Novice angler reels in longest fish for first time in British waters

The world's longest bony species of fish, 11ft from head to tail, has been landed for the first time off British coastal waters.

Val Fletcher, a novice angler, took 40 minutes to land the rare oarfish near the North Sea fishing village of Skinningrove in Cleveland.

Scientists yesterday were marvelling at how Ms Fletcher, just 5ft 4in tall, tempted the beast with a tantalising squid bait, then reeled it in with a standard fishing rod during a night out fishing with her partner.

The notoriously elusive oarfish, believed to be responsible for many sightings of sea serpents by ancient mariners, rarely strays out of the deepest waters of the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.

When it wants to plumb the depths – as far down as 3,000ft – it simply rotates its fins upwards and plummets "like a dropped sword", according to the team that captured the creature on film, for the first time, six years ago.

Ms Fletcher, who has been fishing for only two years, delivered a scene straight out of Moby Dick by landing one on Monday night.

"I knew I had something ... but I thought it would just be a mackerel. Then it really started pulling and I asked Rob, my partner, to help me," she said. "It was absolutely colossal.

Zara D'Aronville, displays expert at the Blue Reef Aquarium up the coast at Tynemouth, says the find was astounding.

"The last recorded find of an oarfish anywhere was off the US coast in 1996," she said. "There has been bad weather south of here recently, with strong winds propelling the Gulf streams up from the Atlantic, so that may be a reason."