Gardner Tackle’s articles. Written by our team of highly experienced carp and specialist anglers.
Spring time for the angler is a time to dust off the cobwebs formed over winter and a time to formulate plans for the season ahead. However, if you are like me and relentlessly pursue fish whatever the species, then the next campaign is not only round the corner, but looms up all too quickly! [...]
With the close season is well and truly upon us and it was now time to start thinking about a spring stillwater campaign. I have spent the last four springs targeting big bream on a low stock Berkshire pit. The water contains around a dozen fish which can mean things can be a little slow [...]
For most of March and April I’ve been getting right into my perch fishing and for the moment I’ve not been doing much carping. After my last session perch fishing, when I caught the 3lb 8oz, I was eager to get back to the same lake and try for some more big perch. I planned [...]
Thanks to French angler, Jerome Sebille, friend of Gardner Tackle and member of the French Carp Connection Team, for his account in first locating and then banking this stunning carp weighing 30lb 8oz. A good challenge in Carp fishing is targeting one fish in particular. Two years ago, I saw a nice fish with beautiful [...]
This month I have been swamped by assignments from college, but I put the hard work in, and hopefully should get some good grades! The first bit of fishing related stuff this month was that I managed to pass my level 2 angling coaching qualification! This means that I can help the club that I [...]
With the end of the season looming and a lovely mild spell of weather I just had to have a concentrated effort on my local River Loddon in search of monster chub. Tactfully I had saved some holiday especially for the occasion and I hoped that this would pay off in spectacular style. A big [...]
My ticket was just about to come to an end and I was keen to get to the lake for my last session for a while on there, so as you can imagine I was quite excited about getting the rods out and hopefully bagging myself a lump or two. I rolled into the carp [...]
After having some success fishing in one of the snaggy corners of the lake, I felt as the days warmed up that there may be a chance to be had from the middle of lake which still held a significant amount of weed. In parts it was new fresh growth, which I knew was really [...]
With spring approaching more quickly than expected I thought I would share a few things that I feel help me put a few carp on the bank during this period. The first thing on my list is tackle maintenance. Whether you are a seasoned all weather angler who still goes in search of carp during [...]
My fishing this month started back on the syndicate, hoping for 1 last fish before the close season! I managed to get off uni early on the Monday, meaning I was going to be able to do 2 nights instead of my normal 1. After having a quick wander round, I dropped a bucket in [...]
It is an exciting time to me, when the days begin to lengthen and the promise of spring is on it’s way. I’ve always found March to be a good month for captures, even the last couple of years, after the savage winters that we had. However this year was different, as this winter hadn’t [...]
After finishing off another brilliant but busy week at FLE I headed up the A34 towards Banbury where my parents live. The area holds some very special memories for me - not only is it the place I grew up but it’s where I started my obsession with angling, and more specifically carp fishing! As [...]
Charity Carping Success! It has been an early start to our competition season this year with our first match being the Charity-Carping pairs match qualifier. The match took place over the last weekend in February and was held at the Willows Lakes complex on the notorious Match Lake. We arrived at the venue on the [...]
Hi to you all. I’ve had a few blank sessions recently on the lake I fish at; still it’s nice just to be able to go. I had also planned a trip with some work mate’s to fish Blue Pool for a couple of nights in late February. With most of the winter being rather [...]
After my capture of Kiss Scale I was once again away on other waters for a while making videos and writing articles, so upon my arrival at the Match Lake some weeks later I was shocked to discover the lake was literally sewn up with weed. At this point I thought it was time for a [...]
I have done very little fishing this month, mostly due to being on work experience for a few weeks, but also my continued lack of interest in fishing on the whole! However towards the end of the month I went on an overnight session on Broadlands practicing for the BCAC with my partner for the [...]
On my next 48 hours session down the Match Lake, when I arrived I decided on a swim called The Beach as I saw a few fish grouped up in between the two islands in front of the swim. At this stage the weed was starting to really take a hold. I stuck to my [...]
On return the following weekend I managed to get back into the bay again, as I thought this would be a good starting point as I had observed that there were a few fish drifting around in the upper layers close by. I placed the rods on the same spots with the same tactics, only [...]
With a slow start last year due to dreadful winter conditions, I didn’t manage to get the carp rods out of hibernation until late February, and when I did I fished at a local club water just 10 minutes down the road. My visits were mainly afternoon sessions when the weather was a little milder [...]
The weather at the start and middle of January has been exceptionally mild and when we look back to this time last year it couldn’t have been anymore different. This month has again seen me targeting different species and I started by trying to bag a few carp from a local water fishing short evening [...]