A one-day licence costs as little as £7.30 and the fine can be as high as £2,500.
The foreign secretary subsequently purchased a licence and notified the Environment Agency of his mistake.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “The foreign secretary has written to the Environment Agency over an administrative oversight that meant the appropriate licences had not been acquired for fishing on a private lake as part of a diplomatic engagement at Chevening House last week.”
They added: “As soon as the foreign secretary was made aware of the administrative error, he successfully purchased the relevant rod fishing licences.”
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Everyone who goes fishing needs a licence to help improve our rivers, lakes and the sport anglers love, ” adding “we understand the relevant licences have been purchased.”
While the foreign secretary did not catch any fish, Vance’s children were successful . Vance joked that was “unfortunately the one strain on the special relationship.” All the fish caught were subsequently returned to the lake.