All at Sea – 16-08-2016

by John Popplewell

It is looking like a typical August on our part of the coast, with some days looking like there isn’t much to be caught; I think it all depends on weather conditions and water clarity.

We seem to be in a school bass boom at the moment, with so many bass of under a pound in weight being caught, I can never remember seeing so many of these fish being caught before.  It can only bode well for future bass stocks, but don’t forget there is still restrictions on landing and taking fish for the table.  1st July to 31st December 2016 one sizeable bass, per fisherman per day.

Local kayak anglers Alan Tipple and Sandie Davies headed for the calmer waters of the river estuary and had great sport with the bass.  Nothing very big but plenty of bites resulting in fish to around the 1lb.5oz mark.

Danielle Sandoval visiting from Singapore with a great looking sole

Our boats have also had a mixed week, with thornback rays, smooth-hounds and bass. There are mackerel to be caught although the shoals seem to be broken and it’s a case of finding one of these shoals to be on the fish, although other parts of the coast are having bumper mackerel catches.

The beaches and piers have had a reasonable week, once again nothing very big, but plenty of fish on light tackle.

Fishing trio Garry Graham, Ronnie Adamson and Danielle Sandoval fished the Holland beaches and reported that the soles were feeding.  Ronnie caught the biggest weighing in at 1lb 5.oz and Danielle who has recently started fishing and is visiting from Singapore landed a sole of a 1lb.  Garry not to be outdone landed a large dab.

St Osyth beach has seen a few slightly bigger bass to around the 3lb mark being caught, most have come from the far end of the beach by the nature reserve.

Clacton Pier is also seeing its share of these small bass being caught along with the odd bigger fish.  Still the odd thornback ray to be caught here as well and after dark there is also whiting to be caught.

The Walton beaches are also seeing bass and soles, although most of the fishing is evening time when the visitors have gone home.

Walton Pier seems to be the place to be with lots of small bass, wrasse and pouting to be caught from around the piles; there is still a chance of a thornback ray on squid baits from the head of the pier.

The Naze beaches with its rougher sea bed can produce some bigger bass, although weed can be a problem here, once again evening tides after dark will be the best time.

If you have any fishing reports you can contact me at popplewell1@btinternet.com

The high tides for the weekend are Saturday 1.58pm and Sunday 2.38pm

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