WITH temperatures rising nicely, so too are the water temperatures - heralding plenty of rays and dogfish moving into our shallower waters.

The charter and private boats have probably had the best week for some time. Some very big whiting have been caught, with the biggest going to Norfolk angler Paul Evans, fishing onboard the charter boat Sophie Lea.

He landed a fine 3lb 7oz whiting.

Not so many codlings have been reported this week and it looks like they're moving to deeper waters until the autumn.

Kayak anglers fishing off the Holland-on-Sea coast reported plenty of rays to be caught, with dogfish also showing well now.

The pier and beach anglers have also fared well, with the evening tides fishing into dark producing more fish.

St Osyth beach has fished well for thornback rays, with a few small bass now showing.

Clacton Pier is once again the place to head for, with rays showing on most tides along with dogfish and whiting.

Peter Rose fished here and caught whiting and a small smoothhound - a sure sign that summer is just around the corner.

The Holland beaches are fishing much better after dark for rays, with just the odd one showing in daylight hours.

School bass have started to show here and Clacton angler Steven Ruggles landed a 49cm fish from these beaches.

Colchester Sea Angling Club headed for the Frinton beaches for the first round of their Colchester Bait and Tackle evening matches.

Twenty-four anglers turned out for this one-rod four-hour match.

They fished a flood tide in almost perfect conditions.

A mixed bag of fish was caught, which included dogfish, whiting, bass, rockling, sole, dabs, pouting and one solitary thornback ray.

First place went to Dave Clark with 6lb 4oz thornback ray.

In second spot was Mark Sessions, with 4lb 1oz, and a close third was Vic Pearce, with 3lb 14oz.

This included an early sole of 12oz which won him the heaviest flat fish prize.

The heaviest round fish prizes went to Dave Clark for his 6lb 4oz thornback ray and Mark Sessions, Phil Buy and Mick Bradley, who all tied with a 1lb 15oz dogfish.

Their next match is on the Felixstowe beaches on April 29, with fishing from 10am until 3pm.

Walton Pier has had a reasonable week with thornback rays being caught, although they are slightly patchy here.

Some tides will fish well and some tides not.

It’s a case of putting in the fishing hours to be in with a chance.

The heaviest ray reported this week weighed just under 17lbs, which is a very big ray indeed.

Dogfish are feeding well here and the first of the school bass are also showing.

The high tides for the weekend are 4.58pm on Saturday and 5.11pm on Sunday.