You are off for a day session, that might go on into the late evening / early hours of the morning.
Do you either:-

1) Take the full mashing, (Bivvy, bed chair, sleeping bag, etc etc etc).

or

2) Take the minimum, ( such as a brolly, a recliner chair, and carry a thick blanket or somesuch in the car)?

Over the years I have done both, about equally. Both have advantages, and drawbacks. What do you do?

BOF ;)

Definitely the minimum. I would probrably just go with chair a normal sized fishing brolly and adequate clothing. I cannot see the point in taking too much as time can be spent concentrating on other things instead.

Depends if you are planning fishing different swims. once the camping gear is up you are less inclined to move.
I only use to fish with a brolly, but took the overwrap and sleeping bag in the car in case.
Nowadays I get out so infrequently that I take a bivvy just for an overnighter, so that at least I'm comfy if it's crap weather.
Had a go at trout fishing, you can carry all your gear in a handbag sized bag!

I only put the bivvy up if its a 24hr session.My bivvy is a bit old and takes a bit to put up i try to fish close to my truck then i dont have to carry everything.If i carnt park close it puts me off..Im not lazy just all my fishing gear mounts up (to much to carry far).I do like to stalk with one rod and bread round any lake for carp its nice to catch on the top... bring on some sun

ohhhh good one...i take the chubb cyfish for a 24 hr (i can have it up and secure in 7/8 mins :ph43r: watched a video on it and bugger me im a hero(im working on my carp hunting skills :lol: )and definately the jrc brolly for a day session and i ALWAYS!! take that, as you know the weather can change at the drop of a hat :angry:

Yes like today ! Lovely this morning, full sun and a warm start. Got set up in the corner swim, leaving the other 5 or so Carpists there the main body of the lake.




Just got set up, and it hissed it down for the rest of the day. :(
The Carp didnt play ball either, it was Bream city! All like peas in a pod around the 4 - 41/2lb mark, no matter what bait we used.

Still better luck next time.

BOF ;)

mmm looks nice bof where's that? :blink:

Unfortunately its a no publicity water Browser. PM on its way.

BOF ;)

Hi BoF, is that an old school converted Optonic? Not seen one for years, seem to remember using more paddles on my wheel than standard, back when customisation was essential for most bits.
Nice lake.
Looks like Bream corner tho' !!

Its an old Optonic "Magnatonic", Martyn.
I use them if everyone else is using modern alarms, just to be able to differentiate between my alarm, and everyone elses.

It gets a bit silly, if folk have their alarms turned right up, when a guy 80 odd yards away gets a knock, and everyone comes piling out of their bivvies. :D

So I use an alarm with the speaker taped over, that sounds like a ruptured Duck, and then no-one knows but me, if I have had a take or not. :lol:

I too used the multi vane approach with the old Delkim Conversions, but with a slight twist.
Simply by making a wheel only 1/4" in diameter, I could vary the sensitivity of the old Delkim alarms to stupid levels. So that a simple three bleep knock, sounded like a full blown churner.
But it gets wearing after a while, so I ended up with the small wheel, and a four blade paddle if I wanted sensitivity.

BOF ;)

top customising BoF, different diameter wheels, I'm impressed.

It wasnt exactly rocket science Martyn.
I had some very thick walled silicon fuel tubing (from a model airplane), that I have used for leger stops for the last 30 years, that was the right outside diameter for the wheel (c 6mm). I just needed to fit it onto an axle and replace the large 20mm paddle wheel with it.

All I did was cut a small bit of stiff wire (actually the bit that breaks off from a pop rivet) to the length of the axle, squeeze on a bit of hair rig shrink tube, (to bulk out the axle to the inside diameter of the silicon tube) and push the silicon tube over to form the "wheel".
Then the multi vane "paddle" went into possition, and finally the rubber magnet holder went on the end.
You can ring the changes with various blades on the paddle wheels to get the exact sensitivity you need.
Job done. :D

BOF the bodger ;)

Sorry for the late post, but to be honest, I wouldn't bother with either, if travelling light is the name of the game. Simply go out and purchase a camo tarpaulin. You can then either secure this between two trees or two storm rods, errected in such a away that the elements can't get at you. A typical 8ftx10ft one should be more then sufficient. It's not about looking a tackle tart all the time you know ;)

Used to use this idea as a cook tent, back in the days of the 50" "green mushroom" style bivvy.
These were so small you got either wet feet or wet pillow, and maybe both, if you tried to cook in it, due to the condensation running down the insides, (small diameter + single skin = damp :( ).
So we would just string a rope between two trees behind the swim, at around head hight and throw the tarp over the rope. A couple of cords tied to the corners and pegged out and you have a tent.
Mind you the Tarp I used was quite a bit bigger than the 8ft x 10ft one Bigiron uses, (maybe 18ft x 12ft, possibly an old caravan awning groundsheet?).
Ok if you were on a syndicate water like ours, or on holiday in France and needed a base camp idea for covering all your gear. But I wouldnt like to use it now, I have just got too used to the size and convenience of the modern bivvy.

BOF ;)