Gardner Tackle Bug Cradles

RRP £4.99 each

Gardner Tackle are known for bringing out truely functional products, and when UKMA first saw the Bug Cradle at the 2009 Tackle & Guns Show, we knew that it would be just a matter of time before we had those under our alarms.

The Bug Cradle is exactly as the name suggests - a cradle that your hanger sits on. The Bug Cradle is of two piece construction, with both parts manufactured out of a lightweight, high impact nylon to keep both weight down and optimum strength.
The top piece has a hole that fits over the thread on your alarm and is designed to be left in place when packed away.
This part has a male 2BA threaded section which will accept most major manufacturers chains or cords that have a female 2BA attachment (which includes Gardner Tackles' own Bug indicator system). On the reverse of the threaded section is a dovetail fitting which the second piece (the cradle section) slots onto when required. The fixed section with also allows itself to be used with alarm systems that require clearance underneath for antennaes or sounder box leads.

The cradles section is approximately 4" in length and the chain or cord of the indicator sits between the arms, with the body of the indicator resting on the cradle itself. The reason for this is so that slack lines can be fished without the indicator sitting in the bankside foliage or mud (and tackle tarts will love this for this reason alone!).

The gap between the arms allows the chain or cord to be unhindered when a take is experienced. In windy conditions, this stops the vast majority of false bleeps caused by the wind as the indicator is not swinging around in the wind. The other benefit in keeping the indicators off the floor is that on some venues the local rodent population find it humourous to run through your lines in the depths of darkness if the indicators are on the deck.

The Bug Cradles can be used in a standard hockey stick manner with tighter lines and semi-fixed rigs by not using the cradle section of the kit to allow drop back indication.

Final Thoughts

We have used the Bug Cradles for a while now and with a multitude of different indicator bodies, and each time they have performed exactly as they are designed to do. For roughly the same price as a replacement hockey stick, you open up a way of increasing bite indication when using slack lines, yet do not need to change completely should you wish to fish with tight lines. As the material used to construct the Cradles is nylon, this means that you can tighten the alarms down onto the Bug Cradle without worrying about additional locking screws. We have managed almost half a turn on top of a tight fit without damage to the Bug Cradle.

We are surprised that such a simple idea had not hit the market beforehand and don't know how we managed without them in windy conditions.

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