A WYLAM angler got the hump when his rod bent under the weight of a large fish. For when he slipped the net under the fish after a brief fight, he found his catch was not the hoped for Atlantic salmon.

It was a salmon – but of a type usually only found thousands of miles away on the far side of the world.

Tests showed the fish was a humpback, or pink, salmon, usually only found in the North Pacific Ocean off Alaska and Canada.

And the wandering seafarer was not alone – two more “humpies” were landed in a commercial netting station off the South Shields coast.

Environment Agency boffins are now scratching their heads as to how the fish could have turned up so far away from their natural habitat.

Atlantic salmon are born and grow up in the river, before going out to the rich seas off Greenland to feed for a number of years, before returning to the river of their birth to spawn.

The fact that the fish caught at Wylam was trying to ascend the river suggests it may have been born in the upper reaches of the Tyne system – although it may have just gone up with other migratory fish out of curiosity.

Environment Agency officers are asking anglers to report any unusual salmon catches or sightings to them.