal colour. The mild, low pressure conditions led me to leave my coarse baits at home reserved for harder times, and I decided to go with sardines.
In stark contrast to last week's trip, the river seemed alive throughout the session with plenty of bream topping and, not uncommon for this time of year, endless eel  activity on the baits.
My first pike(of the season), a lively fish of 15-08 came minutes after plonking my bait within inches of a sunken tree 'banker' and before Dave had even finished setting up his rods.

 My second, at the top of the stretch and after a couple of hours, a long, lean, tail walking single, and I think from memory, the first pike that I've ever caught that performed these aerobatics .

Both pike were boldly marked by Arun standards almost certainly because of the generally clear water conditions experienced over the spring and summer period. Undoubtedly, the pike will lose their markings as the season progresses and adopt that electric blue hue so commonly seen on our fish.
We rod hopped for 200yds until the light began to fade, and the flood, on still quite a big tide, made effective fishing impossible, but had no more action. A good start to what I'm sure will prove a challenging season as usual .