We’re almost through the worst of the scratching season, and by the end of March things will be much improved . Looking at the weather forecast for this coming week there’s a huge jump for the better in both daytime and night time temperatures which will get the food chain moving inshore and bring in some better fish in the medium term.

Looking back, on a personal note, the scratching season has treated me pretty well, though correspondence from numerous contacts around the UK tells me that it’s been far from easy for most as a result of the bitterly cold sea temperatures.

The past ten days has seen me bag my first plaice of the season, albeit a small one, and I managed a very rare for me daylight session after flounders here in North Wales resulting in skinny just returned inshore fish to a little over a pound that would have weighed a fair few ounces more come June. I was slightly surprised to see the spawned out flounders back inshore on time in such good numbers given the prolonged cold winter.

I chose to fish a rock mark in North Wales this past weekend with an idea I might be in with a chance of a huss. This mark fishes only on the ebb and can be hit and miss, but is the best I’ve got for a March huss session.

I set up my usual two rods, one after huss, the other with a two-hook rig on and small size 4 hooks to see if I could pull a few small species out. This latter option went badly with just one small rattle in the first two hours which I missed. It was obvious there were no small fish out in front of me as the crab activity, mainly velvet swimmers which seem to stay active in cold sea temps, ripping the baits to shreds.

The big bait was also getting ripped so it meant frequent bait changes. I tried all the combinations, mackerel/squid, bluey/squid, mackerel/bluey and sandeel but nothing seemed to pull a bite.

After three hours of the ebb, given the standard baits were not producing, I figured on switching to a really open scent laden bait, as although this would wash out quickly, it may just help any passing predator home in on it due to the sudden explosion of smell as opposed to the slow but consistent release from a typical bound tight cocktail. Looking at the bait board, a filleted mackerel body took my eye. I cut the head and tail off, cut through the back bone in the middle and bound this round the hook with elastic thread to form a sausage shape but with loose flesh coming out between the thread to release lots of juice and bits of flesh in to the tide.

I hammered this way out and left just a touch of slack in the line to give any taking fish a chance to fully take the bait as it was obvious from the limited activity of small fish that anything swimming down there would be lethargic at best.

In the light of the lamp I saw the line tighten but without moving the rod tip. It fell slightly slack, only by a few inches, then tightened again. It did this three times before I lifted the rod, wound down and set the hook.

I won’t exaggerate and say the fish fought hard because it didn’t. It was a typical occasional resistance cold water scrap with the ID of the fish given away by the odd head shake as it tried to bury itself in the kelp. I knew I’d got my huss before it broke surface. It weighed about 8lbs and the hook was only just in the inside bottom jaw. It fed because the scent was overpowering and easy to track down. That fish wouldn’t have been bothered to move far if the scent was weak.

Apart from a small suicidal pollack, it was my only fish of a five hour session, but that’s what early season fishing is all about targeting what you think you’ve got a chance of catching and sticking with it.

What’s coming up? I’m hoping to get a day’s boat fishing in this week, but it depends what happens work wise. Come the weekend I might try a mark down in West Wales that might just give me the chance of a sizeable shore turbot. I usually go for bass by late March, but looking at the natural signs in the hedgerows I think the bass, at least in viable numbers, will be a good month or more away yet locally. Mid March and we’ve no still no daffodils in bloom, most are still in tight bud!