All at Sea – 27-07-2016

by John Popplewell

The weather continues to be kind to us with light winds and warm weather, and the boat angler is still faring better with those bigger fish opting for deeper waters.

The end of July can be a tricky time of the year, with some boats finding fish and others not faring so well, but the Wallet and the Gunfleet sands are still producing fish. Still plenty of smooth-hounds to be caught, some thornback rays and bass. The mackerel are on the go, but it’s a case of finding the shoals to have some great summer sport.

Clacton Boat Club members Dave Hollands and Rocky Rochelle fished from their own boat at the weekend and reported that there were hounds and rays to be caught; they landed smooth-hounds to 9lbs, plus Dave told me that he also landed an early codling.

Colchester Sea Angling Club member Kevin Glover with a typical size smooth-hound

Walton Sea Angling Club headed for the local pier for their latest evening match. They fished a flood tide, with some competitors opting to fish the top of the pier and others stayed at the bottom hoping for bass and soles. Calm seas and warm conditions made for very comfortable fishing, but the fish thought differently. Lots of undersize pouting were caught from the start, plus some wrasse from under the pier and as darkness fell a few whiting were also landed.

Winner on the night was Rob Tuck with 2lb 6oz followed by Tim Robinson with 1lb 13oz and third placed Terry Quartermaine with 1lb 1oz. The heaviest fish prize went to Tim Robinson for an 8oz bass.

My trip this week was also to Walton Pier. I fished light tackle and small baits around the piles and had a great day catching corkwing wrasse, ballan wrasse and bass. Even though the water was clear there were still no signs of any mackerel showing.

Colchester angler Joe Mcdonald with one of our summer species, a fine shad from Walton pier

Day time catches from the Walton beaches have been slow and with the holiday season now started it is always best to fish the evening tides when the beaches are less busy. The Frinton beaches are seeing some soles, bass and small rays being caught. The golf course beaches seem to be the place to head for.

Holland and Clacton beaches are another evening-into-darkness venue to find fish feeding, once again its bass to around 2lbs, soles plus some whiting. Clacton Pier is still seeing bass caught on lures or ragworm baits, the ebb tides seem to be producing better catches.

Some reasonable bass are showing after dark on the Jaywick and St Osyth beaches with fish to 3lbs reported.

The high tides for the weekend are Saturday 9.06am and Sunday 10.18am.

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