IT’S been another mediocre week, without any signs of codling feeding.

The good news for beach and pier anglers, though, is that there seems to be lots of small fish – mostly whiting and dabs, with a few dogfish feeding for good measure.

The boats found a one-day gap in the prevailing winds last week, when the wind dropped to nothing and the sea was flat.

Some Clacton Boat Club members took advantage of this break in the weather and headed out to the Gunfleet sands.

Unfortunately, they reported that there wasn’t much to be caught, apart from the odd small ray.

Dave Hollands told me that shoals of sprats and herrings were still there in force and until they move out of the Thames Estuary we will struggle to find any cod feeding.

The Brightlingsea-based charter boat Seawatch also headed for some local venues.

Once again, there was no sign of cod, but, thank goodness, we’re still seeing a few thornback rays.

Craig Inwood landed a cracking ray, weighing in at 11lbs.

The Walton Pier club’s latest match was on the golf course beaches at Frinton.

Unfortunately, the weather was so bad with high winds and very rough seas that they had to abandon the venue and finish the match on the local pier.

Fifteen anglers fished their pairs match and managed to catch 52 sizeable fish between them, mainly small whiting and dabs with the odd small codling.

The winners were Joe Marvel and Andy Westrope.

Second place went to lone angler Kevin Blackwell, as he was the last angler left in an odd number of competitors, so well done Kevin.

Three teams shared third place.

Walton Pier has had a better week, with most anglers catching fish.

They are on the small side, but at least fish are being caught!

Walton Sea Angling Club also fished the local pier for their evening match.

They fished an incoming tide on the top of the pier in surprisingly calm conditions.

A steady stream of fish were caught, which included whiting, dabs and dogfish.

Top spot went to Rob Tuck, with 6lb 4oz.

Second position went to Vic Pearce, with 4lb 8oz, and third to Craig Buy, with 4lb 3oz.

The heaviest fish prize went to Rob Tuck, with a 1lb 10oz dogfish.

The Holland and Clacton beaches have fished very poorly this week, with just a few small whiting reported.

Clacton Pier has also had a poor week.

Small dabs and whiting are all that have been caught.

For a chance of catching a ray this week, St Osyth beach will be the place to head.

There are still a few showing up around this area.

The high tides for the weekend are 10.09am on Saturday and 10.58am on Sunday.