TWO boys crab fishing with their granddad got more than they bargained for when a sea bass bit on their line at Mudeford Quay.

Tom and Sam Farwell from Muscliff were enjoying a spot of crab fishing with grandfather Geoff Thomas just before Christmas at Mudeford Quay.

The boys, aged eight and five, who have only been fishing once before, suddenly saw a large fish circling their line.

Mr Thomas, who enjoys a spot of fishing recreationally, said: “I’d just made up a couple of very simple lines with a few scraps of cod.

“We dropped the lines down and then all of a sudden one of the boys shouted that there was a big fish in the water.

“It looked pretty enormous from where we were standing. Anyway the third time it came back, it snapped on the cod and I managed to pick it up and brought it back on the shore.

“I couldn’t believe it was a 7lb sea bass. It’s so unusual for fish to be so far inshore at this time of year.”

But it seems the unseasonal catch was not a one-off.

Angler Eddy Widdup also caught a huge sea bass – three miles inland on the River Avon on the outskirts of Christchurch.

Eddy, 34, was hoping to land a pike when he cast his rod into the freshwater river and when a sizeable catch took his herring bait, he thought he had hooked a big one.

It wasn’t until he got the catch in his net that he saw the silver fish – and realised it was a huge sea bass.

Shocked Eddy weighed the salty specimen at 11lbs 14ozs, photographed it and threw it back into the river, where it headed south towards the coast.

Eddy, an advertising executive from Bournemouth who was fishing at the Royalty Fishery, said: “It looked big but when the scales said 11 pounds 14 ounces I knew it was something special.

“I was about a mile away from the nearest angler so I decided to set my camera to timer and took a few photos of me holding it before putting her back in the water.

“After a few seconds she went off like a rocket and gave me a good soaking.

“Most bass should be 20 miles out to sea at this time of the year.”

Sea bass facts

Sea bass are known to swim inshore and up estuaries in the warmer summer months for food but would normally be several miles out to sea at this time of year.

Marine experts have put it down to the dry and mild autumn resulting in low water flows which in turn has left the saline boundary further up stream, making it more hospitable for the bass.

Marine scientist Dr Mark Everard said: “Bass are marine fish but in the summer they tend to come inshore and up estuaries.

“It is incredibly unusual and weird to have a sea bass that far up a freshwater river at this time of year, especially one that is so big.

“This has been the driest year since 1977 and our rivers are at very low levels at the moment.

“The low flows mean the saline boundary moves up the river so it is saltier and the bass feels more at home.”