First ever bass, on the other side of the Atlantic!

[stylgeo]

Hello everyone,
Name's George and I am writing from Cyprus, an island in the Mediterranean Sea. If you bare with me after this long thread (and forgive any language mistakes since I am Greek) I'll get to my point after some thoughts on the subject.

I've been fishing at sea since the age of 6, so it's been more than 16 years now. I started fishing at lakes 10 years ago. I started fishing for trout and carp at a certain lake that's close to were I live. About 6-7 years ago I started catching some small fish, with huge mouths that I hadn't seen before. They were too small, no more than 10-12cm (that's about 5 inches I think) so I had to return them in the water. After about a year or two the small carp of the lake disappeared, so did the small trout. You could only see some huge uncatchable fish roaming in the water (when I say huge I mean 25-30lb carp or 10lb trout). I asked about it at the fisheries department and they said that they were experimenting with a species of fresh water bass that was imported from the US (yeah, you guessed it!). They said that this fish was a verocious predator and it was probably eating the smaller fish of the lake. I was so frustrated that they stocked the lake with imported fish, jeopartizing the native fish of the lake, that I stopped fishing there for a long time, and focused on my sea-fishing. Until a week ago when I visited my local tackle store and noticed a lure that had a photo of that kind of fish on the package. Then I knew that it was a Largemouth Bass, but I only knew it from the internet or some fishing programs on the telly. The bait was about 3 inches long and it had the golden-yellow colour of the carp with 3 tremble hooks underneath. I bought it and went to the lake after a looong time since my last visit there.

It was a hot summer afternoon and thought that the fish might be in shade, so my first cast was at the shade of a big rock. As soon as the bait hit the water this huge spash-explosion brought my heart pumping. I realised that on the end of my line was the biggest fish I ever caught. And indeed, after about 6-7 jumps, a lot of running and a huge adrenaline rush, I landed a fish that weighted 2.5kg (I think that's about 5.5lb) and half a meter long. I was in shock. I was only using a 5lb test line, I would never have guessed that I would catch a fish that big! I've visited that lake 5 times now, and caught about 30 fish, averaging from 1lb to 3lb. I haven't caught any fish as big as the first one, but I am getting there!

The point is I know absolutelly NOTHING about bass-fishing. Actually I've read a lot about it in the last week, but here in Europe we mainly fish at lakes for trout or big carp. I've only fished with that kind of lure, which I don't know how you call it in the US. As I said before, it replicates a fish, with big plastic lip, 3 tremble hooks unterneath and it swims about a foot from the surface, depending on how you retrieve.

What other bait should i need to buy? Should I consider buying a spinning rod? I can only cast that 15-20 meters away. And that's with a 5lb test line on the reel. What if i need a stronger line?

And another questions which will probably raise some discussion. Why release all of the fish? I tend to take one or two home. They are delicious!! Maybe it's a culture thing. I live on an island, where fish is a large part of our diet. So, I choose a couple of good eating size to take home for some barbeque. If I need to release the fish, please help me recognise the fish that I have to release. I don't even know their spawning season!

If you are still reading thanks! Sorry for this long thread, but I'd really like some advice!