THIS week has seen some of those summer heavyweights arrive and the shore anglers are catching them.

Once again, St Osyth beach is the place to be.

Reports have been coming in that the stingrays have arrived.

These giant rays normally arrive in May and stay in our shallow waters until the end of June, before heading out to deeper waters again.

St Osyth beach always seems to be a holding area for them and I’ve had three rays reported to me this week, the largest being caught by Alresford angler Gale Light of approximately 50lbs.

Alan Dipper, who lives in the village, managed to catch two on consecutive casts.

Both were small, but still a great achievement.

If you fancy a chance to catch one of these rays the best baits are ragworm or peeler crab.

The evening tides are best after a warm day as these creatures will move on to the warmer sand on the flood tide.

Clacton Pier and the town’s beaches have slowed down slightly this week.

The thornback rays that we’ve seen in recent weeks have disappeared, with only one or two being reported, and the odd bass and codling has been caught.

There are still plenty of whiting and it looks like they will still be here until the autumn.

The Holland beaches are fishing much the same as the pier and after dark will increase your catches.

The Frinton and Walton beaches are fishing much better this week, with bass and soles now showing and one unconfirmed report of a stingray being caught and returned.

Clacton Sea Angling Club headed for Walton Pier for their latest evening match and, on a flooding tide, 15 anglers fished.

The tactics were to fish down the side of the pier for the smaller fish.

Seventy-five fish were caught, mostly whiting, pouting and pollack.

Result: 1 Rob Tuck 375 points, 2 Berni Putko 159, 3 Lawrence Chisnall 60.

Heaviest fish: Berni Putko and Rob Tuck - both with 30cm pollocks.

Walton Pier has also seen a slowdown in the amount of rays being caught, although dogfish are still being caught and the odd bass.

Walton Pier Fishing Club fished their final match of the season on the pier.

Eighteen anglers turned out and conditions were far from ideal, with bright conditions and calm seas.

Only a few fish were caught, but they did manage to find one or two early summer wrasse.

In first place was Andy Westrope, followed by Andy Grant and Fred Parker.

Overall results for the season: 1 Barry Adair, 2 Kevin Blackwell, 3 Colin Harris, 4 Fred Parker.

Colchester Sea Angling Club travelled to the Suffolk shores for their River Championships.

They fished the Shotley shoreline and, once again, fish were few and far between, with only five fish being caught in the whole match.

First place went to Mark Sessions – the new river champion – with 3lb 2oz.

In second was Steve Yallop, with 15oz, and in third was Mark Peters, with 7oz.

The heaviest round fish was caught by Mark Sessions – a bass of 2lb 6oz.

The heaviest flat fish was caught by Steve – a flounder of 15oz.

The boats have also seen a decline in the amount of thornback being caught, although there are a lot of smaller ones now showing.

Bass are being caught but the bigger fish are still few and far between.

Those smoothhounds are still hanging around further out and are yet to move this side of the Gunfleet sands in any numbers.

We’re now seeing those summer mackerel shoals being caught, but at the moment it’s the boats that are venturing further afield that are finding them.

If you have any fishing reports you can contact me at poppplewell1@btinternet.com The tides for the weekend are 3.05pm on Saturday and 3.48pm on Sunday.