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!