IT looks like we've finally got through the worst of the weather.

We seem to have been battered by wave after wave of cold fronts and high winds which, in turn, have pushed the fish into deeper waters.

However, at last a settled spell has arrived and the fish have started to feed again.

We still have a way to go but at least it's heading in the right direction.

The boats took advantage of the very calm weather over the weekend and some good bags of fish were caught.

Those thornback rays that we've come to rely on are starting to be caught in numbers, with some double-figure fish among them.

The charter boat Sophie Lee reported rays to 12.5lbs, plus the run of spring codling continues.

The Gloria B2 has also been catching codling and thornback rays.

Private boats took advantage of the favourable weather and returned with mixed results.

Most boats caught fish, with some bigger thornback rays being caught along with codling and a few dogfish.

Some boats seemed to be on the fish and others could only find the odd codling and whiting.

The beaches and piers are slowly improving, although it's slow.

Clacton Pier is producing a few codling and whiting, along with the odd plaice. The first run of thornback rays will arrive here very soon and then the sport can be hectic.

The Holland beaches are still painfully slow, although there are a few codling to be caught.

A better time to catch a plump spring codling is after dark, although the odd one has been caught during daylight hours.

Matt Clark did just that and managed to land a good-sized fish, although he has had a few blank sessions in between.

The Frinton beaches have not sprung into action, with just small whiting and the odd codling here.

To be honest, the lack of anglers fishing along both the Holland and Frinton beaches breeds few reports.

Walton Pier has had an up and down couple of weeks.

Peter Binks fished here on the lower stem of the pier on an ebb tide and landed five good-sized codling using lugworm and squid bait.

Anglers fishing here the next day caught nothing.

I fished here at the end of the week and caught nothing, with baits coming in as perfect as they went out.

Lewis Garnham, from Harwich, did mange to catch a codling here along with a few small whiting.

Once again, those heavyweight thornback rays will show up at this venue in the next week or two and squid or bluey will be the favourite baits.

If you have any fishing reports or photos you can contact me at popplewell1@btinternet.com

The high tides for the weekend are 12.41pm on Saturday and 1.36pm on Sunday.