IT'S been another good angling week on our part of the coast and, with temperatures rising, it can only get better.

The boat anglers have had a particularly successful time.

Neil Marple and Ross Deadman fished from Neil’s boat off the Walton coast.

They had a great morning's fishing, landing over 30 bass between them, plus a 12lb smoothhound.

The Brightlingsea charter boat Sophie Lea’s monthly report was very promising.

Great weather and calm conditions have allowed local charter boats to move offshore and, in doing so, they have had good fishing, with bass being the predominant species.

The Sophie Lea landed 20 fish between 2lbs and 6lbs.

Most of the bass were caught on worm baits, with a few falling to squid.

One notable fish was a turbot, which is quite a rarity on our part of the coast.

There are still plenty of Thornback rays to be caught and some bigger smoothhound now showing.

Mackerel, which were in short supply last year, have made a return in force this year so the signs are looking good for the summer.

The stingrays have also turned up but beware of the sting in its tail!

A few Tope have already been caught but it will still be a few weeks before the main packs arrive.

Alan Tipple and Sandie Davis launched their boat from the Gunfleet Boat Club ramp and headed out to the Gunfleet sands to fish on a very calm day.

They were rewarded with nine bass, three Thornback rays and a smoothhound.

Sandie landed her personal best bass, weighing in at 5lbs.

The beaches have had an amazing week with some heavyweight stingrays being caught.

Halstead angler Peter Hart started the week with an amazing 60lb stingray from the Frinton beaches.

Neil Cocks landed a 46-pounder from the same beach, along with Brian Griggs also catching a stinger from the Frinton beaches.

My trip this week was also to Frinton and I fished the golf course beaches, fishing the last of the flood tide with a stiff easterly wind blowing.

In just a couple of hours, I landed five big Thornback rays, all around the 10lb mark, which is pretty remarkable for this venue.

Walton Sea Angling Club headed for the Frinton beaches for their midweek evening match.

The fishing here proved hard going, with only small bass and whiting caught.

Rob Tuck was top rod with 4lb 3oz.

Second place went to Nik Highfield, with 1lb 11oz, and third to Richard Burt, with 1lb 7oz.

The heaviest fish prize went to Lawrence Chisnall, with a 28cm bass.

Walton Pier is still seeing Thornback rays being caught and school bass from around the bottom of the pier.

The first of the smoothhound have also started to be caught here, as well.

The Walton Pier Club fished their match at the weekend on a morning tide.

With bright sunshine and a clear sea, it was always going to be difficult fishing.

Fish were hard to find and crabs stripping the baits in minutes made it more difficult.

First place went to Joe Marvell, with 5lb 1oz.

Second spot went to Dean Parker, with 4.5lbs, and third to Barry Adair, with 1lb 9.5oz.

The heaviest fish prize went to Joe, with a 5lb 1oz Thornback ray.

The high tides for the weekend are 4.48pm on Saturday and 5.40pm on Sunday.