Right place, right time!

[guy]

Were greggs hole any one ?

blyth beach

[g-force]

Any tips on where to fish on blyth beach, Tides and weather i am a boghall man myself and never fished anywhere that side of the wansbeck... Any info would be appreciated.

Good pics and report as usual.

Cheers,

Swally

Blyth can be a funny place to fish, and the secret is not to stay in one place too long if you're getting no action. When fishing a club match on friday, myself and Chris Stringer only managed 3 between us, while just a couple of hundred yards to our left there were a couple of lads with 20lb bags. Just to our right was a hole stuffed with crabs - your baits here had no chance! I'd managed a couple of codlings the night before when it was flatter & most people were catching whitings by finding a nice hole with plenty of movement - again though I was fishing a match & found it a little late in the day to win, although I did get the heaviest fish that night 3lb 7oz.

I fished it again last night, this time managing a better (mixed) bag of good whiting, poddlers, even an eel and a couple of nice codling 4lb 8oz & 7lb 4oz. I did lose my tripod on the sandbar though - must have been washed away when I was back at my box unhooking a fish.

That's one of the keys to fishing Blyth, it changes all the time so there's no one real hot-spot - you need to suss out where the sandbars are (easy to judge when there's a good bit sea on), find the patches of blacker water where the holes are, and just go for it. You'll often have a canny wade across a gully to get out onto the sandbar, so when the tide starts flooding you'll need to keep an eye on your gear & keep moving it well back up the beach until you're pushed off the bar altogether, then it's pretty much time to pack up.

Fish are usually, though not always, fairly close in, so you don't need to be the world's best caster - sometimes they are a ways out, but usually a longer cast will put you over the fish, and sometimes onto another sandbar further out. Number one bait for me is lugworm, lugworm & more lugworm; razor can fish well when the sea is big & has been running for a few days, whiteworm is very good and crab will sometimes have it's day. If you fancy trying for a bass then rag worm chucked short when the sea's not too big can produce results, but they're pretty elusive. You'll also get flounders when it's calmer, and recently there've been a lot of whiting about, so a bit of mackerel or bluey can be worth taking.

Another thing; there's usually a strong rip along the beach, so you'll want some good grip leads, and this can be worse on the smaller tides. Best fished on bigger tides - a lot of people will often say, "oh, it's too big for Blyth" when there's a good sea running, but as long as it's a big tide you can fish the beach in a very big sea, when a lot of people might be heading elsewhere like Whitley or Tynemouth.

So to sum up; you need to be able to read the beach, easier when there's a bit sea on and be prepared to move a lot - it's easy to end up a long way from where you started & face a canny shank back to your car!

Cheers,
Gary

PS - forgot to say well done JV - you obviously found the shot that night (Gregg's Hole lol!!) - how many did Gregg have in his bag lol!

[greggthe1]

I had 7 in my bag Garry Just none of them were mine lol

[g-force]

Sure he must have given you a couple for putting him on the right shot eh?

Gary

[swally76]

Blyth can be a funny place to fish, and the secret is not to stay in one place too long if you're getting no action. When fishing a club match on friday, myself and Chris Stringer only managed 3 between us, while just a couple of hundred yards to our left there were a couple of lads with 20lb bags. Just to our right was a hole stuffed with crabs - your baits here had no chance! I'd managed a couple of codlings the night before when it was flatter & most people were catching whitings by finding a nice hole with plenty of movement - again though I was fishing a match & found it a little late in the day to win, although I did get the heaviest fish that night 3lb 7oz.

I fished it again last night, this time managing a better (mixed) bag of good whiting, poddlers, even an eel and a couple of nice codling 4lb 8oz & 7lb 4oz. I did lose my tripod on the sandbar though - must have been washed away when I was back at my box unhooking a fish.

That's one of the keys to fishing Blyth, it changes all the time so there's no one real hot-spot - you need to suss out where the sandbars are (easy to judge when there's a good bit sea on), find the patches of blacker water where the holes are, and just go for it. You'll often have a canny wade across a gully to get out onto the sandbar, so when the tide starts flooding you'll need to keep an eye on your gear & keep moving it well back up the beach until you're pushed off the bar altogether, then it's pretty much time to pack up.

Fish are usually, though not always, fairly close in, so you don't need to be the world's best caster - sometimes they are a ways out, but usually a longer cast will put you over the fish, and sometimes onto another sandbar further out. Number one bait for me is lugworm, lugworm & more lugworm; razor can fish well when the sea is big & has been running for a few days, whiteworm is very good and crab will sometimes have it's day. If you fancy trying for a bass then rag worm chucked short when the sea's not too big can produce results, but they're pretty elusive. You'll also get flounders when it's calmer, and recently there've been a lot of whiting about, so a bit of mackerel or bluey can be worth taking.

Another thing; there's usually a strong rip along the beach, so you'll want some good grip leads, and this can be worse on the smaller tides. Best fished on bigger tides - a lot of people will often say, "oh, it's too big for Blyth" when there's a good sea running, but as long as it's a big tide you can fish the beach in a very big sea, when a lot of people might be heading elsewhere like Whitley or Tynemouth.

So to sum up; you need to be able to read the beach, easier when there's a bit sea on and be prepared to move a lot - it's easy to end up a long way from where you started & face a canny shank back to your car!

Cheers,
Gary

PS - forgot to say well done JV - you obviously found the shot that night (Gregg's Hole lol!!) - how many did Gregg have in his bag lol!

Thanks' for the info but if your talking about wading onto sand bars i'll see if any of the lads around my area know the beach to take me out.

Regards,

Swally

[Billzo]

Thanks' for the info but if your talking about wading onto sand bars i'll see if any of the lads around my area know the beach to take me out.

Regards,

Swally

cant miss the sand bars m8, but u wont get on the 2nd sand bar with the sml tides now m8 & by the time the next big tides show chances r the sandbars might have flattened off.
spot on dave lad, my local beach but every time the conditions r perfect i've had summit on & could'nt make it down.

[greggthe1]

Sure he must have given you a couple for putting him on the right shot eh?

Gary

Yip had some for tea tonight and they were very nice indeed!

[greggthe1]

Thanks' for the info but if your talking about wading onto sand bars i'll see if any of the lads around my area know the beach to take me out.

Regards,

Swally

As soon as you can see the 1st sandbar it is ok to wade on mate. Not very deep and the 2nd sandbar takes most of the sea off so not too much water rushing in but keep an eye out as you always get the odd rougue wave taking you by suprise. You can plop it short into the gulley or if you can chuck give it a whack over the 2nd sand bar as the fish are just behind it.

[g-force]

As soon as you can see the 1st sandbar it is ok to wade on mate. Not very deep and the 2nd sandbar takes most of the sea off so not too much water rushing in but keep an eye out as you always get the odd rougue wave taking you by suprise. You can plop it short into the gulley or if you can chuck give it a whack over the 2nd sand bar as the fish are just behind it.

Yeah, I should have said that the wading is usually only necessary if you get down sharpish,2 & 1/2 or 3 hrs before low tide. About 2 hrs before bottom water the sandbar you fish from is usually high & dry, with just odd patches of water in some of the deeper holes behind it; when the tide starts to flood you'll generally still have a good hour and a half before the gullies behind you start to fill, then it's down to your own judgment how long you want to remain.

It's worth noting where the shallower patches are so that you know where to come off easily, as some of the holes at the back can get quite deep, and theres currently quite a few patches of very sinky sand, but as I said earlier the beach changes all the time depending how the sea's been running.

Gary