Gardner’s UK Angling Team
Kane Hammond
I caught my first ever fish at age 4 with my dad. It was a small Gudgeon that I caught using a small whip with maggots. I took the Gudgeon home in a 2 pint bait box and named him Kevin. I kept him in my fish tank for a few days [...]
Harry Hollidge
I’m 17 years old and carp fishing mad. I’ve been fishing since the age of 6 after being taught by my dad. I started fishing day ticket venues and progressed onto local park lakes for a couple of years. Recently I have taken another step-up fishing harder venues, which has been a [...]
Gary Benney
Fishing from a young age in the Shire of Somerset, I was lucky to live with a river in my back garden. I spent many hours learning the ways to trot a float for anything that would take my bait. At only 10 years old I was introduced into carp by some [...]
Dave Lane
Basically I have been fishing since God was a lad and still love every minute of it, particularly my time spent on large windswept gravel pits and when engaged in new challenges. Having started my fishing on smaller, silty, lakes in Sussex I then moved on to gravel pits around the Chichester [...]
Wesley Coggeshall
One of the first places I fished when I was a kid was a local pond to my area called Keston ponds, steeped in history. Back in the day it held some incredible Leney strain carp, one in particular was called the "pet" a sought-after carp in Kent. My school was only [...]
Dai Gribble
I have been fishing for 50 years and targeting specimen fish since the 1980s. I prefer fishing venues that have an element of mystery so that you can never be certain what the next bite will bring. As an all-round angler I find that new challenges are easy to find, be it [...]
Robert Young
I’ve been fishing for over 50 years with my Dad introducing me to fishing at the age of four. We moved to Stamford in Lincolnshire when I was ten years old and I started fishing on my own for Chub and roach on the local river Wellend. I joined a junior match fishing [...]
Darren Belton
I have been fishing since the age of five, initially catching small roach and perch. As I hit my early teens Tench became an obsession, then pike and eventually carp. I have been carp angling for over 35 years now and have fished a whole host of waters; from 2-acre puddles to [...]
Simon Hartop
All-rounder Simon Hartop has a dedication and angling style that suits him perfectly...read on: I love angling for most species, but carp fishing allows me to spend more time in the wild. It’s the ‘cat and mouse’ nature of the chase; especially on the pits I choose to fish. Carp never cease [...]
Carl Udry
I started carp fishing when I started earning from the age of 18, starting off fishing on local specimen club waters, before ‘upgrading’ to syndicates from my mid 20s. I have never chosen these venues by the ultimate size of the fish. Instead, it has always been based on the level of intimacy and friendliness, but most of all they must be challenging and have been cared for and special looking carp.
Trevor Johnson
My passion for angling grew through the period from my childhood days up until my teenage years, when I soon fell in love with the eternally great Leney carp that swam around in my local home water- Tilgate Park. Not only where we were spoilt with beautiful leviathans, but we also met [...]
Matthew Lockett
I first got into fishing from a young age of 9 years old. I found myself fishing on the surface with floating crust on the smaller lakes in the local area where I live, and this ignited my passion for carp angling. It lead onto various different angling methods from match to stalking [...]
Ryan Searle
I've been fishing since I was around 12 years old. It all started out on the local match lakes catching silvers, but after a couple of sessions doing so, I saw my first carp whilst walking past the 'carp lake' on the complex. From that moment I've been carp fishing whenever and wherever I [...]
James Chisnall
I’m a self diagnosed obsessed carp angler. A lot of anglers are now instant carp anglers and if you have the money or the backing you can fish for big fish with little knowledge, which is something that I strongly disagree with. I began fishing when I was around 10 and I used to [...]
James Clarke
Fishing has always run in my family’s blood and it was only a matter of time before I became addicted myself. Starting out at the age of 8 years old fishing for anything that came along, it was only a matter of time before I was smitten with the carp fishing bug. I remember [...]
Mark Betteridge
I started fishing when I was only 7 years old. I used to fish a local lake close to my home; the place was full of fish and with nearly every species swimming in there and it was a great place to learn how to angle. I then progressed to match fishing and I [...]
Louise Bowes
I started going fishing in my late teens. To start with I began fishing for anything with a float or ledger rod and was happy catching silver fish and tench. Then one day I went to a local canal and caught my first carp. It wasn’t huge but it gave me such a buzz [...]
Matt Eaton
As a lifelong angler I have enjoyed many aspects of the sport in both salt and fresh water. Amongst my favourite fishing memories are my first fish, a small perch, catching an 8lb Bass from the beach and winning a match with a haul of Thames bream. From a pleasure fisherman I developed into [...]
David Boult
I started out, as most anglers do, fishing with my dad who used to take me out on the bank from a young age. From there I started coarse and match fishing from the age of 12. It wasn't until I hit my twenties that I crossed over into carp fishing; the whole essence [...]