IT has certainly been a year to remember for two members of the Ardrossan and District Sea Angling Club.

Only three months ago, the Herald reported on club member Stuart Ballantyne’s capture of a 15lb 5oz sea bass from the Solway Firth in southern Scotland.

To put it into perspective, the fish was only 7oz short of the Scottish shore record caught in the same waters in 1998.

Stuart was amongst the members on a recent week-long boat fishing trip to Norway, often regarded as one of the finest countries to fish in the world.

However, of those on the biannual trip, it wasn’t Stuart who got his moment in the limelight this time around.

There was fish aplenty of a wide variety of stunning species, though it was one catch in particular which caught the eye - easily done given how hard it would be to miss!

Tam Borland, of Ardrossan, caught this (pictured) magnificent 77lb Cod on one of their boat journeys out into Norwegian waters.

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While the Scandinavian waters are notoriously prolific, fish are plentiful, and large catches are not uncommon, a fish of this size is absolutely massive, and mightily impressive.

To put this into perspective, the largest cod to have been caught in British waters is nearly 20lbs short of Tam’s catch at 58lb and 6oz.

Of course, this fish was not caught in British waters, and Tam can’t quite call himself a record holder as a result of it.

The largest known catch of the species, by a recreational fisherman, was also landed in Norway. Unfortunately for Tam, he was still some way off German angler Michael Eisele’s record of 103lb.

Worldwide accolades, however, are not quite what crossed the Ardrossan man’s mind following the trip, and subsequent monster catch.

Both Tam, and the aforementioned Stuart Ballantyne, have now had both their memorable catches featured in a national newspaper’s ‘fish of the week’ section.

A representative from the Ardrossan and District Sea Angling Club commented: “The argument now is, they’ve both had a ‘fish of the week’ but what’s ‘fish of the season’? I’m sure they will never agree.”

If you want to make up your mind, revisit Stuart’s catch at: tinyurl.com/mrebtuys.