I have been fishing winter nights since the mid-80s and I am so glad that the tackle industry started to revolutionize, it was very bleak and cold in those days.  My feet still feel the cold a lot and I am sure it down to those days.

I have put together a list of ways to improve your time on the bank in your bivvy.  I am still working on keeping warm outside the bivvy!  I am sure that’s also down to, to many winter piking days in wellies and inadequate clothing.

1. Always use a ground sheet and even in the summer, damp rises.

2. Use an old piece of carpet or a thermal blanket under you bedchair

3. With modern bivvy/brolly systems, there is a skirt then you can tuck under the groundsheet.

4. Use items of luggage as an insulation around this area of the Bivvy e.g rod bag, rod sleeves bags etc, this will help keep the draft out and even more insulation on the ground.

5. Also with modern brolly/bivvy use the door letterbox style and don’t open from the bottom up.  Tuck the flap under the groundsheet and make sure the zips are full down.

6. Use a bivvy mat or any old door mat.

This all helps to keep you warm through those hard winter days.

Hope this helps

Richard

A change in the weather was due overnight on Sunday and I was back down the lake in anticipation of strong winds and heavy rain in the early hours of Monday. This should get them stirred up and on the munch!

I just had to be in this swim with the way the wind would be pushing. As luck would have it, the BBQ planned for Sunday afternoon was cancelled and I was free to get down the lake a lot earlier than originally planned.

With no action, it was time to get some bait on the swim just after 2 pm. I sorted out the kit for the night and in the afternoon it was time to have a play with rigs – a social was coming up and I didn’t have a long shank cured hook, I need to adjust my ronnie rig accordingly.

My first take was at 6 am and on the right hand rod in the middle of a down poor. I’m glad to have my waders on sometimes and this was definitely one of those times!

I flicked my head torch on, to work out where the line was pointing as the last thing I needed was a fish kiting right towards the snags. It looked like buckets of water were being tipped from the sky and I felt like I was in the heart of the storm. I could hardly see anything. I worked out the fish was coming straight in and off to my right, this was good news. I grabbed the Nsr50, waded out to my left and prepared to net the carp, it wasn’t that big but with the storm raging around me, I was glad it didn’t muck about too much. It was pretty much straight in the net, amongst the waves crashing into the shore. I headed back with the carp to the unhooking mat, quickly unhooked it and got it back in the water. It was around the 10lb mark, no photos needed and definitely not in these conditions.

With a fresh hook bait on the rods was back out the best I could. I added 2 wraps to counter the force of the wind and it hit the clip. I checked the direction of the line going out into the sea I was fishing, it looked spot on, it was now just after 6 am and definitely time for a brew.

The rain and wind faded away around 7 am and the prospects of another bite before home time was looking good.  I also had the ability to dry my kit out, which is always a bonus.  Unfortunately, about 9 30 ish, the school rang up as my eldest had a migraine and needed collecting asap.  That was me packing up quickly and heading home.

Until next time.

Richard

Cyprinus – Windows & Storm Poles