Nursery Areas Fishing for bass from any vessel is prohibited in 34 separate areas for all or part of the year. The nursery areas comprise river estuaries, harbours etc. where juvenile bass usually predominate. The prohibition does not apply to fishing from the shore. All tidal waters enclosed by a line drawn from Gilkicker Point to Southsea Castle. The very large fish may be solitary.
Small fish eat prawns and shrimps.
Large fish prey on other fish like Pout Whiting and Poor Cod. A pelagic, or open water, fish like the predatory Bass uses its greater speed to capture smaller fish and prawns. Its method of swimming is worth looking at closely in Public Aquaria . At speed the other fins are clamped down, but as soon as it brakes the spiny dorsal fin rises to maintain stability. Bass are subject to a restricted commercial fishery in the English Channel and off the south and west coasts of England and Wales.