As I have progressed through my angling career, I have learnt so much along the way, which has certainly helped me become more of a successful angler. With spring just around the corner the carp starting to wake up after another winter. To try and help you catch more this spring, I thought it [...]
Imitations, or fake baits as they are called, have a big advantage over natural baits in that they are less likely to suffer from the attentions of nuisance fish. Plus they have the advantage of being buoyant, so they can be fished at any depth. Plastic imitations like corn and grubs have been around for ages, and in the…
Coarse Fishing Answers expert Alan Stagg is one of the best and most well-known big-fish anglers in the country. He’s captured a number of monster fish over the years and has a PB list to make even the best of us green with envy. His latest capture, though, is one of his best, rocking the big-fish world with one of the biggest…
Since the evolution of modern carp fishing began way back in the last century, anglers have devised and developed ever-more elaborate rigs to fool ever-more clever fish. Some have come and gone, others are so complicated you need a PhD in design and knot tying to build then, but there are three that every aspiring big-fish…
The PVA bag has become a bit of a go-to presentation for carpers over recent years. In terms of bait presentation it’s pretty much unbeatable. You’re essentially placing your hook bait slap bang on top of a pile of feed, meaning that once a carp comes across your bait and starts feeding the chances of you getting a take are massively…
I was watching the telly when my wife said, “You haven’t been night fishing for a few weeks. Why don’t you go for a couple of nights?” She was correct; I had only done a single night’s fishing in each of the previous three months. Of course, I had done plenty of day sessions, but that’s the way I like to go in the winter…
I have had a great year’s fishing, catching 10 thirties and my first UK forty. I have been concentrating on a syndicate water in Ringwood and this is currently my second year on there, but this year I have managed a few special ones. My first memorable session was during the middle of March. I decided to set up on the Woods…
There can’t be a more exciting way of catching a big carp (or any carp for that matter) than watching it feed close into the bank, planning your approach and then watching the moment the fish is hooked! It is an easy and effective way of fishing, but too many anglers get caught up in the three-rods-on-a-spot-and-sit-back-and-wait…
In the early spring last year Tom Oliver, Andy Loble and I had a brilliant long weekend trip to France, visiting a lake called Lac de Laneuville. We all managed bites, which was a result given the freezing cold conditions, and I managed three thirties topped by a 36lb common. At the end of March 2014 I was lucky enough…
In 2012 I was lucky enough to get a winter trip to the famous Abbey Lakes complex in France with the purpose of doing some filming for the Gardner Tackle website and YouTube channel. We did really well with all three of us catching new PBs and even two fifties between us. We had been keen to get back ever since…
Understandably, I was full of excitement and anticipation as I arrived for my first session on Horton Church Lake. With the carp barrow loaded, I headed off on to the banks. I’d never even seen the Lake before and came to an abrupt stop when I first gazed across the water, almost pulling a muscle in my cheeks with…
Since the start of the year I've been doing one night a week on a local water near me called Winterley Pool in Sandbach. I've been so busy with work that travelling and fishing longer sessions has just not been feasible. It’s a shallow lake, only averaging four feet, so it has good cold-water form. I have enjoyed my time on…
Margin fishing and stalking have always been a big passion of mine, even from the early days in my carping career. I would often use paste baits to outwit my quarry, only being able to fish a few yards from the bank. This was more due to the soft bait really, but this close range carping has always stayed in my blood…
It can take years of personal findings to perfect a rig. Despite all the rigs shown in magazines or websites for you to try, I notice there’s always something missing: you’re own confidence and understanding! As I take you through my findings from over the years, I will try my best to rub off some of my confidence on to you…
With the weather warming up, I really fancied a shot at trying to catch the three remaining fish that have eluded me so far from the Kracking carp day ticket lake at Anglers Paradise in Devon. The plan was to target the venues common's using hemp, mixed with corn and crushed/chopped Mainline Cell. Having [...]
I managed to get out to a couple of day ticket waters in Norfolk and Kent last week to catch up with some friends. Two 48 hour trips were planned and I had been looking forward to wetting a line for weeks! It is always nice to get out for a bit of a [...]
Yes folks it’s blog time again, so rather than being out on the bank like the rest of my angling friends, I am sat here on a Saturday evening jotting down a few words about how my February went. Unfortunately at the time of writing, my 100 pike target for the winter is still [...]
Photography is becoming more and more popular amongst anglers these days. We all want the best possible shots of the fish that we catch and why not?
As you can see from my last blog, I’m not one to shy away from spending time on the bank in the cold. Being there and observing the water, all paints a bigger picture for me...
I have fished since I was a child, but my passion for carp fishing was born about 10 years ago. Now every year I spend around 120 nights fishing for carp. The fishing technique that I prefer is definitely searching for large fish from the boat in large natural lakes. I regularly compete, over [...]
