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

The end of July can be a tricky time of year, with some boats finding fish and others not faring so well.

However, the Wallet and Gunfleet sands are still producing fish.

There are still plenty of smooth-hounds to be caught, plus thornback rays and bass.

The mackerel are there to be caught, 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 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.

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 staying at the bottom, hoping for bass and soles.

With calm seas and warm conditions, it made for very comfortable fishing, but the fish thought differently.

Lots of under-size pouting were caught from the start, plus some wrasse from under the pier, and, as darkness fell, a few whiting were also caught.

The winner on the night was Rob Tuck, with 2lb 6oz.

In second place, with 1lb 13oz, was Tim Robinson and in third was Terry Quartermaine, with 1lb 1oz.

The heaviest fish prize went to Tim Robinson, with 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.

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 and 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.

Colchester Sea Angling Club fished their monthly boat match at the weekend.

Once again, conditions were good.

Smooth-hounds and thornback rays were the main catch.

The overall winner was Chris Brown, with 17lbs, and the largest hounds were caught by father and son John and Kevin Glover at 6lbs.

The heaviest thornback ray was caught by Mel Jarman, also weighing in at 6lbs.

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