I heard on TV that nearly everybody in Essex gets their features artificially adjusted in some way, but I never heard of foot lengthening before.
Where exactly in South Essex are you? I know that area pretty well because I spent most of my young life there. I lived in Basildon, went to school in Grays, later lived in West Thurrock, where I met my wife. My sister still lives in Pitsea.
I know every good fishing spot on the river Thames all the way from the Dartford bridge to Shewburyness, if that helps. The best was the pipe fishing at West Thurrock Power Station, which I think is now out of commission. They screened off the fish in the water inlet and diverted them back to the river down a pipe that came out of the sea wall. We used to put a keepnet across it. I had just about everything in that net including, would you believe, pipefish. The best were plaice, dover soles, cod in the winter, bass in the summer, and nearly always we got loads of prawns. Most common were flounders, spratts (in season), smelts and eels. One guy got a 4 ft conger eel out of it. I also saw a 10lb bass.
