Sea bass fishing is one of the best introductions to the sport of fishing. For those of us, including ourselves, who fish and release but sometimes have to be content with fishing and cooking, there are few fish that offer the sport and taste of Sea Bass fighting. After fighting with this Pitbull as a fighter, we always feel like we’ve won the meal it will provide us.

The Sea Bass can be a catch for some species that are not sea bass, although they are very similar fish. The Black Sea Bass (like the one shown below), the Stripped Seabass, and the European Seabass are considered accurate sea bass. The Chilean and the White Sea Bass are not. However, they are all good catches. They are great for beginners in fishing (and for us veterans) because their fearlessness and wild bites are undeniable; the experience of fighting them makes people come back again and again.

You’ll need to bring medium equipment because they fight and tend to like to live around rocky shores and reefs. We’ve highlighted a set of equipment below that should be decent gear to get you started.

 

The bar lives in many environments. It is a multi-purpose cane about 6 to 7 feet long with a tip sensitive enough to resist the initial bite and crack. A reel with a 20 to 30-pound braid or line and a 30-pound leader. Many anglers prefer a two-hook rig, and squid is an excellent bait if you have access to fishing.

We will outline the details here.

• An average-weight rod of 2 meters long and a reel with a 20 to 30-pound line. We have heard good things about Sougayilang reel combinations that come in different sizes. We have ordered some of them, and we will review them soon. You can check the price here.
• Flat-bottom reels with baited hooks, weighted with weights between four and eight ounces (depending on the current’s strength and the water’s depth).
• Test braid 20 to 30 pounds (it doesn’t stretch like a monofilament) so you can feel the hits, especially the soft ones, and feel the jig or spinning top on the bottom.
• A selection of potential jigs, baits, and spinners, to which you can add bait to the hooks if you wish. They are pretty cheap on Amazon. You can read an excellent article about this.

 

Sea bass fishing is very good for beginners, it does not require heavy and expensive equipment, and sea bass is not particularly shy fish. This means that most of the time, when they bite, you will know it. There are still a few tips and tricks that are worth reading before you back up and head for the coast. We have more detailed ones here, but since you are here now, we will give you some tips to help you find the fish and what to do when the fish find you!

 

Ten tips and tricks to try for sea bass fishing

1. Choose your location.

The bar, especially the Black Sea Bass, prefers structures such as wrecks, reefs and rocks, piers, and even moorings. Of course, they can be found anywhere, but they are your best options. You can find them on Admiralty charts or applications like Navionics (if you are on a boat).

2. Choose your moment

The best time to fish sea bass is early morning (that’s not all) and dusk. They are likely better able to feed at that time. Although mornings are early, there is a ray of sunshine. The best action is usually in spring to fall, or May to September, so at least the weather will be pleasant, and the sun will rise early!

 

3. Choose your bait.

You can put a hook in a slice of spam and pull a bar at the end. (Once, we caught 3 sardines using nothing but the ring from three cans of beer – not even hooks) . However, for argument’s sake, let’s leave spam aside. Your best bait depends on your fishing style, but live and dead shrimp, squid strips, clams, baitfish, and jigs. Plugs and spinners (which dive as you go down to their fishing grounds) will work. They seem to be perpetually hungry fish.

Be aware of the conditions when choosing your bait and method as well. Lure fishing may be suitable for clear water or sunny days, but sometimes you need to use your nose rather than your eyes, and a smell of squid or squid, mackerel or sardine heads, or cuts may help.

4. Bleed them.

Sea bass is not yellowtail or albacore, but it defends itself well. It is worthwhile, and from experience, if you catch a fish big enough for the table to bleed, it prevents lactic acid from contaminating the flesh. Make sure you have ice or access to ice, and as soon as possible after bleeding.

 

5. What size of hook for the bar

Bass has a big mouth. It’s not a dace or chub from the inside. You will have to use a hook with 1/0 -3/0. This will allow you to catch smaller bass, up to about 1 pound, but also big enough to handle pollock, cod, and groupers. Larger hooks at 6/0 will be necessary if there are larger fish species.

6. Catch and Release

If you’re catching for the table, do it sustainably. If you release, use barbless hooks to make retrieval easier, especially if the aggressive bite makes the hook deep. Handle fish with wet hands to avoid damage. You’ll have time to take a picture but get it back in the water as soon as possible to reduce stress.

 

7. Size limits for sea bass.

If you are fishing table sea bass, you need to know the size and catch limits for the area and country you are fishing in, which vary. For example, in North Carolina, the minimum size is 12.5 inches and 15 fish per day, while in the United Kingdom, the minimum is 16.5 inches and only 2 fish per day. Check it first!

 

8. Keep your gear in the water

We know that most Bass, sailors or others, can strike anytime. This includes the proximity of the shore or the boat. If you are using Jigs or Plugs, keep them running until the end of the throw, and you might get a little surprise. It’s always a shock to see a bass dart get up and take it just when you thought it was all over. Brass darts are bottom feeders, but sometimes this lure can be too irresistible.

 

9. Have more than one rod set up (if you can)

We titled this article “What equipment is needed to fish the Sea Bass”, and we focused on the U.S. coasts for the most part. However, if you’re sitting in the UK and reading this article, you may need to increase your gear slightly. The European bass is a little bit bigger, at least away from the shore, but the decision is important on both sides of the pond.

You will get more sport with lighter equipment with the Sea Bass, both in Europe and the USA, but if you hook a grouper with half a squid in the bottom, it may give you more sport than you had planned. We sort by targeting the sea bass and the big fish separately, and we have facilities for both within easy reach.

If you take heavier equipment, you can switch from one to the other if you need it. This won’t stop you from losing the goliath you hooked on a 15-pound line, but it will at least give you a chance to “say” you hooked one before it breaks you.

 

10. Finally, this is important.

To sum up, Sea Bass fishing is an excellent introduction for beginners, both in terms of fishing skills and the level of equipment needed.

You can increase or supplement your equipment as needed, but as with most things in fishing, your most significant expense will be time, and it will be well spent getting that little burrow of fish.

If this is the first time you are fishing the Sea Bass, we strongly suggest you go with someone more experienced, especially not only because there is more to know than how to catch these fish, you are in the wild and on the shore or the sea. Learning about risks, tides, and weather that can affect your safety is vital.