Local Dies a Long Way From Home at Hands of Brits

US 'sea bass' makes history as first of its kind to swim to Dover... then get caught!

The striped bass- a relative of the European bass- was caught by fisherman Martin White at Dover, Kent. The 2lbs 7oz sea fish is the first of its kind ever to be hooked in Britain.

Striped Bass caught in Dover, England

That's not even a very big one.  Two lbs would make it barely legal (about 18 inches) in Maryland, and undersized in most of the Atlantic coastal states.

The striped bass is usually a bit of a homebody, and rarely strays more than five miles from America's east coast- so experts are baffled at its capture.

I don't know where they got the 5 mile number; there's a big controversy over recreational and charter fisherman who illegally fish for stripers out in the "Exclusive Economic Zone" (EEZ), well beyond three miles and you can get a big fine for that.

Dr Gary Nelson from Massachusetts State Fisheries said: "It's unheard of for a striped bass to travel all the way across the Atlantic.

Not anymore.

"It is possible that it came over to the UK in the warm waters of the Gulf Stream when it was just a fry.

Highly unlikely, since Striped Bass are hatched up in or near the fresh water end of estuaries, and typically live for 3-4 years in the estuary before joining the sea-going stock (if they ever do, some stay resident).

"Striped bass are pretty hardy fish and can survive in waters between -3C and 30C but this discovery is amazing."

What's more remarkable is that he made it across the ocean without being eaten by a hungry shark or tuna.

Martin caught the bass using live mackerel as bait- and then baked his haul for dinner.

The landscape gardener from north London said: "I'm a keen fisherman and I try to get down to Dover once a fortnight. "I was fishing off the breakwater and was caught a string of fresh mackerel so I kept one for bait. It didn't take me long to reel in, and once I landed the fish I could see it was slightly different to a normal bass. It had stripes down its scales, something I'd not seen before.

I saw some European Bass in an aquarium in the Netherlands once, and immediately thought they looked like stripers without stripes.  I wonder if they could interbreed...

"I showed it to the breakwater steward and he was equally baffled. When I got home I looked it up on the internet and found it was an American striped bass.

Martin was shocked when he discovered what he had caught: "I was quite surprised because it's not a fish native to our waters. It was certainly a long way from home but then there have been quite a few fish popping up that we haven't seen before. Things are definitely changing but if these are the kind of fish the changes bring then that's ok with me."

He added: "I baked the bass with lemon and black pepper - it was delicious!"

 Well, that's one recipe, anyway, though it sounds a little spicy for English fare.