night fishing

Hi could any boady give me some advice on night fishing, what are the best lights for the bank, and for your bivvy, im thinking of getting, a fat boy mk11 wheel barrow, to carry all my gear, but as im new to night fishing, any help would be great, the bivvy im thinking of is a jrc sti twin skin 2 man, looks great for its price, thanks Paul

The most imortant thing you can get is a decent head torch without it you'll be knackered!! The next thing is comfort, without a good bed and sleeping bag you'll be tired and groggy and wont enjoy the experience.
A gas lantern is allways good for the bivvy, not only producing light but it also takes the chill out of the air.

tinca.

Hi Paul im not sure about taking a gas lantern could be a bit dangerous inside a bivvy.
Go with a mate, take spare batteries.
Have a great time good luck.

Best advice I can be is be tidy and know where everything is.

Paul Salters said:

but as im new to night fishing, any help would be great,

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Think about the following:

You don't want to be cold, wet, hungry, thirsty or uncomfortable.

A good twin skinned bivvy, comfortable bedchair with a good quality sleeping bag and a thermal cover to go over it.

Plenty of layers of warm, dry clothing, and don't forget to position the bedchair as low as possible to reduce the (cold) air gap between the ground and your back. One layer under your back is worth two on top!

A good propane gas stove and a good supply of drinks, tea, coffee, hot chocolate and/or soup. Bacon butties on a cold morning are a great way to satrt the fishing for the day.

A small radio and earphones for entertainment in the wee small hours.

I use a Fox Halo bivvy light and a smaller table light on the bivvy table - more than enough light when needed. I aslo use those little chemical lights on the zippers on my bivvy so I can see them in the pitch dark.

Do a proper reccy of your venue before it gets dark and make sure you know where the bank ends.

Most important of all, make sure that you have an I.C.E. number in your mobile phone in case of accident or emergency.

Hope this helps and good luck.

If I go night fishing then I stay awake at night and sleep in the day time. I can't see the point in going night fishing to just go to bed and drag yourself out of slumber if the bite alarm goes off. If I fish local waters then I just use a brolly but if going on a trip and staying several days then I take the bivvy etc. I have a TFG 2 man bivvy and aTFG bed, the TFG range may not be the very best but they're reasonable price wise and pretty good quality.

In the 30 odd years that I've been night fishing, mostly for Carp, I rarely get a run after about 2 hours after dark, and then again not until about an hour or two before dawn.

During the daytime you can also float fish with floaters etc., so the hotter hours are not wasted either.

I rarely ever fish for just one night preferring 2 or 3 nights at a time.

Still each to their own, do whatever you find is best for you.

Thank you all for your input, great , at least im half way up the ladder, if you know what i mean, iv just retiered and now i can go for thows three days ,and nights ,iv plumed for the jrc sti twin skin 2 man bivvy, a fat boy mk11 barrow, the jrc 5 season sleeping bag, (for day time,) just can not wait, will be out next month, ill let you know how i get on ,many thanks and to you pete, ill take what you said about gassin bivvy in, thanks all Paul

Peter Jacobs said:

Do a proper reccy of your venue before it gets dark and make sure you know where the bank ends.

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I'll second that. Some years ago now a friend of mine had a screaming run in the middle of the night and rushing to his rods in a sleep ridden state of mind ran up to his waist in freezing water!!! shouldn't laugh but it was hard not to.

Peter Jacobs said:

During the daytime you can also float fish with floaters etc., so the hotter hours are not wasted either.

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I've found the fish feed off the top better after dark (especially in sunny hot weather). I like to float fish for them with a battery float or attach a starlight to the float.

I can see where both of you are coming from ( Peter+Tigger)
I went over my records and found fishing two rods one in the margin one further out
75% of the carp came in the hours peter said. All on the bottom, 50% from the margin.

I was fishing Oxlease in the summer it had been very hot for 3 weeks running and not
many fish were coming out. The guy in the next swim had 5 fish the first night and 6
the next all on black foam zigs through the night off the top.