Bass are a fantastic fight on light gear, yes they taste amazing - but I'd also say that they taste best w/in a few hours of being caught. I used to fish the old power-station hot-pipe at Cambois (don't mind mentioning it since it's not there now!), took Bass to 7.5lb and Mullet to 5lb. I'd say the Mullet was equally as nice to be honest. Bass has a less oily flesh but similar in texture to mackeral and similar species, cooks nicely no matter how you approach it, probably would smoke well. Go to a Chinese supermarket and get them frozen, little difference to fresh bar the cost which is a lot less.
Fight wise, if you fish for the sport of the catch, then fish for flatties on very light gear in an estuary or mackeral on a carp rod - you'll get more fun and more likely to catch.
btw - I've seen the water fin-to-fin of bass off that (now gone) pipe, seen double figure sized fish in the water (ignoring baits the swines!) and landed many good sized catches (released or stopped when I'd caught what I could eat, but will admit to swapping a fish or two for an evenings meal from another Bass lover of oriental origins.), seen a lot of lads there though who were out for the money, taking as many fish as possible then heading into Newcastle to flog them to the restaurants at a premium :-/
