Tom Oliver Articles
It was at this point that I peered down into the net and saw I had the ultimate prize laying beaten, and a rush of sheer elation swept over me. This was the fish I had joined the lake for, and she was finally mine and looking incredible!
So following on from my last piece, in which I showed you how to produce your own custom cork-ball pop-ups, I thought this time around I should show you how I produce your own custom cork-dust wafters...
So why make your own pop ups and why use cork balls as opposed to a standard pop up mix? For me personally, there is nothing better than catching a fish on something you have lovingly hand rolled yourself. It also gives you the opportunity to take your hookbaits to the next level...
We all kept working the swim and the bites kept coming, Ben then had his opportunity and after a very hairy battle where an angry carp dived from one weed bed to another, he eventually landed a beautiful dark Horseshoe mirror at a new P.B. weight of 25.08lb.
Tom talks about this years carp fishing, a colossal catch of an old friend, with some other lovely looking carp gracing his landing net!
I’ve been asked to attend the Carp Society's annual Junior Carp Camp for the last five years, however due to working as a full time angling coach until last year it meant I was unable to attend as I always had my own coaching commitments during the busy half [...]
After enjoying a fantastic season on the Hollybush Lane Lakes Syndicate last year I would have loved to have spent another season there this year especially after my time there was cut short due to illness. However, with my wedding in Portugal on the horizon in September I knew I [...]
At the start of the year I was at a bit of a loss as of where to fish, and with no tickets acquired for the coming season, I decided to spend some time fishing day ticket venue Hollybush Lakes on the Hampshire/Surrey border. I really enjoyed my fishing on the venue, catching [...]
We finally reached the end of April and with that came the much anticipated ‘FLE Tour 2016’. We were once again heading out to the fantastic Carp Connections Fishing Resort Du Der in the Champaign region of France. This year we had both JRC and Berkley lake exclusively hired for our trip, meaning there [...]
I have spent my last few trips out fishing at day ticket water called ‘Hollybush Lakes’ in Aldershot on the Surrey/Hampshire border. The lake is around 10 acres in size and home to some truly stunning old carp that have been resident for many years. The lake is also reasonably quiet in comparison to [...]
Well it seems another year has come and gone in the flash of an eye, so I thought I would take a little time out to reflect on my years angling and share some of my memories. When I sat down to write a few notes and trawl through my Facebook timeline I didn't [...]
My fishing has taken a back seat of late as we had the sad news that my Gran was loosing her battle with cancer and there was nothing more they could do. My family and I were all devastated and understandably fishing was the last thing on my mind. On the couple of occasions [...]
I haven't managed an awful lot of fishing this month, but feel I haven't done too bad during the short spells I have spent on the bank. At the beginning of the month I was without my rods as they were with Kev at Hampshire Custom Rods being re-built and given some much needed [...]
Well spring is finally here and April has been a busy month for me with two tuition clients a magazine feature and a couple of trips out fishing for myself. My first trip of the month was with Philip Hutin who booked a 24 hour tutorial with me to improve on some of the [...]
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 [...]
I thought 2014 had been a terrible year in my angling until I sat down to write this piece and actually reflected back over the entire year. My first trip of the year was with fellow GT anglers Alan Stagg and Calum Kletta to the famous Abbey Lakes complex in France. We had a short [...]
My journey to the World Carp Classic started earlier this year when myself and Graham fished in a Dutch qualifier at the fantastic Resort Du Der run by Hans Sissingh in France. It was a bit of a last minute decision to fish the competition, but as our luck turned out we managed to win [...]
My first trip of the month was a planned filming trip to the Big Lake on my syndicate with Alan Stagg to shoot some bits for the Gardner You Tube Channel. I met Alan first thing and we quickly loaded all the kit on to the barrow and made our way to the first bank [...]
June was set to be a busy month this year with a last minute competition in France to compete in a qualifier for the World Carp Classic kicking things off. The competition was held at The Resort De Der and was over a five day period between two fantastic lakes adjacent to each other with [...]
Around a month ago I fished the BCAC with my fishing partner Graham Mabey and doomed with a bad draw yet again we ended up finishing in 5th place and missing out on a qualifying spot. We have fished the competition for around six years now making three semi- finals and decided that we weren’t [...]
