A totally unexpected catch

[Snatcher]

Now this afternoon session ( 30 August 2010 ) was twofold in nature. My mate George on our Clashwhannon caravan park had just had his boat engine repaired and was itching to try it out.



Also the "Mull of Galloway Big Game Angling Club " had reformed this year with a current total of 22 members. We had arranged to fish a competion 28/29/30 August to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Scotlands first rod and line caught shark. Due to high winds the first two days were unfishable so this was the last chance saloon so to speak.

The launch went smoothly and we headed off to Georges favourite mackerel mark. I was first in with a red gurnard which I shook off at the side of the boat. George was in next with a full string.



It took us about an hour and 3/4 moves to collect enough bait for our tope attempt. It was Georges first go at tope fishing so he had no GPS marks in his book. On a hunch we anchored in about 100' of water on the west side of the Mull where I had caught tope before. The rubby dubby was attached to the anchor chain with about 25 mashed up mackerel in.

I had the first take and it proved to be a doggie which was merely hanging onto the bait. As most of you know what a doggie looks like LOL I did not bother with a photo. Back it safely went to pester someone else in the future. I had no sooner dropped down again when I was hit by a decent fish. As I was reeling it up I was thinking either small tope,bull huss or thornie. Imagine my amazement and delight when it turned out to be a smoothie of about 8 lbs. All "guesstimates" coming from George. A quick photo and it was carefully returned.



George then had a decent fish on for a few seconds before it threw the hook. It was me in next with a bull huss of about 10lbs. This fish had not taken the hook either and just had his mouth clamped onto the mackerel. As soon as he hit the deck though he let go. Here is me wrestling with it.





Check out its dentition - good long handled T bars required with these guys !!



Next drop down I had a savage take and this fish started strongly taking line against the drag. Imagine how gutted I felt after a few minutes when the hook pulled free. Oh well thats fishing for you. George was itching to get back close inshore for some pollacking so I went for one last drop to try and get that tope. I did get a good fish but it was another bull huss of about 14lbs this time. the next series of photos demonstrates the ancient art of tope wrestling. I bet a few of you out there can relate to this.







Now George never anchors up as a rule ,he is just a drifter !!! Consequently we set off inshore forgetting that the anchor was down until George noticed it "aquaplaning" about 100 yds behind us. OOPS

We had about an hour close in on lighter gear catching pollack to about 3 lbs,all of which were carefully returned. For the last few minutes I put a mackerel trace back on as I wanted a few for my lobster pot. This next photo was supposed to show me with a full string but by the time George got the camera out 3 had dropped onto the deck.



The retrieval went smoothly and here is the final shot of the day showing George next to his boat "Cassie". Thanks fow a great day out George



John

Edited January 5, 2015 by Snatcher

[Snatcher]

OOPSIE !!!! A couple of folk have spotted that my smoothound was actually a spurdog. Lucky I did not get spiked then

 

John

[Vagabond]

Well done John.

 

How common have bull huss been up your way in recent years ?

 

I ask, because off the south coast, in the 1960s, you could reckon on three or four almost every trip

 

...then they disappeared - between 1980 and this year I only had one - out of Brighton in about 1995

 

But last month I had a couple out of Weymouth - virtually in successive drop-downs.

 

They certainly liven things up - sometimes the fight doesn't really start until you get them in the boat

 

PS You could say the same for spurdog - sometimes in the 1960s, off Newhaven, you would find yourself in the middle of a pack - the only thing to do if you wanted to catch something else was to move. They too have gone. Haven't seen a spurdog down south for years - but always catch some on my trips to the Oban/Mull area though.

Edited September 1, 2010 by Vagabond

[Snatcher]

Well done John.

 

How common have bull huss been up your way in recent years ?

 

I ask, because off the south coast, in the 1960s, you could reckon on three or four almost every trip

 

...then they disappeared - between 1980 and this year I only had one - out of Brighton in about 1995

 

But last month I had a couple out of Weymouth - virtually in successive drop-downs.

 

They certainly liven things up - sometimes the fight doesn't really start until you get them in the boat

 

PS You could say the same for spurdog - sometimes in the 1960s, off Newhaven, you would find yourself in the middle of a pack - the only thing to do if you wanted to catch something else was to move. They too have gone. Haven't seen a spurdog down south for years - but always catch some on my trips to the Oban/Mull area though.

 

Hi Dave bull huss are fairly frequently caught by tope anglers around the MOG I am pleased to say. Matty Burrett caught a lot of big spurdog off the west of the MOG about a week ago fishing the deep trench. I think Shaun Cummings may be doing an article in "Sea Angler" on their trip out

 

John