Gardner Tackle’s articles. Written by our team of highly experienced carp and specialist anglers.
Despite having a short week after a thoroughly fantastic trip to the Carp Societies Farriers water, it reached Friday night and all I wanted to do was be down the lake – continuing my personal quest to snag The Chestnut Common or The Big Sutton [dreamy sigh]. What with [...]
Way back in August 2017 a gentleman named Damon White bid for the privilege of fishing for 48 hours on Farriers. The only drawback (for him) was that the poor man had to put up with me too, as I was part of that bidding package – poor man! [...]
An investigation into the risks surrounding discharging of anglers (legal sized) lead weights into freshwater. Sam Meeuwissen, BCSG. September 2017. Introduction: The common practise amongst anglers to either deposit, discharge or eject the lead weight, either during the take or during the fight, has become a topic of contention amongst [...]
The scope of rig variation constantly seems to roll out with anglers having an almost dizzying array of options and choices. As the variety of clever little riggy components slowly inflates, so does the broader acceptance of novel rig ideas that incorporate them, as technically minded carpers seek to add [...]
Friday the 13th, saw me heading back to the club/park lake for my 3rd session on there. It’s a small lake of a few acres, with a nice stock of mainly common carp. I took this ticket up to boost my confidence as it’s been difficult just fishing the [...]
2017 was the year that never got off the ground, well at least where my fishing was concerned anyway! Don’t get me wrong, I still managed a few sessions throughout the course of the year however they would have collectively totalled my usual monthly average time on the bank [...]
Oh the delicious greasy spicy filth that is the Peperami is almost irresistible to carp and it seems to trigger some inherent ‘eat me now’ instinct in our carpy quarry. It must be akin to a dirty Donor Kebab for some of us. There’s just something in the ‘Rami that tantalises the carp’s metaphoric taste [...]
Some main lines stand the test of time simply because they are right to start with. Take the legendary Insight GR60 for instance, even after all these years this superb line is hugely popular simply because it is a fabulous line to start with! Why? Well it exhibits exceptional knot strength, [...]
Every year just before winter really kicks in I always end up making myself an empty promise that I'll do some fishing for other species. Like the last half a dozen or so winters, this relatively mild one has seen that promise get broken and I've found myself whacking [...]
Some carp angling methods evolve into something truly extraordinary! Whereby the overall effectiveness of bringing together the right components and bait coalesce to create a method that is so effective it’s positively scary! And possibly the most significant example of this is the Magaligner. On face value the Magaligner could be seen as ‘just [...]
When it comes to targeting a big fish water or trying to capture a particular target fish using thoroughly tried and tested rigs is a very good thing!! Most waters that fall into this category require a huge effort to crack - and the last thing you really want to do is flick out [...]
It was a very cold start during the early part of 2017 and a lot of the waters local to me were under a lid of ice for the most part of it. I think the vast majority of us were eagerly waiting to get a break in the [...]
I met my mate Jamie at the service station not far from our Southern syndicate very early in the morning. We got some breakfast and with 48 hours ahead of us we talked about our plan of action. We decided that we would park in a swim known as [...]
The rig is excellent for single hook bait fishing over all sorts of lake beds and will perform equally well fished over beds of bait and PVA bags to.
2017 was a great year for my fishing memories! I managed seven 30lb+ fish, one forty and also my target fish which is one of the nicest fish I have ever caught! In this article I will be reflecting on three sessions where I caught my target fish, my [...]
Like many of us with a young family, winter provides that opportunity to spend time at home to rebuild the contents of our ‘brownie point’ bank and to also replenish and tidy the essentials for the fishing year ahead. That said, in recent years I have really started to [...]
Following a last minute call on Thursday night, I found myself turning up to fish a guest session on a lake I knew very little about, even though it's less than a mile from my house I'd only walked one bank about 10 years ago. Arriving in the dark [...]
Fishing can be a funny old sport. As a multi species angler, it can be more on the side of ‘peculiar’ funny, rather than ‘ha-ha’ funny, as you find yourself flitting between venues and types of fishing. For example, all spring and summer I have been fixated on the [...]
Why is it that winter weather windows always seem to jostle their way across the North Atlantic to arrive over the British Isles at the most in opportune times? Normally, midweek when I’m languishing here at my desk beaver’ing away at Gardner HQ, or typically on a weekend when [...]
Classic D-Rig bottom bait rigs have been around a LONG time – for the simple reason that they work! It’s a presentation that offers amazing consistency in the way that the rig lays out after the lead and reached the lake bed - and then settles down nicely. It’s a fantastic alternative to hinged stiff, [...]
