Night fishing

[jules007]

Having been back at carp angling for a year after the massive long break, i did not figure to go back to doing any overnight sessions at all, years ago i sold of my bivvy and bed chair, i also promised my good lady i would not do nights, so as a compromise  i have found a lake i can do 24 hour sessions on and my mrs can stop at a good friends house close by in catterick 5 mins from green lane fishery.

Seeing as this night fishing is gonna be limited to less than 5 24 hour trips in a year i have decided to do a bad thing and get a pop up green tent, single air bed and generic 4 season sleeping bag, all this gear is a nice way to avoid carp tax with the whole lot costing less than a bedchair and taking up a tiny bit of room, i have brew making and cooking gear in our main camping kit, sadly this will have to wait till next year before i can go, but moving in right direction 

[crusian]

2 hours ago, jules007 said:

Having been back at carp angling for a year after the massive long break, i did not figure to go back to doing any overnight sessions at all, years ago i sold of my bivvy and bed chair, i also promised my good lady i would not do nights, so as a compromise  i have found a lake i can do 24 hour sessions on and my mrs can stop at a good friends house close by in catterick 5 mins from green lane fishery.

Seeing as this night fishing is gonna be limited to less than 5 24 hour trips in a year i have decided to do a bad thing and get a pop up green tent, single air bed and generic 4 season sleeping bag, all this gear is a nice way to avoid carp tax with the whole lot costing less than a bedchair and taking up a tiny bit of room, i have brew making and cooking gear in our main camping kit, sadly this will have to wait till next year before i can go, but moving in right direction 

Hi Jules .

I'm glad your pop up tent is green as my local lake has a green or camo only rule for bivvies .

😄

[salokcinnodrog]

14 hours ago, jules007 said:

Having been back at carp angling for a year after the massive long break, i did not figure to go back to doing any overnight sessions at all, years ago i sold of my bivvy and bed chair, i also promised my good lady i would not do nights, so as a compromise  i have found a lake i can do 24 hour sessions on and my mrs can stop at a good friends house close by in catterick 5 mins from green lane fishery.

Seeing as this night fishing is gonna be limited to less than 5 24 hour trips in a year i have decided to do a bad thing and get a pop up green tent, single air bed and generic 4 season sleeping bag, all this gear is a nice way to avoid carp tax with the whole lot costing less than a bedchair and taking up a tiny bit of room, i have brew making and cooking gear in our main camping kit, sadly this will have to wait till next year before i can go, but moving in right direction 

Fish to your own limits and conditions.

I think that we have conditioned ourselves for fishing to be plotting up at the lake Friday night, popping the bivvy up, making ourselves super comfortable, then catching or not and packing up Sunday. That's 'carp fishing'.

I went through a stage on a particular park lake where I didn't want locals knowing

(a) I was there.

(b) I was catching. 

I would sleep on a camping air mattress roll, with a tarpaulin cover after arriving as darkness fell. I could get the rods out more quickly, and in unfished areas.

I've posted this pic before, but I could get up close with minimal disturbance and be off very quickly in the morning.

[elmoputney]

14 hours ago, jules007 said:

Having been back at carp angling for a year after the massive long break, i did not figure to go back to doing any overnight sessions at all, years ago i sold of my bivvy and bed chair, i also promised my good lady i would not do nights, so as a compromise  i have found a lake i can do 24 hour sessions on and my mrs can stop at a good friends house close by in catterick 5 mins from green lane fishery.

Seeing as this night fishing is gonna be limited to less than 5 24 hour trips in a year i have decided to do a bad thing and get a pop up green tent, single air bed and generic 4 season sleeping bag, all this gear is a nice way to avoid carp tax with the whole lot costing less than a bedchair and taking up a tiny bit of room, i have brew making and cooking gear in our main camping kit, sadly this will have to wait till next year before i can go, but moving in right direction 

You will end up buying a proper bedchair and bivvy after one night, No way I would be sleeping on an airbed these days, by morning I wouldn't be able to move. Some things are a good investment I see a bedchair, sleeping bag and bivvy quite essential, there are some good deals about if you know where too look. 

[jh92]

3 hours ago, elmoputney said:

You will end up buying a proper bedchair and bivvy after one night, No way I would be sleeping on an airbed these days, by morning I wouldn't be able to move. Some things are a good investment I see a bedchair, sleeping bag and bivvy quite essential, there are some good deals about if you know where too look. 

Gotta have a decent bedchair👍 I'd struggle getting off an air bed these days lol and pumping it would drive me mad 🤣

If you're using a barrow I'd deffo be taking a bedchair/sleep system, fish under the stars, shroud, brolly, bivvy, whatever suits 👍

@salokcinnodrog I rate it, thats hardcore but no thanks 🤣

 

[kevtaylor]

I couldn't do this I need a proper bed, the SP Tech is so good for my back I use it at home if I'm struggling.  When I did single nights on Welly the bed was so bad I wouldn't have been able to do the second night anyway.

[framey]

that kinda camping when we were younger? yep 
now .."…… no chance

[jules007]

6 hours ago, elmoputney said:

You will end up buying a proper bedchair and bivvy after one night, No way I would be sleeping on an airbed these days, by morning I wouldn't be able to move. Some things are a good investment I see a bedchair, sleeping bag and bivvy quite essential, there are some good deals about if you know where too look. 

completely wrong, i am 61 and still take the wife camping several times a year, for this we have a fairly large tent, double air bed with electric pump, the pump is 12v and can be used with the new single bed, so i am just fine sleeping on a decent air bed, and dont have a barrow, there is zero point spending £400-700 on a bivvy, bedchair and carp sleeping bag to use for 2-3 nights in a year

[elmoputney]

2 hours ago, jules007 said:

completely wrong, i am 61 and still take the wife camping several times a year, for this we have a fairly large tent, double air bed with electric pump, the pump is 12v and can be used with the new single bed, so i am just fine sleeping on a decent air bed, and dont have a barrow, there is zero point spending £400-700 on a bivvy, bedchair and carp sleeping bag to use for 2-3 nights in a year

Suit yourself. I still think you will end up needing a bivvy and bedchair. We've all been there trying to beat the old "carp tax" lol , then realising actually we need certain things because they are built for that purpose and work better. 

Edited Wednesday at 18:26 by elmoputney

[jh92]

On 30/09/2025 at 21:48, crusian said:

Hi Jules .

I'm glad your pop up tent is green as my local lake has a green or camo only rule for bivvies .

😄

If I remember correctly, isn't there a rule for most fisheries that a tent can't be used? It has to be something that doesn't have a fixed groundsheet? Something to do with insurances I believe?

Or is it just to stop people turning up with blue tents etc? Lol

 

4 hours ago, elmoputney said:

Suit yourself. I still think you will end up needing a bivvy and bedchair. We've all been there trying to beat the old "carp tax" lol , then realising actually we need certain things because they are built for that purpose and work better. 

I've given up trying to beat the carp tax, end up buying something [censored]e then buying something decent afterwards anyway 🤣

[jules007]

After a bit of googling yes it seems most fisheries wont allow tents, good job i have not bought one yet, so looks like a bivvy or just forget the idea glad jh92 pointed this out at this stage i can get a wrap skin for my westlake day shelter or get an NGT XPR brolly system

[elmoputney]

2 hours ago, jules007 said:

After a bit of googling yes it seems most fisheries wont allow tents, good job i have not bought one yet, so looks like a bivvy or just forget the idea glad jh92 pointed this out at this stage i can get a wrap skin for my westlake day shelter or get an NGT XPR brolly system

Most venues do have a no tent rule tbh, If you are mainly only going out in the summer just get a brolly, I have a sonik axs shelter that I mainly use,I did get a front for it, but rarely use it, these can sometimes be found for a decent price and it's a great shelter. 

Again beds don't have to cost the earth, if you look about there are some decent bargains to be found. But to me it's an essential bit of kit. 

If you can wait til carp show season, there were some good deals at the Essex one also keep an eye on certain online shops, they do some good deals from time to time. 

[kevtaylor]

5 hours ago, jules007 said:

After a bit of googling yes it seems most fisheries wont allow tents, good job i have not bought one yet, so looks like a bivvy or just forget the idea glad jh92 pointed this out at this stage i can get a wrap skin for my westlake day shelter or get an NGT XPR brolly system

I would always go for a system whether brolley or bivvy style, the front always has mozzy mesh for summer nights and full front cover for wet and cold trips.  I dont want the trip ruined because my shelter is limited I guess - and obviously you can remove it completely if you want it open.

Edited Thursday at 11:49 by kevtaylor

[kevtaylor]

2 hours ago, elmoputney said:

Most venues do have a no tent rule tbh, If you are mainly only going out in the summer just get a brolly, I have a sonik axs shelter that I mainly use,I did get a front for it, but rarely use it, these can sometimes be found for a decent price and it's a great shelter. 

Again beds don't have to cost the earth, if you look about there are some decent bargains to be found. But to me it's an essential bit of kit. 

If you can wait til carp show season, there were some good deals at the Essex one also keep an eye on certain online shops, they do some good deals from time to time. 

A LOT of very good kit sells second hand I'm told, I wouldn't exclude that route for some bulky items, some guys don't even use it then sell half price it's a bit mad really!

[elmoputney]

2 hours ago, kevtaylor said:

I would always go for a system whether brolley or bivvy style, the front always has mozzy mesh for summer nights and full front cover for wet and cold trips.  I dont want the trip ruined because my shelter is limited I guess - and obviously you can remove it completely if you want it open.

I've got a universal mozzi mesh that fits on most brolly /bivvies cost me about 10 quid I think. It was a jrc one I think, thermocell backpacker and an open front is more effective though I think. Rarely get bit with the backpacker. 

[jh92]

On 02/10/2025 at 12:52, kevtaylor said:

A LOT of very good kit sells second hand I'm told, I wouldn't exclude that route for some bulky items, some guys don't even use it then sell half price it's a bit mad really!

I get most of my kit second hand, never had any issues 👌 got my hide about 3 4 years ago second hand and it's still going strong 🤣

[jules007]

Been away on a little holiday so late to reply to this but, i think i am gonna sack this idea of, cut my loss`s put the new sleeping bag on fleabay along with airbed when it arrives.

I get that lots or most fisheries wont allow tents....even if said tent is camo and looks like a bivvy, i would only be doing a max of 3 separate 24 hour sessions in a year during decent summer weather so i am just not prepared to shell out for a bivvy or brolly system and bedchair that will be plain an simple in the way at home. 

i just cant justify the expense of this and try to store bulky items