Sea Fishing: Codling and bass are ready to bite

The winds of the weekend played havoc with sport but promised some quality fishing as we move into May.

Holt SAC had planned to fish the last leg of their summer accumulator at Bacton. Mountainous seas put paid to that and after a look in at Cley the match was moved to the Ouse at King's Lynn.

Lots of freshwater running into the estuary didn't help sport and aside from a few small flounders catches were poor. Henry Randell took the top spot with a solitary flounder for 6oz, Tony Thomas managed two fish for an eye watering 3oz with Mike Watts coming third with a single fish for 2oz.

At the time of writing the sea looks perfect and I know there will have been a few bass caught in the early part of this week and I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't a few codling with them too.

Anglers braving the wind and rain on the east Norfolk beaches have been rewarded with plenty of school bass and some nice codling to 3lb from the rough ground beats. With tides building towards springs I can only see more and better bass showing over the next week or so, particularly if you can time your session to coincide with a dying northerly blow.

Cart Gap round to the Yarmouth beaches have produced a few bass and codling, it shouldn't be too long before the hounds start showing around Caister and Hopton, they've turned up on those beaches for a couple of years and unlike most of our beaches they seem to hang about on these beaches.

There have still been a few codling caught in the rough ground at Corton down to Ness point and there will be some nice bass along this stretch too. Lowestoft has been generally slower than the beaches above Ness point but it's only a matter of time before the sole show from the south pier down and on the beaches down to Southwold.

It's definitely worth a chuck this week, building tides and a lovely rolling sea with a bit of colour will produce some decent fish so, if you can get out, this is the week to do it.