As part of the Scyliorhinidae shark family, the Bull Huss is just one of around 60 species commonly found in shallow water habitats throughout the World.
Nature has designed the huss with a large head and mouth, the mouth carrying six rows of small but sharp shark like dagger shaped teeth designed to grab and impale prey. Any teeth lost during an attack are quickly replaced. The body is long and slender enabling the huss to work in and out of narrow gaps between rock structure to flush out prey fish, but with a flat belly shape they can also hug the seabed and maintain a low profile for surprise attacks when foraging on a mixed or clean seabed.
The huss is also known as the Nursehound and Greater Spotted Dogfish in both UK and Irish waters.
Huss can only be confused with the look-a-like Lesser Spotted Dogfish, and then only really when comparing smaller fish of the species under 4lbs. The easiest way to tell them apart is that the huss has individual nasal flaps covering the nostrils on the upper jaw that do not reach the edge of the mouth, whereas on the LSD the nasal flap joins the mouth. The first dorsal fin on the huss is positioned vertically above the base of the pelvic fin. But on the LSD the dorsal is positioned further back and does not align with the pelvic fin.
They are adept at changing body colour to suit the ground they are living over. Adult huss are typically fawn to dark brown on the back with darker mottling when living over mixed ground, but can be dark grey almost slate black on the back when working over rough ground. The belly is white to faint grey, occasionally with darker pigment in blotches. The eye is large to maximise light when working deep.
Bull Huss breed from late January through to mid May, typically in deeper water, but quickly return inshore immediately after.
Female huss lay eggs enclosed in oblong, smooth round shaped cases about 4-inches long. The egg cases have tendrils at each end which the fish wrap around the stalks of kelp and rocks for security. The juvenile huss take nine months to develop and will measure about 6-inches long when hatching from the egg sac.
The normal huss diet will be any small fish such as dabs, whiting, poor cod, rockling, pouting, small codling, but also crabs, hermit crabs and squat lobster. Huss are also opportunists and will mop up the seabed after a major tope attack when bits of dead and dying fish litter the seabed.
WHEN AND WHERE TO FISH
Huss are found throughout the UK and Ireland, but are commonest along the southwest and western facing shores. Their range extends as far north as southern Norway, down through western Europe and in to the Mediterranean.
They can be caught throughout the full twelve months of the year in most areas, but the best fishing tends to centre around the months of April to June, then again from September through to the beginning of January just prior to the huss leaving for offshore breeding.
Specific areas to target huss are the rock ledges of Devon and Cornwall, both southwest and northwest Wales, and right along the western coast of Scotland. Equally good is the area from Cork Harbour, west Cork, County Kerry, Galway and southern Mayo in Ireland. For some reason few huss are caught inside and north of Donegal Bay, though few anglers really target them.
Typical huss territory are rock ledges falling in to deep water. By deep, look for water with a depth over 20-feet for consistent fishing, and 30-feet is better. Ideal ground is a rough seabed with broken boulders, rocky reefs, rising pinnacles and kelp weed beds.
Huss work up inside bigger estuaries too, and when doing so can be found in very shallow water of just a few feet, though this is typically during the hours of darkness. They again favour weedy areas and marks where sand meets rougher ground.
On deeper water marks huss will feed on any size of tide and tend to fish best for numbers during the hours of darkness. Good times are either side of low water and for the first three hours of the flood, but this can vary from mark to mark and some deep water rocks fish best on the ebb tide. Inside bigger estuaries the flood tide is invariably best.
HUSS TACKLE
Due to the type of terrain and heavy ground feature huss favour, tackle needs to be tough and uncompromising. The best choice of rod for this is a true 5/6oz beachcaster between 12’6” and 13’6”. Look for a blank with a stiff mid section and butt that gives you some leverage power to fight a heavy fish with.
Reels need more thought. If you need casting distance, then most anglers go for the Penn 525 Mag2 which can be loaded with 20lb mono and still hit the horizon, but has the strength in the gears to bully big fish out of heavy kelp. Other good reels are the Shimano Torium, ABU 7000 series, and Slosh 30’s.
Really rough ground will demand you fish 30lb main line, but still with a 60lb shock leader. The leader gives you a strong connection when pulling fish in to shore in the last few feet, plus gives the man landing the fish something strong to hold and steer the fish ashore with. A leader also protects your main line from seabed abrasion when fishing over rough ground, plus gives strength when casting big baits and leads to range.
HOW TO BUILD A SHORE HUSS PULLEY RIG
BAITS
Squid, either whole, or as a combo bait, will undoubtedly increase your overall catch rate. Huss love squid! They are also suckers for whole large sandeel baits.
Most anglers use mackerel, as it is easily available, and this will catch plenty of huss, but as mentioned is better when fished with squid to improve its attractiveness. Also good is half a bluey body which just oozes scent for a long time out in to the tide.
Best of the natural baits are fillets of rockling, pouting, whole small poor cod and whiting.
Don’t be afraid to use big baits. Remember, huss have big mouths and razor sharp teeth!
TOP TIP 1
A good quality, big powerful headlight, such as the Samalite or Petzl Ultra, is essential when night huss fishing off the rocks. One with both a pool light beam to be used for baiting up and working around your rod rest, but also with a second long range beam option. This to be used to spot the huss when it breaks surface at range, helps you steer it between any lobster pot ropes and buoys, but also direct the fish in towards the man landing the fish for you.
TOP TIP 2
For night fishing, use a hot orange or luminous yellow leader. This again is easily picked out at range when a fish breaks surface, but this is also easier for the man landing the fish to see when he’s low down on the rocks and trying to pick out a fish in any sort of a swell.
TOP TIP 3
Huss have tough, hard mouths and will regularly spit out a hook and bait just as you are about to land them. They literally just hold on refusing to let go until the last minute, with the hook never having found the mouth of the fish. To minimise this happening, make sure your hooks are ultra sharp at all times, and when you get a huss bite, retrieve line until you feel the weight of the fish, then lift the rod and really bang the hook home for a secure hold.
TOP TIP 4
Always take note when choosing a huss mark of lobster pots. When freshly baited and laid, these will draw in numbers of huss which will stay in the area feeding on the smaller species that also follow up the strong and irresistible scent trail from the pot bait. Fishing downtide of freshly baited lobster pots will double your chances of fish!
TOP TIP 5
Huss can occasionally take a bait well down. To help remove stubborn hooks always carry a pair of long nosed pliers. Use the ends of the jaws to grip the hook inside the bend, and with a downward force the hook should pop out. T-bars are also popular and aid the safe release of fish caught with a stubborn hook given the hard nature of the huss’s jaw.
Nature has designed the huss with a large head and mouth, the mouth carrying six rows of small but sharp shark like dagger shaped teeth designed to grab and impale prey. Any teeth lost during an attack are quickly replaced. The body is long and slender enabling the huss to work in and out of narrow gaps between rock structure to flush out prey fish, but with a flat belly shape they can also hug the seabed and maintain a low profile for surprise attacks when foraging on a mixed or clean seabed.
The huss is also known as the Nursehound and Greater Spotted Dogfish in both UK and Irish waters.
Huss can only be confused with the look-a-like Lesser Spotted Dogfish, and then only really when comparing smaller fish of the species under 4lbs. The easiest way to tell them apart is that the huss has individual nasal flaps covering the nostrils on the upper jaw that do not reach the edge of the mouth, whereas on the LSD the nasal flap joins the mouth. The first dorsal fin on the huss is positioned vertically above the base of the pelvic fin. But on the LSD the dorsal is positioned further back and does not align with the pelvic fin.
They are adept at changing body colour to suit the ground they are living over. Adult huss are typically fawn to dark brown on the back with darker mottling when living over mixed ground, but can be dark grey almost slate black on the back when working over rough ground. The belly is white to faint grey, occasionally with darker pigment in blotches. The eye is large to maximise light when working deep.
Bull Huss breed from late January through to mid May, typically in deeper water, but quickly return inshore immediately after.
Female huss lay eggs enclosed in oblong, smooth round shaped cases about 4-inches long. The egg cases have tendrils at each end which the fish wrap around the stalks of kelp and rocks for security. The juvenile huss take nine months to develop and will measure about 6-inches long when hatching from the egg sac.
The normal huss diet will be any small fish such as dabs, whiting, poor cod, rockling, pouting, small codling, but also crabs, hermit crabs and squat lobster. Huss are also opportunists and will mop up the seabed after a major tope attack when bits of dead and dying fish litter the seabed.
WHEN AND WHERE TO FISH
Huss are found throughout the UK and Ireland, but are commonest along the southwest and western facing shores. Their range extends as far north as southern Norway, down through western Europe and in to the Mediterranean.
They can be caught throughout the full twelve months of the year in most areas, but the best fishing tends to centre around the months of April to June, then again from September through to the beginning of January just prior to the huss leaving for offshore breeding.
Specific areas to target huss are the rock ledges of Devon and Cornwall, both southwest and northwest Wales, and right along the western coast of Scotland. Equally good is the area from Cork Harbour, west Cork, County Kerry, Galway and southern Mayo in Ireland. For some reason few huss are caught inside and north of Donegal Bay, though few anglers really target them.
Typical huss territory are rock ledges falling in to deep water. By deep, look for water with a depth over 20-feet for consistent fishing, and 30-feet is better. Ideal ground is a rough seabed with broken boulders, rocky reefs, rising pinnacles and kelp weed beds.
Huss work up inside bigger estuaries too, and when doing so can be found in very shallow water of just a few feet, though this is typically during the hours of darkness. They again favour weedy areas and marks where sand meets rougher ground.
On deeper water marks huss will feed on any size of tide and tend to fish best for numbers during the hours of darkness. Good times are either side of low water and for the first three hours of the flood, but this can vary from mark to mark and some deep water rocks fish best on the ebb tide. Inside bigger estuaries the flood tide is invariably best.
HUSS TACKLE
Due to the type of terrain and heavy ground feature huss favour, tackle needs to be tough and uncompromising. The best choice of rod for this is a true 5/6oz beachcaster between 12’6” and 13’6”. Look for a blank with a stiff mid section and butt that gives you some leverage power to fight a heavy fish with.
Reels need more thought. If you need casting distance, then most anglers go for the Penn 525 Mag2 which can be loaded with 20lb mono and still hit the horizon, but has the strength in the gears to bully big fish out of heavy kelp. Other good reels are the Shimano Torium, ABU 7000 series, and Slosh 30’s.
Really rough ground will demand you fish 30lb main line, but still with a 60lb shock leader. The leader gives you a strong connection when pulling fish in to shore in the last few feet, plus gives the man landing the fish something strong to hold and steer the fish ashore with. A leader also protects your main line from seabed abrasion when fishing over rough ground, plus gives strength when casting big baits and leads to range.
HOW TO BUILD A SHORE HUSS PULLEY RIG
BAITS
Squid, either whole, or as a combo bait, will undoubtedly increase your overall catch rate. Huss love squid! They are also suckers for whole large sandeel baits.
Most anglers use mackerel, as it is easily available, and this will catch plenty of huss, but as mentioned is better when fished with squid to improve its attractiveness. Also good is half a bluey body which just oozes scent for a long time out in to the tide.
Best of the natural baits are fillets of rockling, pouting, whole small poor cod and whiting.
Don’t be afraid to use big baits. Remember, huss have big mouths and razor sharp teeth!
TOP TIP 1
A good quality, big powerful headlight, such as the Samalite or Petzl Ultra, is essential when night huss fishing off the rocks. One with both a pool light beam to be used for baiting up and working around your rod rest, but also with a second long range beam option. This to be used to spot the huss when it breaks surface at range, helps you steer it between any lobster pot ropes and buoys, but also direct the fish in towards the man landing the fish for you.
TOP TIP 2
For night fishing, use a hot orange or luminous yellow leader. This again is easily picked out at range when a fish breaks surface, but this is also easier for the man landing the fish to see when he’s low down on the rocks and trying to pick out a fish in any sort of a swell.
TOP TIP 3
Huss have tough, hard mouths and will regularly spit out a hook and bait just as you are about to land them. They literally just hold on refusing to let go until the last minute, with the hook never having found the mouth of the fish. To minimise this happening, make sure your hooks are ultra sharp at all times, and when you get a huss bite, retrieve line until you feel the weight of the fish, then lift the rod and really bang the hook home for a secure hold.
TOP TIP 4
Always take note when choosing a huss mark of lobster pots. When freshly baited and laid, these will draw in numbers of huss which will stay in the area feeding on the smaller species that also follow up the strong and irresistible scent trail from the pot bait. Fishing downtide of freshly baited lobster pots will double your chances of fish!
TOP TIP 5
Huss can occasionally take a bait well down. To help remove stubborn hooks always carry a pair of long nosed pliers. Use the ends of the jaws to grip the hook inside the bend, and with a downward force the hook should pop out. T-bars are also popular and aid the safe release of fish caught with a stubborn hook given the hard nature of the huss’s jaw.
