Sea bass

Sea bass - Dicentrarchus labrax

The most challenging fish to catch in dutch waters, is in my opinion the sea bass. With the typical spikes on his back, the silver scales and enormous power, it can get your adrenaline level in the overload! I caught my first bass in 1980 when I was 13 years old and got stang right away on one of the many hidden spikes. It was probably then, that I got infected with the bass virus.

Catching bass is reading natures circumstances, for instance the typical kind of bait a bass is eating during this particulair time of the season. The season runs from the end of april when they arrive, till they leave which is aproximately at the end of october. Since 2016 there's a catch and release policy till june 1st, then the quota is set on 1 fish a person a day.

Best natural bait for bash is peeler crab, other good baits are live prawn, ragworms, and of course a live bait fish like sandeel , only that's not allowed under dutch law. Though I caught a lot of bass on bait, I prefer fishing with lures. I like to fish shads, rapala's and topwater lures and stickbaits. At daylight we use colours like parlour, white and 'salt and peppa', at night the 'electric blue' colour. The striking moment of a bass that's emptying your reel right away is the moment you become addicted for life.

The Rotterdam harbour delta called Europoort, is probably the best bass fishing spot in Holland. Another great fishery on bass is fishing on the offshore wrecks. It requiers a boat with skilled fisherman because of the discipinairy way of moving around and being quiet, bass is scared of easily by sound and artificial light. The captain is gotta be even more skilled because he has to drop the anchor far up front the wreck. With the motor turned off, the ship has to turn up a 100 meters before the wreck straight, with factors like current and wind calculated in.

The strenght of a seabass is truely unbelievable, a really big bass can't be holded If it wants to take off and swim along with the current. Your leader or your braid snaps, it empties your reel, the hook pops/ or bends out. Your lucky if you catch one, this is a fishery without garantees! Unfortunatly there not many really big specimen left because of overcroping by the european commercial fishery.

If you ever might visit the coastline of Holland in the summer, definally try to catch one, even the small ones fight like no tommorow. Bass likes to be just in front of the shore below the rocks, hunting for crabs, shrimp and little minnows. Try some rapalas in the xrap 9 cm range, that should be the easiest way to catch them!

Tight lines