Bass fishing in the Bristol Channel (Dicentrarchus Labrax)

Bass is one of the most exciting of all sport fish to catch, the bass is a predator, and with its large mouth hunts and feeds on crabs, fish and shell fish, and in summer feeds on one of its favourite foods the sand eel.

Bass are slow growing fish and take up to six years to reach sexual maturity and between 10 and 20 years to reach full maturity. It is therefore very important not to kill undersized bass (the legal size limit is 37 cm) or to take more than a modest catch when the fishing is easy; the future of bass fishing depends upon fishermen acting responsibly towards stock conservation.

Bass grow up to about 17lb in Welsh coastal water, but a specimen is about 7lb and a double figured bass is a fish of a life time and if you can, always let them go to fight another day your sport depends on it.

A Welsh record specimen of almost 17lb was caught from the shore at Aberthaw in 1980. a boat record of almost 15lb was caught in the Bury Estuary in 1984.
The UK boat record is 19lb 9oz caught off Herne Bay, Kent in 1987.
June to November

Bass spawn between May and June, with the female laying her eggs in batches rather than all at once. They are laid in the shallower waters, then in about six days depending on water temperatures, the eggs hatch and the fry then feeding on plankton and other small organisms, head for shelter in estuaries and harbours, while young the bass shoal up in schools and thus small bass have been given the nickname schoolies (school bass). Wales is at the northern limit of the bass's geographical range, and in autumn they migrate to warmer waters where they spend the winter months.