WE seem to be hitting an in-between time at the moment, with boats reporting less fish.

Yes, there are fish to be caught, but nowhere near the amounts we’ve been seeing.

The tope season should be in full swing, but there’s certainly a lack of fish to be caught and this is probably due to the lack of their staple diet, which is the mackerel.

Those mackerel shoals have all but disappeared.

Any tope that are being caught seem to be falling to whiting baits.

There also seems to be a lack of big smoothhounds to be caught.

There are still lots of hounds in the 8lb to 10lb range, but those bigger fish seem illusive.

It’s also the same with the thornback rays.

There are still some small rays but the bigger ones have headed for deeper water and, to be honest, this is what we find every year.

Lester Baker, skipper of the Brightlingsea Sea Watch Charters, also reported a slowdown in catches, but still hounds, medium-sized rays and a few bass.

Jackie Johnson was among a party of anglers that found the smoothhounds and she caught the biggest, weighing in at 12lbs.

The charter boat Sophie Lea has also reported similar catches, but soon the off-shore bass run will start. Phil White’s boat Chinook reported several medium-sized stingrays caught from inshore marks.

Clacton Boat Club member John Sherry fished from White Swan, from the Martello slipway.

He returned with a bass of 6lb.5oz, caught on a lugworm and squid bait. Clacton Sea Angling Club headed for the Brighton Road beaches at Holland for their evening match.

Twelve competitors lined the beach, but fish were hard to find.

First place went to Rob Tuck, with 157 points.

In second was Lawrence Chisnall, with 100 points, and in third was Doug Sadler, with 67.

The heaviest fish, caught by Sadler, was a 57cm eel.

Clacton Pier has also been fairly quiet, although Lawrie Salkeld caught a very nice 4lb 3oz bass.

Walton Pier has fished slightly better, with sole, wrasse and a few bass. Jay King fished the top of the pier on an early-morning tide and landed a 6lb thornback ray on his first cast.

The bait was peeler crab on a pennel rig.

Walton Sea Angling Club fished those famous Brighton Road beaches at Holland.

This time a few more fish were feeding and the top angler on the night was Richard Burt, with 6lb 13oz, which included a 3lb 7oz bass and a ray of 2lb 15oz.

Second place went to Rob Tuck, with 5lb 1oz, and in third was Vic Pearce, with 2lb 3oz.

If you fancy fishing the local beaches then the evening tides will always fish better.

The top venues are St Osyth, the Holland beaches, Frinton, along by the golf course, and either side of Walton Pier.

All these areas will produce bass, sole and the odd ray.

Colchester Sea Angling Club travelled to the Suffolk beaches of Dunwich.

The fishing in this return match was difficult and most of the fish were caught at range.

In first place was Mark Sessions, with 4lb 3oz, mostly consisting of small smoothhounds.

Second place went to Mark Peters, with 3lbs, which included a small thornback ray, and Dave Clark was in third, with 1lb 13oz.

The tides for the weekend are 6.44pm on Saturday and 7.57pm on Sunday.