If you don’t pick the right tackle, a broken line could quiet easily end up with a broken rod.

Features

The European bass has a broad extended body that is bluish grey on its back, silver on its sides and a silvery white belly. Each gill cover has a black mark while other dark markings emphasise the lateral line.

The fins are dark grey and deepen in colour each year whereas anal fins remain tinged with white. Younger bass are usually lighter with a bit of olive or spotted colour on its back but older fish may be slightly brown or yellow.

It has a large mouth that holds many teeth, including teeth on the roof of its mouth and tongue. It’s colour is silvery grey to bluish on the back, silvery on the sides, belly sometimes tinged with yellow. Young European Bass have some dark spots on upper part of body that disappear when they become adults. They also have sharp gill plates.

As with most fish, the front dorsal fin is full of sharp spins and should be handled with care. The European Bass spins are thicker and longer than most bass so be careful.

Size

The European Bass is a member of the Moronidae family and the name Dicentrarchus refers to the presence of two dorsal fins. It is a rather large fish as it can grow to as long as 3.3 feet/1 metre and weigh as much as 33 pounds/15 kilograms.

They can be found in estuaries, lagoons, coastal waters and rivers and can survive in freshwater, saltwater and brackish water. It has a rather large habitat and population stretching from the eastern Atlantic Ocean from Norway to Senegal, into the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea.

They are a relatively long-lived fish, living up to 15 years in the wild and a staggering 30 years in captivity.

The adult bass live in coastal waters down to about 330 feet/100 metres, but are more commonly found in shallow waters. They are found in various kinds of bottoms on estuaries, lagoons and occasionally rivers. The European Bass enter coastal waters and river mouths in summer, but migrate offshore in colder weather and occur in deep water during winter in the northern range.

Male bass are the first to mature at a length of 32-35 cm/12 to 14 inches while female bass have a length of 42 cm/16.5 inches at the time of maturity.

Tackle

Unlike other bass, there are a few more options with the European Bass as they like the surf so much. The key to selecting the right tackle is knowing the how big the bass are where you will be fishing.

These fish can grow large and are feroscious fighters. If you don’t pick the right tackle, a broken line could quiet easily end up with a broken rod. We will get into more detail on this in the bass fishing techniques section. We also have an extensive bass Tackle section.

Giant Sea Bass

Some anglers claim that the European Sea Bass can reach record sizes of 255 kilograms, or about 562 pounds. However the Giant Sea Bass (Stereolpis gigas) lives in the Pacific Ocean and is a member of a differnt family all together.