Extended overnight fishing sessions,if your a serious specimen hunter whether it's Carp,Pike,Catfish or Barbel then the overnight session is an inevitable factor in the pursuit of your quarry.Last week myself and a friend decided to do our first overnighter of the year,i had checked the weather report on the internet for our region and it informed me that it was going to drop below freezing in the early hours.Taking note of this i equipped myself accordingly packing my bivvy over wrap and a season 4 sleeping bag aswell as the relevant clothing,ok the weight would be up on the barrow but to not have the correct gear can be damn right dangerous as i will explain.we arrived at Goldendale,our chosen venue and the weather was really nice for the time of year.Starting to set up the first thing i did was to get my rods out i like to spend as much time fishing as possible and besides i can set up my base whilst waiting for a bite.This was also the case of my friend who also made getting his rods out a priority,this done we then proceeded to set up our bivvies,the first thing that struck me was how light my mates barrow was,i asked him if he had left some stuff on the van but he said he had brought everything.Anyway after making ourselves as comfy as possible we settled in for the night ahead and as predicted by the internet the temperature plummeted.Around midnight i shouted to see if my mate wanted a cuppa,there's nothing like a nice hot brew to lift your spirits in the freezing cold,i delivered his brew to him in his bivvy which had no overwrap and when i unzipped the door and looked inside he was shivering,there was also loads of condensation dripping down the inside walls of his shelter.I also noticed that the clothing he had on was completely inadequate for the temperatures we were going to have to endure.I did ask him if he thought he would be ok and he was adamant that he would be,i did in fact get on his case a little about how he wasn't really prepared for the session but he assured me that he would be ok.As the night wore on i had a couple of runs on culminating in the capture of a 26Lb 7oz common but the thing that struck me was the fact that he never once came out of his bivvy not to see my catch not even to tend to his rods,so i visited him in his bivvy again and this time when i saw him he was shivering uncontrollably he must have been at that stage of coldness for at least 3 hours.I told him to get the keys to the van and go turn on the heaters to warm himself up but he had got that cold he wasn't able to get up and do that.I got the stove from my bivvy and turned it on telling him to warm himself up enough to go and turn the heater on in the van and eventually he was able to do this.A little while later he was warm enough to be able to make it to the van where he remained for the rest of the session which was cut short because he had made himself really poorly through letting himself get to cold.It was that cold in the early hours of that morning that the condensation on the outside of my bivvy had turned to ice.The whole affair spoilt the session really,for myself it was the worry that my pal was freezing and for him that was a reality.If he had been well prepared and equipped we could have had quite a productive session,the fish where feeding.When i decided to cut the session short i had to pack my stuff up aswell as his,i even had to unload his tackle off the van when i dropped him off as he was unfit to help.He was actually bed ridden for 4 days after that,the cold had really got to him and it made him really poorly.Myself i could have quite happily stayed there for a couple of days not noticing the cold to any great extent and all because i had the foresight to be prepared.Freezing temperatures are a killer,it's a known fact and if extreme temperatures don't kill you then they will certainly make you very ill,it's always worth going that extra yard for comforts sake as this will keep your moral up after all if you lose your spirit whilst night fishing the session could become one big waste of time.Going on overnight sessions on a whim will almost certainly end with you at best going home with a runny nose and if your luggage weight has to go up a couple of kg's then so be it but for your own safety always be prepared,do a little research into the weather situation for the coming day or evening ahead this will help you to make an informed decision on what stuff you will need to take so you can fish comfortably for as long as your on the bank.Never go fishing overnight on a whim it's just a bad idea.CAUK.
