Sorry if its a bit late been a hectic week ,great weather and not a lot of wind.been out .wind was there on Monday ,tried the Maplin for shelter but most of the fish were on the small side .we came back to the wallet and fortunately were rewarded with some skate biggest and personnel best was 11.5lbs to Nick Lambert from Maldon.Thursday we tried for the tope There was quite a swell unfortunately one casualty [sorry Brian] No the tope weren't there we struggled to get one which came in the end for Chris Payne ,This was a relatively small male of 22lbs but gave a good account of its self.we also tried for bass but only schoolies the bass that I had been finding appear to have moved.I think they were possibly spawning on that bit of ground and have now moved on.Friday saw a group of fire crew from Stansted nine of them in total I think they had a good day ,managed to find them quite a few skate the biggest was 13.5lbs,a large female that was returned,also landed that day one small tope a dab ,a couple of hounds but only one mackerel.Saturday 6 anglers mixture of fish again,few skate hounds and odd mackerel nothing outstanding but al caught.Sunday four anglers target skate we ended up with quite a few biggest of 11lbs ,few dog fish and smooth hounds but unfortunately no bass,we picked up about eight mackerel just leaving the feathers over the side and these were certainly a temptation for the skate.Monday day off dive time Tried a couple of wrecks but the vis just hasn't happened this year we don't seem to have suffered with the tobacco juice in the water which normally clogs up the lines and when it dies the water goes gin clear we had about a meter vis on the first dive and saw a few pout and one bass ,This was the one that had produced for the last three weeks.We then went to a favorite dive on an old coaster on top of the Sunk this was much better vis ,at least 3 meters . but apart from a few crabs and lobsters we didn't see a lot of bass.but this is a very pretty dive with lots of growth around the wreck and yes did recover a set of tackle from Friday.Tope wise it has been a bit disappointing with relatively few bigger fish rumor has it that a lot of big tope have been on the market at Lowestoft at 40p a stone if they can be sold this could be a reason ,these fish would be in pup and only breed bye annually this can have serious consequences to our stocks and take years to recover ,I understand Greenpeace are looking into this.Pictures sorry to all those who have been out this week the camera has broke your pictures along with the camera have been returned to Sony as soon as I can I will put them up on site or mail them to you .TOPE DONT GIVE UP YET STILL EARLY biggest concern clarity of the water and of course unwanted attention from people who don't share our enjoyment cheers dave weaving [pics coming asap]