Well I was supposed to go out with my mate Michael Emery yesterday afternoon for another battle for a round £ , but circumstances changed and we had to go out over the morning tide instead. The weather was a little overcast but it was still very warm and with that we headed 4 mile out of Douglas to catch some Mackerel for our intended target fish of the day Bull Huss.
However as we all know fishing is fishing and not catching , the only fish we caught for bait was Scad or Horse mackerel depending on where you live. This is a very oily fish but has a much tougher skin than a Mackerel.


Not to be put off we caught 1/2 a bucket of these fish in no time and set off to our mark and target the Huss none the less, the anchor was deployed and the fishing begun Scad flapper baits on Sakuma size 8/0 hooks on 250lb mono traces were sent to the bottom whilst we both still jigged for a few mackerel which we did catch 1/2 a dozen. The bait rods were kept in use by fishing various scratching rigs just to give us a little bit more sport whilst waiting for the Huss.


The 1st Huss that was caught by my good self was a Huss of about the 5lb mark with Michael  quickly catching one just shy of that, so the £ was still mine to loose. Several Huss spat the bait when nearing the surface which always makes for a frustrating day but the smile was soon back on Michaels face as he brought in a Huss of 8.5lb.


Still there was plenty of time left and things can change, during all this the other two rods kept us both busy with Whiting, Gurnards (Red & Grey), Dogfish, Mackerel and a single Tope right on last knockings. Bull Huss were really enjoying the Scad baits and kept on coming. With just 1/2 an hour to go we both hooked up into a Huss and this would prove to be the deciding fish. Michaels Huss was clearly smaller than mine so his went straight back to the salty depths and mine was weighed and was just on the 10lb mark. I realise that weighing at sea is not the most accurate but we did not over guess we under guest if that makes sense.


The side show of the species hunt was a draw with 7 species each but 8 species in total, they were :MACKEREL, SCAD, WHITING RED GURNARD, GREY GURNARD, DOG FISH , TOPE AND BULL HUSS. The Scad were the stars of todays fishing giving us some great sport on the Huss and proving that you do not always have to depend on Mackie. Many thanks to Michael for the day out on Kirsty III and most importantly a big thanks to him for giving me another round £, this puts me in the lead for this year so far, but there is a long way to go yet.


Just a couple of piccys;