Gardner Tackle’s articles. Written by our team of highly experienced carp and specialist anglers.
I can’t believe that’s another whole month gone since my last blog! Where does the time go? Well following on from last month’s blog, in which I raised doubt that I ‘d be able to get out for a last blast and hit my 100 pike winter target, in the end I did actually [...]
I seemed to be very unlucky with my timings throughout the winter just gone. Every time that I decided to go fishing, virtually every night on the bank I endured many frosty minus three or minus four temperature readings on the thermometer, resulting in two different lakes freezing over on me and arriving at [...]
After driving to Norfolk to meet up with my good friend Rob from Carp Fishing Trips, we were soon making the five hour journey through France. We were booked on a 74 acre lake known as Madagascar. It’s a lovely picturesque venue with islands, lily pads and shallow bars – a real carp paradise [...]
It's been a while since I have put pen to paper because I have barely fished for carp since returning from the World Carp Classic in October last year. I decided after the event to take a break from carping, something I hadn't done for a few years as I was starting to burn [...]
Three rods, three different hookbait presentations, one baited area. Which one catches the most fish – pop-up, wafter or bottom bait? Ricky Thomas investigates... MOST anglers today use three rods and quite often they opt to fish all three in a tight area, especially when looking to get the fish feeding well. With that in mind...
This was to be my fourth session of 2015 on my syndicate water. The previous three trips had proven to be fruitless with the weather and fish not playing ball! The combination of cold winds and plummeting night time temperatures, the fishing had been difficult and at time you wouldn’t have thought there was [...]
As some of you might know, I tend to do a lot of quick overnighters each week. My time is very restricted due to working a normal 9am-5pm Monday to Friday job and being restricted to twenty days holiday per year. Leaving little time to do mid-week sessions, which only leaves weekends, which are [...]
In November last year, a good friend and I decided to experiment with a heavy baiting campaign throughout the winter and into the spring of this year. Our motivations for the campaign were three fold, of course the ultimate goal was to catch some carp along the way, but we were also very interested [...]
After a miserable winter with very little in the way of fishing, I was eager to get the rods back out again as the first glimpses of spring were on the horizon. After a memorable 2014 spent on the RK Leisure complex, I decided not to renew my ticket this year and instead I [...]
Now I expect most of you, just like me, are awaiting the arrival of spring with eager anticipation! I must say, I haven’t fished a lot this winter passed, so I’m looking forward to making up for it during the coming months, but with such a hectic lifestyle these days, I’m not counting my [...]
Glass bottomed bucket. An optional extra, but one that used will become your new best friend. Literally, a window into another world which is like watching your own live action underwater TV show. Large areas of the lake bed can be examined for evidence of fish feeding, baited areas can be checked at a [...]
Young Brandon Butler is this month’s Under-21s writer, and not only has he got a great story to tell about catching lots of fish, they are also absolute stunners. I decided on a 48hr-session at Trilakes Country Park because I have been trying to get amongst the bigger residents which I have seen there. The weather was spot on...
After experiencing problems with pest species, Paul Hatton makes a few tweaks to get around the little blighters, and has come up with a Multi-Rig approach which incorporates a nifty little recoil effect. I’m a firm believer in not fixing what isn’t broken when it comes to my rigs, but now and again you find yourself in a...
We’ve all seen features about using PVA, but Paul Hatton has gone one step further. His aim is to get you more bites by letting you in on his most successful mixes which have accounted for plenty of fish over the years. The good old PVA bag – I’m sure that pretty much every carp angler uses PVA on a regular basis. A simple mesh...
This time, young Kai Richards tells the story of quite possibly the best month’s carp angling anyone could ever wish for. Prepare to be amazed! March was quite possibly my best month of angling since I can remember. It started with a 48-hour session in a swim where I had seen a fish bosh out while I was walking around the pit...
This month we catch up with Rich Adams to get the lowdown on the business end of his rods, and how he likes his rigs to be as stealthy as possible on the lakebed. How important is rig concealment for you? When it comes to rigs, I have always liked to keep things as simple as possible; if something is working I stick...
Much is written about boilie fishing and getting the best from your boilies, but don’t forget the magical particles. We go in-session with Paul Hatton to find out how he makes the most of the humble particle. I’ve been using particles in my carp fishing for years and years. I imagine that many of you have too, but have you..
This month we catch up with Rich Adams and head off on a floater fishing adventure to see if he can bag a couple on the top. It’s a lovely warm afternoon and he’s only got his surfacefishing gear to hand, so the challenge is on. It was a lovely afternoon when I arrived at my syndicate lake to fi nd a warm, light southwesterly...
Hauling machine Calum Kletta relives his autumn campaign, when he joined a new syndicate and seemed to get amongst the fish pretty quickly. If you want to read about catching chunks and lots of them, you’ll love this one. 64 Crafty Carper “This one felt like a big fish through the whole battle, and 15 minutes later, with great...
If you like to stay discreet and keep your lines away from your cautious prey, then using backleads can give you a definite edge. Lewis Read gives you the low-down on what, where, how and why. With the increase in popularity of fluorocarbon line, you could be forgiven for thinking that the days of the good old-fashioned backlead...
