In reply to Post #68
I have had mine nearly 18 months now. Used it in all the seasons and all the types of weather. From blazing 40 degrees Italian summers to 3ft of snowfall in the alps.

My mate surprised me a few months back for a birthday present on a mystery fishing trip. I own 4 top notch bivvies. Guess which one i packed ?

In reply to Post #37
Hi Lads.

I've had mine since about May now and used about 15 to 20 sessions, overnighters and full on week long gigs and i cant fault it, So much so i invested in the winter wrap for it that extends the front out about a meter so then you can get two beds in running front to back at a bit of an angle, thats if you get the full size bivvy and NOT THE COMPACT VERSION, i've used mine in some pretty exceptional electric storms here now too where its rained continously as hard as its possible to rain and didnt leak at all and that was just with the single skin bare bivvy.

Overall if i was to buy a bivvy again i'd get one of these, IMO theyre by FAR the best bang for the buck ! Fair enough there not tackle tart league but they do look good, do what there supposed to do, dont cost a bomb, dead easy to put up (see below) and pretty easy to cart around (you'll find they just fit great across the rear footwell of most cars).

Putting it up is a bit awkward at first because there was no-one to advise me, however after trial and error i found if you stand at the front of the bivvy open it out fan like then immediatly insert the peak poles then this bit of front tension holds it open so then you can start pegging it down and adjust the velcro peak straps later, something so simple but hell it took me a while and abit of frustration to figure that out. Start pegging it out from the central rear peg working forwards side to side finishing with the two front doorway sides, doing it this way always seems to be best for a good non saggy bivvy and well rounded tension on the front peak.
Hopes this helps.

In reply to Post #1
Hi, I live here in Italy and regulalry fish, Ive translated the following article for you the best i can from Italian, Its not perfect but i think you will get and idea...
Grazie e Buenvenuto in Italia

Parco Del Brenta: a pearl set in the North East of Italy, in more detail we are talking about a former gravel pit of 145,000 square meters, located in Fontaniva, in the province of Padova, to be more precise, in via bell. To underline that we are talking about a lake of GETAPESCA certified sport fishing, no small feat in these times.

FISHING APPROACH

The approach to the lake generally follows the fixed points, even though almost every station is a story in itself.
After nearly 10 years of fishing in these waters, I can try to speak my mind on the best approach to deal with these waters.
I use a Monofilament line ranging from 0.35 to 0.40mm depending on the conditions that I'm going to deal with, and then by casting distance and the presence of underwater obstacles.
Instead of using the classic leadcore, I prefer to use a fluorocarbon leader, a diameter of between 0.40 and 0,60mm. Because the lake bottom is mostly hard and composed of gravel, then an abrasion-resistant material such as fluorocarbon is the ideal choice.
The fluorocarbon is a good choice, given the transparency of the water of the Brenta lake.
Alternatively, a soft braid of 35lb, light in color, is the winning choice for a compromise on softness / abrasion resistance.
Finally as regards the hooks, personally I use to stem models long or curved back, measuring from 4 to 6, depending of location, presence of barriers, time of year, etc ...

Baiting AND BAIT

Not being able to use radio-controlled boat , we'll have baiting from the shore. So let us arm ourselves with a spomb for chumming remotely with our mix.
Personally I like to use a mixture created with a bit of everything: pellets of mixed sizes and flavors, sweet corn, spicy hemp, tigernuts, hemp flour, liquid and attractive boilies crumbled and whole.
As for the rig, my personal preference goes towards balanced, single or double boilies or wafter balanced and a balanced particle such as a tigernut.
Lately many of my friends get excellent results with plastic bait or fake baits.
All these baits would i would use would be under the diameter of 16-18mm, especially in winter would not go beyond 14mm.

STATIONS
Now let's review one by one the locations and hot spots of each:

Point 1
It is one of the items most requested, because this offers many interesting spots where to cast our rigs.
In detail, straight ahead at about 60-70m we find an old sunken road, interesting area of ​​passage of carp.A great spot to deal with a good line and a leader fluorocarbon, given the large amount of stones and pebbles that can easily cut our line .Also about 30m turns out to be a great spot, convenient for baiting given the distance. For those who fish on the left, with a good cast of about 70-80m, you can fish near the plateau, another exceptional spot in the springtime.

Point 2
A fairly narrow area, but still offers interesting ideas, such as fishing at the foot of the plateau that we have to cast to about 70m and the wood and reeds to our left, great night spots.

Point 3
Even here we can easily catch at the top and at the base of the plateau which is right in front of us at the usual distance of 80m.The interest also on the right swim and reeds swim.

Point 4
Similar to the third position just described, those who fish on the right casts to the base of the plateau and a reed in the immediate swim on our right.

location 5-6
Two very similar positions, here you are fishing in the most deep part of the lake, in front of us we find up to 8meters of depth. Optimal in winter zone. also consider the two swims immediate left and right, especially at night.

Point 7
Another location that winter always gives satisfaction, here are fishing straight ahead about 40m, and along the swim to the right, a winter hot spot has always taken into account.

Point 8
very similar to the 7, but here we use the depth in front of us, at the launch of the water .Another 8-9m depth, cast to 40-50m where we find hot spots, are the woodshed swim immediate left and the suncken tree always present good spots.

terminal 9-10
classical stations from "few but large"! Especially in winter these two swims can give great satisfaction, fishing in front of us deeply, in the range of 8-9m. Two stations I would call a jolly winter!

Point 11
we are at the entrance of the large loop formed by the previously described . Here stations the usual plateau which is located at a cast to about 60-70m.
Those, however who are fishing to the right, you find the tip of the of the loop just described.

Point 12
3 station similar to like fishing setup, or you point on the plateau that we find to 80m cast .Interesting also gully that are located about 30-40m from the post office, right in front of us.Also the most deep area to our right deserves our attention, especially in winter.

Point 13
Here we fish in front of us to about 40m, where there is a good area of ​​passage for travelling carp, little more than 100m we find the foundations of the sunken road, a great spot to deal always with care, keeping in mind that if leaving the carp were to exceed half of the sunken road, inevitably it will cut net our main line scraping against the hard surface of the road itself (I speak from experience!), so watch out! Nightime by also assessing the immediate right swim, where there is a small woodshed.

Point 14

Yes i can vouch for these, they are great. Rocksolid construction and even work underwater. The reciever has massive distance too but not that i recommend being miles away from your rods. you can also program in your mates bite alarms if they are wireless on the spare chaneels so your aware and can help each other out netting fish ect..10/10 from me.

In reply to Post #35
Hi Defiant One, Yes i ordered the original one too as i need the extra space so hopefully my little Lad can get his head down too.., seems like alot of Bivvy for the money, can be had for 180 ish, I'll be using mine here in Italy where we dont get much wind or rain lol..its mainly for overnighters as i dont do anything more than a single night so obviously with the heat here those rear vents are vital.
Thanks for your advice i'll be following it !

In reply to Post #32
I used to carp fish from 2005, so that's when i bought my JRC and i had it for 5 years and sold the lot when i came here to Italy in 2010, i'm looking to carp fish again here. So i'm trying to get some middle ground equipment together, i'm not a tackle tart its whats in the water that counts..

And everyone who complains about leaking bivvies ....The sun ...which actually keeps us all alive also destroys waterproofing on bivvies believe it or not, so its a really great idea to apply a can of Fabsil on your chosen bivvy at the beginning of every season. I want to see a decent condition bivvy that leaks water after having a can of Fabsil sprayed or painted on.

In reply to Post #16
Poor mans Titan. I hardly think so. It boils down to what one is prepared to invest. If i wanted to invest 30 grand in carp fishing equipment i could. But i prefer to invest that money in my private Yacht. Nothing to do with being a POOR MAN !

In reply to Post #29
Hi, How are you going on with this now ? I used to have a JRC Sti two man and i loved it and used it in the very worst of weather and kept me dry and warm with the wrap, even on a holiday in France where it rained constantly hard for 7 Days, so i know and kind of trust JRC, so ive bought one of these Bloxx bivvies dispite the mixed opinions. But if you search hard enough there's a bad review about, just about every friggin bivvy there is....