There have been some threads on the forum in recent weeks making reference to Bivvy Slippers. I was going to post a sarcastic comment along the lines of – “Why not take a roll of Astroturf to place between swim and bivvy? This will avoid you getting any of that nasty mud on any of your carefully co-ordinated, designer outerwear.”

It would, of course, have reinforced pads for your rod pod, camera tripod, a Velcro lined section to place your unhooking mat, docking holster for your throwing stick, have luminous arrows to guide you to your rods and be available with matching canopy, to keep the rain off.


Should anglers be allowed to camp in swims for days, or even weeks at a time?
Perhaps the owners of the fishery should provide electricity and water hook-ups for the all important TV, microwave, kitchen sink and shaver point. Why go to all that trouble? Why not have a 45lb carp brought round to your house and put in the bath?

Does anyone catch between 11pm and 3am?

As I said, I was going to say that – but instead, can I raise a few questions about night fishing?

In particular, does anyone catch enough fish between the hours of 11pm to 3am to warrant fishing at that time?

I am as guilty as anyone in this respect, having camped out for two and three nighters, but I don’t recall any significant action between those ‘dead hours’. If that is the case generally, why are we there?

Should anglers be allowed to camp for long stays?

Should anglers be allowed to camp in the same swim for days or weeks at a time? I understand the cries of, “I’ve done all the groundbaiting and swim clearance, etc,” but to me that smacks of paranoia. It’s like putting £ 10 into a fruit machine in a pub or club and watching someone come along and win the jackpot with 20p!

If there are ‘prime’ swims at a fishery, shouldn’t everyone be able to fish them? If most all-night anglers are bivvied up, alarmed up and fast asleep by 11.00pm, with no further action to come, should they still be occupying that swim the next day?

I was fortunate to have met the late Alan Wilson several times at Tring, and I have never met a more open, friendly angler, but, if he was at Wilstone the Pier swim was his for weeks. If he was at Startops he would place buoyed ropes thirty yards out either side of his swim, and go out in a boat to deposit groundbait, and clear stray weed.

Isn’t a day ticket water just that?

Now, if I arrived at the crack of dawn, intending to fish on a day ticket, either of those swims would not have been available – is that fair? (I know Tring operated a night syndicate at the time, I was in it). Some day ticket waters will continue to issue day tickets to anglers who are camped out for days at a time – is that right? Isn’t a day ticket just that, a day ticket? If a fishery allows night fishing, shouldn’t that be for just one night, or should we allow the privileged few to continue to monopolise the best swims?

How about a 12 hour limit?

Let’s be really radical. How about a 12 hour limit in any swim? Can be any 12 hours you like, but when your time is up, move out! Before you all have apoplexies, please picture the following. How many of us arrive at a swim, pre-bait, groundbait, loose feed, etc. We then hurl out the obligatory three rods and sit back. No rush, we’re here for three days, something is bound to come along sooner or later, stands to reason. How many of us think about what we are doing, while we are there? Isn’t it often the case that once those rods are out, it’s all down to the fish – we’re fishing in the right spot, with the right bait, so we’re not doing anything wrong, are we? Well, yes, you are – you have switched off!


Settling in for the night, or for a week. Would we remain ‘switched on’ and be more successful if we were restricted to 12 hours?
Think of the example of match fisherman. They are not given any say in where they fish, and they are given a specific amount of time to perform, usually during the middle of the day. Given those parameters, they have to be adaptable. They must be able to switch strategies at a moment’s notice after interpreting information from all manner of sources.

Do you learn anything from night fishing?

If you go night fishing and don’t catch anything, do you learn by it? Do you continue to do the same old things time after time? How often do you hear the comment, “I’ve done 100/200/300 hours (as though time spent on the bank is a qualification) there and caught nothing.” Is it really possible to quantify hours spent on one particular bait or method against fish caught, if you are using the wrong bait at the wrong time? How long should you persevere with one approach before you admit to yourself it isn’t working? Have you never been fishing and thought, “It won’t matter if I leave that bait out there for two weeks – nothing will happen.”

What if you did just that, and nothing did happen, would you then wonder if it was all worth it, or would you just put it down to experience (hours) and do it all over again next week? With the vast number of baits and rigs available to anglers today, why do we tend to be so blinkered? Are we leaving all the experimentation to others for fear of failure (because if it is a ‘tried and tested method’ we are using, it can’t be our fault if it doesn’t work) or do we not care so long as we are putting in the hours?

Are we all being programmed?

The question asked at the start was ‘Is all-night fishing productive’, would not shorter sessions cause us to vary our approach more in an effort to locate fish, rather than wait for them to come to us. Perhaps trying a different approach on a less popular swim could yield dividends, or are we all being programmed to be led by the nose as to where and how to fish, and having to accept ‘putting in the hours’ is the only route to success?

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