LEIGH’s Phil Browning enjoyed a good day fishing off the north east Maplin Sands at the weekend.

He said: “I managed to prise my 17-year-old stepson Alfie Jordan away from his XBox and Nintendo for a day’s fishing.

“We were fishing from my boat, Fire Fly, out of the Essex Marina and my partner Sarah Jordan was along too.

“The weather was beautiful and we eventually settled on the mark.”

“We were soon among the fish, boating bass, whiting, codling, dogfish and smoothhound.

“The smooth-hound have been a bit thin on the ground this year so far compared to previous years – along with smaller females than usual.

“We managed to land 14 hounds in a couple of hours on frozen hermit crabs and 4/0 circle hooks.

“Over half the fish were in the double figure range. Alfie landed the best fish which was a 13lb hound.”