Best of 2009?: Most probably. Richard Torode poses with his 59-0-0 shore-caught sting ray. (0863324)

ON REFLECTION, what can be said about this year’s fishing? The general consensus is that it was a very poor year with disappointing catches.

In general, sport was well below par with many anglers experiencing their worst ever results.

The weather compounded the problem.

For long periods windy weather made it difficult, if not impossible, to get afloat and even made shore fishing a real challenge, with anglers having to fish for long hours to get some success.

Yet, in spite of all the problems, some good catches were made, with a number of superb specimens being caught.

The results in the year’s open competitions accurately reflected the general scene with many disappointments and few successes.

But there was better news from the Phoenix Fish competition with entries being on a par with previous years.

There were six record claims in the year, which was not only the equal lowest ever, but 2009 also failed to produce any British record claims.

They did, however, include some year specimens.

The most sensational was undoubtedly the 59-0-0 sting ray caught by Richard Torode from the shore at Vennerette.

It not only filled a vacancy on the Bailiwick Record list, but broke the oldest record on the CI lists, a 41-0-0 Jersey fish that had held the shore record since 1952.