AUTUMN has crept and dare I say it but there are a few codling showing from the boats and the odd codling on the Suffolk beaches.

The whiting are also showing for the beach anglers on the night tides.

I have never seen the clarity of the sea water so clear as it is now and around the rocks at Clacton you can watch the bass and mullet cruising around.

I took advantage of this and headed down to the beaches for an evening mid-week trip fishing with lures and spinners.

The sea was calm and I could see the bass feeding on small fry in the shallows.

I used a silver spinner to entice them and it wasn’t long before I was having great sport with these hard-fighting fish!

St Osyth beach has seen a few thornback rays return along with the school bass and whiting.

Clacton Pier has seen an upturn in the fishing with some rays being caught along with dogfish and bass.

The Clacton and Holland beaches are seeing soles being caught after dark along with bass and the odd thornback ray.

Walton Sea Angling Club headed to the Holland beaches for their latest evening match, and they were greeted with calm seas and very clear water.

Hopes were high that after dark the fish would feed but as the match progressed, it was evident that it was going to be a difficult night.

Top angler on the night was the in-form Nik Highfield with three bass and an eel for 96 points, second place went to Vic Pearce with 31 points and third was Ken Peacock with 15 points.

The Frinton beaches are also reporting thornback rays being caught with small school bass returning to feed.

Walton Pier has seen a few bigger bass this week and the odd smooth hound, for those anglers fishing around the pier piles there are plenty of wrasse and school bass to be caught.

The Naze beaches are fishing well for bigger bass, the ground is rougher here but there are clear areas to fish in amongst the clay and rocks.

Colchester Sea Angling Club headed to Suffolk to fish the Thorpness beach - 14 anglers fished a flood tide till midnight.

A good amount of fish were caught with smooth hounds, whiting, pouting, eels, bass, plaice, dabs and soles being the main catch.

First spot went to beach secretary Phil Buy with 6lb 10oz, his winning bag included a 5lb 3oz smooth hound which won Phil the heaviest round fish prize.

A very close second was Lawrence Chisnall 6lb 8oz, Lawrence also won the heaviest flatfish prize with a sole weighing 1lb 1oz, third place went to Mark Sessions 6lb 2oz.

The boats are still seeing plenty of smooth hounds, hopefully they should still be with us for a few weeks yet.

Bigger bass have also made a show this week along with thornback rays.

The hot weather seems to have brought the stingrays back on the feed and rays to 40lbs have been reported.

Paul Hart fishing on board Chris Moles’ Charters out of Mersea landed a 23 pounder this week.

Colchester Sea Angling Club headed out on the charter boat Enterprise for their monthly boat match.

Six species of fish were caught, smooth hounds, pouting, dabs, dogfish, thornback rays and gurnard were caught.

First place went to Alan Childs 26lb, secondn Chris Brown 23lb and third Kevin Glover 22lb.

The overall weight for the boat was 140lbs.

It is once again time for the Clacton Pier Charity Shield Competition in aid of St Helena Hospice.

The date is Sunday, September 15, fishing 10am-3pm. Tickets £10 adults and £6.50 under-16s.

Tickets are available from Clacton Angling on 01255 221863 and Deans Tackle on 01255 425992.

The high tides for the weekend are Saturday 18.43 and Sunday 20.05.