This past Saturday the fishing excitement centered around the season opening for black sea bass. The population of sea bass has appeared to be growing increasingly strong over the last couple of years, and fishermen - many of them just getting their boats into the water - turned out in numbers to enjoy a beautiful early season day.
For people who might not be familiar with black sea bass, this is nothing like a striped bass. It’s not even the same type of fish; it’s actually a grouper.
Kevin Blinkoff, editor atOn The Water magazine, says that this time of year black sea bass can be located in Buzzards Bay in about 25-50' of water. Look for them most often around structure (rocks and wrecks). Baiting a hook with a bit of squid is a good simple bet for enticing them. This year's bag limit is 5 fish at 15 inches.
Another great thing about black sea bass is they're easy to prepare for eating. No need to filet. Just scale and gut, then slash the flesh a couple of times and work in some lime juice, salt and pepper, herbs, and put it on the grill.
If you're headed out this weekend, black sea bass, striped bass, and bluefish are good options to target. We've got a full fishing round-up in the post below, give it a listen.
