IT seems to be all about gales at the moment and the latest has been storm Barney, which has buffeted us this week.

The weather has made boat fishing very difficult.

In fact, the weekend saw no boats put to sea.

However, in between the storms, on calmer days, they have managed to catch rays, whiting and dogfish, but very few codling.

This can only be down to the shoals of herrings and sprats.

The piers and beaches have had a reasonable week.

Clacton Pier has seen a few dogfish and rays, plus a few dabs.

Sam Tittensor fished a day-time tide here and caught dogfish, plus one codling.

Once again, cod here are at a premium.

Clacton Sea Angling Club headed for the Coast Guard beaches at Walton for their latest match and, to be honest, the fishing wasn’t brilliant.

Whiting and pouting were caught, with only one codling between them.

In first place was Danny Watson, with 154 points.

Second spot went to Vic Pearce, with 138, and in third was Dave Collett, with 133.

The heaviest fish was caught by Vic and was a 33cm codling.

Colchester Sea Angling Club held their fifth Transdec Series match and, with a slight swell on the sea, conditions looked very promising.

Fish were caught from the start of the match – once again mostly whiting and pouting and a few dogfish.

Phil Buy took top spot, with 11lb 6oz.

Martin Close was second, with 6lb 5oz, and Andy Kerr third, with 5lb 9oz.

The heaviest fish prize was shared between three anglers – Phil, Martin and Dave Clarke, who all caught a 1lb 15oz dogfish.

Shore Fishing UK ran their two-day charity match on the local beaches in aid of Diabetes UK.

It was a great success and anglers from all over the country and some from Belgium descended on Clacton’s Valley Farm Caravan Park.

Some good-sized fish were caught, from thornback rays to some very nice bass, but once again not one cod was caught over the two days.

Diabetes UK received a cheque for £920 on the final evening, so well done to all of those that helped to reach this total for a great charity.

Result: 1 G Smith 5lb 3oz, 2 G Pye 4lb 6oz, 3 W Johnson 3lb 10oz, 4 D Matthews 3lb 1oz. Junior prizes: K Edwards, L Holdaway and O Yallop.

The tides for the weekend are 6.27am on Saturday and 7.42am on Sunday.