Gardner Tackle

Lead Range

Gardner Tackle have been around for two decades now and still producing goods that cause anglers to take notice. With this in mind, Gardner are now producing a range a leads that have been designed to fill holes in the market as well as offer some more traditional styles.

All of the leads are available in four different coatings: two smooth and two textured. The smooth coated leads are available in Dark Green and Dark Brown with both having a black flecked camo effect, with the textured leads available in Chod or Gravel. The Chod leads are covered in a dark fibrous natural material that should match up to almost any lake bed they are cast on to, with the Gravel leads being coated in a rougher "rocky" finish that does not look out of place on sand or over gravel patches where a different coloured lead may stand out like a sore thumb!

There are a selection of both swivel pendant style leads as well as inlines and there should be a lead in the range that covers all the anglers requirements without cutting corners.

The range is comprehensive and we have been sent the majority of them which are looked at below.

Bolt Bomb

Available in sizes 1oz - 8oz
RRP: £1.20 - £1.90 each depending on size & coating

The Bolt Bomb has been designed to ensure that the full weight of the lead is felt by the fish upon picking up the hookbait and moving off. The concentrated weight on the four flattened sides means that the lead will be less susceptible to rolling on slopes or in flowing water, as well as making sure that hook penetration is increased upon the hooklink being tightened.

THe weight forward shape of the lead also leads itself to being a good casting design. The Bolt Bomb is perfect for short range through to distances of 100 metres without affecting the effectiveness of the rig.

With the swivel removed, the Bolt Bomb is a good choice for helicoptor or Chod rigs as the lead will have less tendency to move as the fish picks up the running hooklink.

Flat Pear Bomb

Available in sizes 1oz - 5oz
RRP: £1.20 - £1.60 each depending on size & coating

We all know that flat pear leads give good hooking potential to the majority of rigs used, but they tend to be useless for casting any sort of distance accurately. Gardner have looked at the designs of the flat pear leads and created the tapered weight forwad design that enhances casting potential without taking away the hooking effectiveness.

The Flat Pear Bomb lends itself perfectly to helicoptor or Chod rigs in that the leader can lay flatter along the bottom giving better rig presentation.

This design of lead is also superb for fishing in flowing water or lakes where tow can be a problem as the large flattened surface area allows for the water to pass over it without requiring an increased lead size.

Flat Pear Inline

Available in sizes 1.5oz - 5oz
RRP: £1.30 - £1.70 each depending on size & coating

The flat inline lead is a favourite for those that like to fish drop-off style, and I found it strange that Gardner have chosen to use a flexible rubber insert rather than a hard plastic one that is required to fish with drop off leads. The use of a soft rubber insert means that the angler does not have to search about trying to find a tail rubber in their bag or box and means that it can be used with no further parts required in the standard inline manner. For those that do like to fish "drop off" style, you can cut the thin end of the lead off and place a piece of stiff rig tube into the lead to allow the leads to be used in this manner. As the "tail" is made of a soft rubber, the cut off section can be used instead of a traditional tail rubber.

The Flat Pear Inline lead gives the best hooking potential from any of the leads in this review and for margin use, would be our first choice.

Inline Bolt Bomb

Available in sizes 1.5oz - 5oz
RRP: £1.20 - £1.80 each depending on size & coating

The Inline Bolt Bomb fills a gap in that it allows an inline lead arrangement to be used at range rather than for close in work. The weight forward design of the lead allows for superb casting potential as well as concentrating the weight onto the hooklink swivel, meaning that upon the hooklink straghtening, the full weight of the lead helps the hook penetrate quickly.

As the weight is forward, the Inline Bolt Bomb is best used over softer areas rather than gravel and with soft hooklinks as due to physics, the weight being at the front could cause a stiff hooklink to sit wrong in the water or damage the rig on impact on hard substrates, due to the front of the lead coming into contact with the deck first.

With this in mind, the Inline Bolt Bomb is the perfect style for use with solid PVA bags where the lead is placed inside centrally.

Pear Bomb

Available in sizes 1oz - 5oz
RRP: £1.20 - £1.60 each depending on size & coating

The Pear Bomb is probably the most popular lead design with anglers all over the country as it offers the best compromise between good casting and hooking potential.

Gardner have looked at the traditional Pear lead and designed the Pear Bomb to have flattened sides so that the hooking potential is increased over the traditional rounded Pear but still casts as well.

The flattened sides also help stop the lead rolling around on slopes meaning that the rig stays where it has originally landed.

Ranger Distance Leads

Available in sizes 1oz - 5oz
RRP: £1.20 - £1.60 each depending on size & coating

The Ranger Distance Leads have been designed to be able to be cast extreme distances yet still retain superb hooking potentail from the rig. The bullet shaped weight forward design means that the Ranger will cast straigth and true, even in head winds.

As with some of the other leads, the sides have been flattened slightly to aid stability on slopes and also concentrate the weight on the areas where they count.

The Ranger is suitable for use with both lead clips, running rigs or helicoptor/Chod setups and can be used to plug the lead into the deck over soft bottoms such as silt to aid hooking potential even more.

Torpedo Distance Leads

Available in sizes 1.5oz - 5oz
RRP: £1.20 - £1.60 each depending on size & coating

When it comes to out and out distance work, there are very few leads that better the casting potential of the cassic Zipp leads. The narrow pointed nose and streamlined body shape allow the lead to cut through the air like a hot knife through butter and gain the angler those crucial extra yards on the cast.

As the lead is streamlined and aerodynamic, it does not tend to plug into soft substrates like shapes such as the Ranger, and can be laid down nicely over silt and light weed if kept on a tight line during the drop through the water.

If extreme range work is the order of the day on your chosen water, then the Torpedo lead should be your first choice.

Final Thoughts

The Gardner range of leads covers the vast majority of situations that the angler will find themselves in on the venues of their choice, and with the different coating options allows the angler to tailor the rigs exactly to what they are fishing over. The swivels on the pendant style leads are free running, and unless I was using a lead clip, I would chose to snip them off leaving just the loop in the lead itself. I tend to cut the swivels off all my leads anyway as I do fish with helicoptor rigs more than anything else, but if I want to use a lead clip, I simply attach a Gardner Q Ring to the loop so that the lead can discharge from the clip if required. The inline leads are going to be very welcome to those that prefer this lead arrangement as it saves having to buy and carry packets of tail rubbers in different colours. The coatings are uniform and on the ones we were sent, there was no sign of bubbles or lumps.

I can see myself using the Gardner range of leads a lot in the coming season on the variety of waters that I fish.

Keep an eye out in your local shop for these leads, and take a good look at them. You will not be disappointed.

More Information on any of the Gardner Tackle range please click the image below