Help with beach fishing!!!

Hi people. I live and fish in the East Anglia and regularly find myself in the Southend area. I usually opt for the 'easier fishing' to be had on the local charter boats or from the pier. However I really would like to have a serious crack at some shore in the area but am daunted by the never ending expance of the mud flats. Please could someone give me some general help and advice to get me started and if anyone has some first-hand local knowledge and doesn't mind sharing a bit then great!
Kind Regards to all.............

Jeff...lol..Used to live down the road. The shore around Southend, from what i can remember, is not that great. Far to shallow for big fish to come in. Plenty of eels and flatties...and not much else. Sometmes you get codling and the occasional bass, but only from a few closly guarded marks. Move further up river to Tilbury, and in the winter codling abound. Fish big cocktail baits for them.

The pier is one of the best marks around that area, I personnaly witnessed the british record flounder being landed (never claimed), big bass, cod, whiting..all sorts.

Try canvey sea wall for deep water or thre river Crouch near the marina (hole in the wall) or on bambergers jetty
try asking Kev in Bait & Tackle in southchurch road as knows all the local beach fishing marks

Dave

as rob states, not much in the way of large fish when fishing the shores of essex but you could try south fambridge, on the river crouch later in the year for roker & bass, make sure you account for takle loss though as the bottom seems to swallow tackle here, use a rotten bottom or a pulley rig-i wish i had when i lost a very large fish here a couple of years ago, i also remember some very good sessions at hutley's beach near the caravan park at st.osyth 3 years ago in march, when it seemed catching sizeable codling from the shore was easy, i think the beach shelves steeply here.good luck