As the European Bass is a voracious predator, catching them with a lure or baitfish is pretty easy, especially after they have spawned, but as with the Australian Bass, your odds and frequency of catch will increase if you can learn their food preferences.

The European bass is a shoaling predator that is found from North Africa, to Norway, including most of the Mediterranean, adjoining seas and the British Isles.

In the United Kingdom, like many other European countries, European Bass fishing is one of the most important game fish in the country. Spring is considered the main season and in most years, the season starts from April even though the European Bass begin their return from the sea as early as February.

As the climate warms up, the European Bass begin their annual move. As the European Bass is a voracious predator, catching them with a lure or baitfish is pretty easy, especially after they have spawned, but as with the Australian Bass, your odds and frequency of catch will increase if you can learn their food preferences.

The soft lures imitate the European Bass’s prey and they are available in a variety of species, shapes and colours so knock yourself out, just don’t be too exotic. Just like fishing for freshwater North American Bass, lures that imitate an injured baitfish grabs the bass’s attention.

Hard lures are something a little different that the UK folks have come up with. They include bass bullets matching the colour and shape of the bass’s prey fish. These lures work best when fishing for European Bass that are feeding in surface waters.

When fishing for smallmouth or largemouth bass, the use of a spinner or spoon creates a noise and a flash to grab the fishes attention, or to just simply annoy it by crossing it’s territory and creating a strike. In the UK, they use rattling and spinning lures in place of spinners and spoons. Poppers are another great lure to provoke the European Bass into striking.

These are a little more exotic than most lures used in North America, but you must remember that we are fishing in the ocean here. Selecting the right lure depends on the conditions.

The rattling lures have a rattling device inside and would produce a rattling action in water while a spinning lure have a spinning or wobbling action and are provided with a light, which flashes while in water.

Adult fish can be found in deep water of over 30 fathoms, especially on wrecks, but also in shallow estuaries, harbours, bays and even into freshwater rivers on occasion. Spawning takes place between February and April over deep water offshore; with the exception of land-locked varieties. The eggs drift on the currents for a few weeks before hatching into planktonic larvae, which then drift towards the coast as they grow in the estuaries and bays of Western Europe.

A good way to spot them is via flashing. Sometimes they turn on one side and appear to rub one flank on the bottom, which is though to remove parasites or to disturb crustaceans. From the surface this appears as a flash, giving away their position.

Food Preference

The best baits to use, and of course lures that resemble these baits, include ragworms, lugworms, crustaceans and peeler crabs. These are considered the top food preferences. When fishing in UK and the northern Atlantic waters, use these baits and lures to improve your chances of landing a sea bass as well as the frequency of landing one.