Tom Maker

It is no secret that I spend a lot of my fishing time down at the Linear Complex in Oxfordshire. I have a real affection for the whole complex and of course the great bunch of guys that run the place, which is why I have lost count of the number of nights I have fished there since I was a young teenager! During the time I have fished Linear I have wet a line in all of the day ticket lakes on the complex, however, as you would expect there are ones I favour more than others and therefore I have spent more time on some. Over the years I have been lucky enough to catch 30lb+ carp from both Brasenose 1 and 2, St. Johns, Oxlease, and Manor, which meant I was yet to catch a 30 from either Hunts Corner or Hardwick/Smiths. Therefore a couple of years back I set myself a little personal challenge to try and bank myself a 30 from Hardwick/Smiths as it was a lake I had not really spent a great deal of time fishing in the past. Not only did I want to catch a 30 from the lake but I also had a couple of carp in mind that I would dearly love to catch, both of which were around the high-30 mark and stunning scaly originals!

Tom set his stall out to catch a Hardwick chunk.