Hi Colin
In response to your request for a heads up on fishing the Thames Estuary and Essex coast I'll cast my mind back and see what I can come up with ,bearing in mind I've been here for nearly 4 years. There were a few slipways that are open to the public.The most westerley that I would deem to be OK is at two Tree Island which is council owned. It is in Leigh on Sea (Southend Borough) right behind Leigh Station. As I recall this one doesn't dry out but its a good 10 miles upstream of the general fishing areas. There are others to the east of that but they do dry out for a few hours. I never used slipways so I cannot talk from my own experiences. Once you are out there you can go for Plaice (near record ones taken off of East Beach in Shoeburyness during the winter times). Problem there is you will get plagued with flounders. Bit further east from there are the firing ranges. There are some superb Bass to be had there if you fish in the gutways especially at low tide when there is only a couple of feet under the boat and all around you are dried out sandbanks (3 miles out from the shoreline). The downside of that is you are on MoD ground and officially you have to ask permission but seeing as they never answered the radio you never got permission. If you were unlucky you could expect a visit from the bright orange hovercraft where the nice men on board, using good old fashioned english would leave you in no doubt as to how welcome you were! On one red hot summers day my mate took a 13lb Bass in no more than 2 feet of water. Like hitting the back of the London To Edinburgh Express. Only time I've ever seen a Bass tail walk. If you were brave enough to cross the shipping channel there were some good Roker to be had off of Margate. Go a little further out and north toward Clacton and that was a well know summer fishery for Tope and Doggies. Winter was mainly restricted to Cod, Whiting and Flatfish. You may or may not know that Essex has to longest coastline of any county due to all the small islands and inlets. There are three other main rivers available to you namely The Roach, The Crouch and the Blackwater. They all have slipways available either Public or some of the Yachtclubs are ameanable for a small consideration. The one thing to always bear in mind is that the east coast is flat and the sea is not deep therefore the majority, but not all, of the slips dry out. This in turn leads to some fast running tides. Do your research first and if the fishing gods are with you good days are possible. As far as bait goes I would always favour Rag, Lug and for the Bass it would be peeler crab. The Roker seemed to come better on fresh herring. Like all fishing a bait will work one day and they wont touch it the next! If you have a choice I would go for weekdays, especially during the warmer months as 'The Romford Navy' as they are locally known decend on the coast with their 3 metre inflatables with twin 150 Mercs on the back. Gives the local RNLI something to do! If you do venture to the east coast let me know how you get on.
