Bull Huss

[Yozzer]

I`d be very grateful for any info regarding huss marks on the Llyen or Angelsey,as it`s a species i intend to target this summer.
Thanks :)

[Tozer]

i caught one off trefor pier last march, apparenly it's best to try from the rock mark to your left as u look out to sea
from what i can gather tho any of the rock marks round there produce them, i'm not really that clued in but i'm sure alot of people will tell u the same.

[cpepper]

I have had some great huss sessions at Uwchmynydd, which is right on the tip of the peninsula opposite Bardsey Island. There is parking, if you go into the village of Aberdaron there is a right hand turn out of the village over a small bridge, if you carry straight on its a dead end at the beach, so you'll know if you missed it. Follow this road till it ends in a grassy parking lot. I found that the best fishing is either to the left or right of the parking, as facing Bardsey direct the tidal race through Bardsey sound is unbelivable (5-6 knots on springs). I would go left as the ground is slightly less snaggy, but you must incorporate a rotton bottom to ensure getting the fish in as often your lead is swept into a snag by the tide, fish the neaps if you can. Now until Late May is the prime time as they are inshore to deposit their egg cases.
As for bait, I found that a half fillet of mackeral wrapped in squid, bound into a sausage with bait elastic worked best. Expect also, conger, small ling, monster three bearded rockling (potential record fish), its amazing that a 2-3lb fish can swallow a huge bait like that, and don't forget the enivitable doggies. I would recommend taking a light rod and some hardback crabs and rag to fish down the sides for wrasse and occasional pollack.
Its a great venue and avoids the busy Trefor pier, never fished there myself.
Best huss I had was 14lb5oz, double figure fish are common enough. Nothing is a certainty, but I never fished there at this time of year and failed to get at leat 3 huss a session.

[Yozzer]

I`m on my way.........

[cpepper]

Make sure you have a good pair of sturdy boots on and don't mind a steep walk down and back up. if you go left keep walking untill you get to the small bay and directly below are some comfortable ledges to fish from into the bay and out of the main tidal race.
Good luck.

[Yozzer]

Thanks very much....excellent info

[John Mason]

Great info there! Is the small bay you refer to in the last post the one marked St Mary's Well on the OS map?

Thanks - John

[cpepper]

Hey John,
I just looked at the OS map, I can not see St Marys bay on there.
It is listed on my map as Porth Felen, it is the bay on the peninsular tip that has the sharpest cutback, it looks very straight.
Tight Lines

[John Mason]

Hi mate,

Bit of a map attached. St Marys Well at the back of the sharp cove (red arrow). Porth Felen further to the SE. The E side of the arrowed bay looks interesting to my (untrained) eye!

Guess I need to go for a recce really!

Cheers - John

[Yozzer]

It must be 20 years since i last fished this area...i recall we parked by St.Marys Well and walked down to fish on the right side of the gorge(as you look to sea).A couple of huss came out,around the 8lb mark,plus pollack.Looking at the aerial views on multi map,the Porth Felen bay appears to be extremely deep water.

[cpepper]

John,
I have fished that particular small bay, it is pleasent and much more accesable than Porth Felen and only about a 5 minute walk. It is very rough ground, which the huss like, but they do like sandy patches interspersed with the rough, I have had several strap conger to 15lb from that cove.
Porth Felen is very deep, its the type of mark where you lob out 8oz of lead and wonder when the line will stop peeling of the reel when the lead finally hits bottom, it also has the mix of kelp and sand. You can see on the OS Map the drop off from the ridge to the ledges is acute.
The times I have fished there I have been the only one, even on sunny weekend days. I did once walk by another couple of fisherman, and if I am not mistaken one was Mr Thrussell himself, this was about 6 or 7 years ago though.
Tight lines

[John Mason]

Thanks mate! Alun & I will go for a recce fairly soon. Sorry to be cheeky but which side do you recommend - the western or eastern one? We don't mind a tramp over to the best fishing - would rather walk an extra 1/2 mile to better casting points!

If you're ever planning to fish my area this summer I'll do my best to help likewise!

Cheers - John

[cpepper]

No problem. I would fish the Western side. The Eastern side is even more sheer and there are no real ledges as such. There is one nice ledge on the Western side that is fairly flat, that has a gentle slope towards the water, which is handy for bringing in the huss. You will know it when you see it, as well as there being a metal loop drilled into the rock in the centre of it.
Goog luck let us know how you get on.
Tight lines
Chris

[John Mason]

Thanks mate! Thinking of the next set of neaps, week after next, with a LW around lunchtime. I'll take the old Daiwa Paul Kerry - should handle any huss if I'm lucky enough, plus my spinning rod and some lures/float rigs. Longrange forecast models are for modest northerlies which sound ideal in terms of shelter/sea conditions.

Now where did I put that heap of old spark-plugs??

Cheers - John

[joe roberts]

dont try this mark in the wet it is very slippy.

[John Mason]

dont try this mark in the wet it is very slippy.

Thanks Joe - yes I'll only go in good weather, as I'll combine it with a photographic trip. Hopefully should get a window of opportunity soon!

Cheers - John

[sampeg]

Absolutely agree with Joe re fishing these marks in the wet. They are slippery as hell, even in light drizzle. The worst situation to be in is when it starts raining (forecast wrong again !) after you have reached the mark and have to carry the kit back accros the rocks on your way back to the car.
I fish the Uwchmynyth area four to five times each year, usually for 2 to 4 days duration (or nights) at a time.
Here are some additional safety tips:
Dont fish these marks alone. If you fall in you are stuffed.
Mobile phone reception is generaly crap in the Aberdaron area, and absolutely nil on the rock ledges. (No 02 reception at all for miles)
We use a couple of Orenge mobiles, (for which there is reception once you reach sufficient altitude above the rock marks), one in the car and one in an agreed known place whilst fishing the mark.
Have only fished there for one weekend so far in 2005 and only during daylight.
We experimented with finding a better method of grip when the rocks are wet (Which they indeed were due to overnight rain fall on both nights)
I'd ordered some "super hard zinc plate screw in steel studs" from Veals which we screwed in to the soles of our boots before going down to ther mark.
They work a treat, but lost quite a few as they got ripped out of the sole due to the twisting action of the foot when negotiating some of the more precarious rock features. Am now experimenting with trying to Araldite them in.

As regards tackle, we use Penn 535's loaded with 30lb daiwa sensor, 100lb pulley traces with either 4/0 / 6/0 pennels or single 4/0 for the Huss and Conger. Squid, mackerel, cuttle and sandeel for bait. Rods = Rt Axe or Greys

[Yozzer]

Given the depth of water at Porth Felen,will it produce during daylight,as one of our lads is`nt too comfortable on rock marks after dark

[sampeg]

Yes you will catch in daylight.
Although the huss and conger appear more at night, we catch them during the day too.
Generally speaking the big fish action tends to coincide with slack water. Low water slack being the preferred time for some. I definitely recommend fishing these marks a few times in daylight before tackling a night session for the first time.
You will get a handle on how far (Or short) to cast before hitting the serious tide run. Not to mention the length of rope the inshore lobster pots have on them to
deal with the tide. (A regular pain in the arse when set too close)
During daylight the spinning action for pollack and Mackerel can be excellent.

[John Mason]

Yes you will catch in daylight.
Although the huss and conger appear more at night, we catch them during the day too.
Generally speaking the big fish action tends to coincide with slack water. Low water slack being the preferred time for some. I definitely recommend fishing these marks a few times in daylight before tackling a night session for the first time.
You will get a handle on how far (Or short) to cast before hitting the serious tide run. Not to mention the length of rope the inshore lobster pots have on them to
deal with the tide. (A regular pain in the arse when set too close)
During daylight the spinning action for pollack and Mackerel can be excellent.


Reminds me from these descriptions of Mwnt. OK on the ebb but once the flood gets into full steam it rockets through there sweeping all & sundry into the nearest snag!! If this and other similar marks I have fished are anything to go by, short casts to the base of the submerged rock face are best. Trouble is, finding that damn base! A bit of trial & error required methinks.

Pots sound a potential pain, but everyone has to earn their corn I guess! It ought to be a case of figuring out the tidal flow then spotting the pot-buoys and joining the two thoughts up. This is a thing we have to deal with boat-fishng on the reef NW of Aberystwyth.

Anyone tried float-fishing sandeels here for pollack? I was thinking of taking small pirks, Dex Wedges etc, but I do love float-fishing too! The other option I was considering was floatfishing king rag.

Cheers - John

[sampeg]

Just returned from our second Aberdaron/Uwchmyyth trip of this year.
Left Reading at 02:00 AM on Friday morning 01/07/05 and came back on Sunday 03/07/05.

After setting up the tent, we arrived at our prefered mark at 10:30 in dry and sunny conditions as predicted by the met office forecast for the area for all of Friday. However within an hour of starting fishing we lost sight of Bardsey Island due to low cloud. It pi**ed down on us for the remainder of the day. (See my earlier post re fishing these rocks in the wet)

Not happy about the total inacuracy of the forecast.

Saturday was better, with a couple of isolated showers, but stronger winds.

Anyway, fishing wise got a 9lb Huss on Friday (Lamprey segment) and a 7lb Huss on Saturday (Whole squid) Plus dogs etc....
Not bad for daylight.
My mate had dogs, rockling and a decent polack.

[John Mason]

Thought this excellent thread is worth resurrecting!

I went up to Uwchymynydd this afternoon, not to fish but to have a geological/angling recce (I'm leading a field-trip for geologists there soonish). Started at the E end of Porth Felen and scrambled round past the bay with the legendary well and on to Braich-y-Pwll to the NW.

The latter area looks very interesting but there is little sign of angling activity. Have sussed out some do-able access points. Does anyone else fish that far round and if so, any comments?

Stunningly beautiful bit of coast - in fact I shot a whole roll of Fujichrome on the scenery on the 1500m+ rock-crawl!

Cheers - John

[Jon Law]

John, I'm certainly no expert but I do know that the tide rip at Braich-Y-Pwll can be very fierce, giving a pretty small window of angling opportunity, well worth a go over slack water but watch out for the big swells that appear there, its scary just watching them.

Another small point but you mention Porth Felen ....... and the famous well. You do mean two seperate bays don't you. As the well is in St mary's bay, pretty much below the NT carpark and Porth Felen is on the bay towards the Aberdaron side.

I hav'nt been this year yet, with weather and time available not coinciding but I reckon nows the time for the biggies. Dogfish seem to be have concentrated, for breeding time and I guess the Huss will do the same.

Have you been before, because I have bumped into geologists down there a couple of times, it must have some very interesting rock structure :) There's certainly plenty of it !

Good luck for when you go, I can't wait to get there myself :thumbs:

[John Mason]

John, I'm certainly no expert but I do know that the tide rip at Braich-Y-Pwll can be very fierce, giving a pretty small window of angling opportunity, well worth a go over slack water but watch out for the big swells that appear there, its scary just watching them.

Another small point but you mention Porth Felen ....... and the famous well. You do mean two seperate bays don't you. As the well is in St mary's bay, pretty much below the NT carpark and Porth Felen is on the bay towards the Aberdaron side.

I hav'nt been this year yet, with weather and time available not coinciding but I reckon nows the time for the biggies. Dogfish seem to be have concentrated, for breeding time and I guess the Huss will do the same.

Have you been before, because I have bumped into geologists down there a couple of times, it must have some very interesting rock structure :) There's certainly plenty of it !

Good luck for when you go, I can't wait to get there myself :thumbs:
Hi Jon,

Yes - sorry that wasn't very clear. I started my scramble in the W side of Porth Felen, then round the point and along towards St Mary's Well bay, on to the next point (the most accessible mark) and then up over the hillside to drop down onto Braich-y-Pwll last. EDIT: I should add that between the point W of St Mary's Well Bay and Braich-y-Pwll there is a 50m long section where 50-degree slippery short grass slopes lead down to vertical cliffs. Although they are traversed by narrow sheep-tracks, if you trip and start rolling you'd be straight over the edge. Go up & over to be safe.

Interesting point you make about the swell. Sea was virtually calm along the Porth Felen/St Mary's sections but was rising and falling a good 1.5m at the Braich. I wouldn't fish there unless a large stable anticyclone was slap-bang over the UK!

First visit for me, which was why I decided to leave rods at home and do a full recce of as many possible marks as I could. These seem to vary in accessibility from easy scrambles through to graded rock-climbs!

The geology is impressive for sure, the cliffs being made up of a massive debris-flow known as the Gwna Melange, with the large white areas in some of the cliffs being individual boulders within the flow, which took place on an ancient seafloor hundreds of millions of years ago!

Cheers - John

[kdnewton5]

I have had some great huss sessions at Uwchmynydd, which is right on the tip of the peninsula opposite Bardsey Island. There is parking, if you go into the village of Aberdaron there is a right hand turn out of the village over a small bridge, if you carry straight on its a dead end at the beach, so you'll know if you missed it. Follow this road till it ends in a grassy parking lot. I found that the best fishing is either to the left or right of the parking, as facing Bardsey direct the tidal race through Bardsey sound is unbelivable (5-6 knots on springs). I would go left as the ground is slightly less snaggy, but you must incorporate a rotton bottom to ensure getting the fish in as often your lead is swept into a snag by the tide, fish the neaps if you can. Now until Late May is the prime time as they are inshore to deposit their egg cases.
As for bait, I found that a half fillet of mackeral wrapped in squid, bound into a sausage with bait elastic worked best. Expect also, conger, small ling, monster three bearded rockling (potential record fish), its amazing that a 2-3lb fish can swallow a huge bait like that, and don't forget the enivitable doggies. I would recommend taking a light rod and some hardback crabs and rag to fish down the sides for wrasse and occasional pollack.
Its a great venue and avoids the busy Trefor pier, never fished there myself.
Best huss I had was 14lb5oz, double figure fish are common enough. Nothing is a certainty, but I never fished there at this time of year and failed to get at leat 3 huss a session.



Iv fished this mark for a number years, its best at low tide, so id advise anyone who goes with out bait go down two hours before lowtide, catch some mackerel, fresh mackerel works well for bull huss, i use a penn 13ft beack caster, an abu garcia big water multiplier loaded with 30lb mainline, then i have a swivel slid on to the mainline, attached to that is rooten bottom with a 6oz plain lead, then i slid a bead on the mainline, then tied on the end of the mainline is a snap swivel, attached to that is a 10 - 12inch, 45lb hook link, with a 6/o o'shaunassy, iv caught tope off here on much heavy gear. also conger, doggies, ling, rockling.....and i caught my first cod off there in 17years of seas fishing this area about 2years ago and havnt caught one sine off this mark, although recently the lobster pot men have been catching them in their pots. my dad caught one last year weighing four poundon mackerel head, that was his fist in this area in forty years. gud look with the huss, try september to novemeber for tope and huss off this mark it can be excellent.