Gardner Tackle’s articles. Written by our team of highly experienced carp and specialist anglers.
I turned up to my second home Hardwick and Smiths at linear fisheries to find a fair few anglers on Hardwick side of the lake. With only one angler on the Smiths side of the lake, it soon became apparent why so many anglers were favouring Hardwick end. After standing in one of the middle [...]
Recently I booked sometime off work, in belief my new syndicate was to open, but this was not to be due to on-going legal reasons with the lease. With this throwing a spanner in the works, I decided to re-join the water I concentrated most of my winter carping last year, where I managed seven [...]
I’m a great fan of the Hinged Stiff Rig. I’ve been using it for many years now with very good results. It’s just one of those rigs that quite simply catches carp, so when Lewis at Gardner sent me some new hook link material to try for the boom section of the rig I was [...]
The day passed with no more action as the temperatures got to 33.C, we caught up on some much needed sleep. I planned to have a shower around 6pm, so before this I was going to repeat the baiting program that had worked so well the previous night. I mixed the bait together leaving out [...]
I was due to make my fourth visit to Sky Lake’s in France and I knew what I needed to achieve this year, I had to catch myself a fifty. The lake is around 14 acres in size and has got a little weed present, this however is not much of an issue. As I [...]
Name: Tom Oliver Experience: Nine years out and out carp fishing but around twenty years fishing in total. I now work as a full time angling coach. Favourite lake: Current Southern Syndicate. All-time best bait… Maggots. My number one rig is… Solid PVA Bag’s. Weirdest thing you’ve seen a carp do? I once saw a [...]
This summer I have been fishing my syndicate water quite hard whilst I have had the time, fishing 4-5 nights per week while on my school holidays. I kicked off my summer in style by catching one of my most wanted target fish, Fingers, at a spawned out weight of 29lb 6oz. I continued my [...]
It seems that a lot of the waters that I have been concentrating on lately just seem to be getting busier and busier, with more and more anglers turning up by the week. As I’m not one for simply settling into a swim that's left after the weekend rush, without any decent angling options, I [...]
I headed back to my local syndicate lake and quickly set up in a swim I had fished before and done well in. I found a gravel spot about 45-50 yards out and got my spod rod and two rods clipped up to the spot. My third rod was going to be used with a [...]
I started a four night session on my local syndicate and as there were not many good swims left I set up next door to a mate. I hoped I could tempt the fish over to my swim with some bait but after two nights I moved swims first thing that morning. There were a [...]
I’ve just come back from a 24 hour session on Hardwick and Smiths Lake at Oxford’s Linear Fisheries. I arrived to find very few anglers fishing, so I had a good choice of swims. The first thing I always do on Hardwick and Smiths is to look at what direction the wind is blowing as [...]
Starting back on the Roach Pit after the spawning break I decided to fish in a swim known as the steps, as there had been a lot of fish holding up in the main set of snags to the right of the swim. I settled on a solid bag with some CSL pellets & boilie [...]
After my recent success with catfish, it was time to get back to Kracking Carp Lake at Anglers Paradise and try and keep to my word and catch all thirteen residents that inhabit this weedy two acre lake. The venue has been kind to me, producing five of its thirteen residents in just eight nights [...]
I have just returned from visiting Hardwick and Smiths lake at the Linear Fisheries complex. I was faced with tricky conditions this time round with Oxlease and Brasenose 2 being closed, which understandably put a lot more pressure on Hardwick. After arriving I had good walk around and saw a couple of fish roll about [...]
After a nightmare spring of forty odd nights without a bite, I was beginning to doubt myself big time. The lake is challenging and to be fair had only done eight bites from January through to June! It is known to be a bit of a head banger, with a small stock of carp and [...]
After a great week teaching at FLE I headed towards the Ringwood valley to spend the weekend at my syndicate lake. I had not been able to fish for a while due to the recent comps so was buzzing to get back after recent successes. After a few laps of a fairly busy lake I [...]
The venue With so many big carp day ticket venues dotted around the country, the modern day carp angler has become spoilt for choice. Catching a big day ticket carp is no walk in the park; most are heavily pressured and have seen almost everything. Although difficult, there are a few things to help you [...]
I can count on one hand the amount of times I go fishing for carp off the top in a season. Here in the south west opportunities are limited for larger fish due to the size of most of the reservoirs where they live. Trying to surface fish for a handful of carp that live [...]
I've been lucky enough to bag two cracking thirties during my last few trips to Hardwick Lake at the Linear Fisheries complex, with the recent run of success I just hoped it would continue. I planned another trip and headed off straight from work, which was excellent as it left me enough time to have [...]
I received a ticket for my new syndicate lake last Sunday and I was itching to get down and get the rods out. I arrived Monday night ready for a four night session on the small lake and as it was dark, I quickly chucked out three blow back rigs for the night and planned [...]
