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As the editor of Total Carp, I spend a lot of time around day-ticket fisheries and it’s clear to see that the central block design bivvies are a hugely popular choice amongst modern carp anglers and there’s no surprise as to why – it is, in my humble opinion, THE best style of carp fishing bivvy on the market. Of all the various shelters I’ve seen over the years, the central block style bivvies are typically the most stable and easiest bivvies to erect, giving you everything you could really need from a shelter. I still think that the humble brolly has its place in carp fishing for those who are really trying to streamline their kit, but as advances are made in the bivvy department, the brolly is beginning to be left behind.

There are plenty of brilliant central block style bivvies on the market, with shelters like the Nash Titan and hides or Solar’s Uni Spider coming immediately to mind, each of which offers their own unique slant on this theme. I’d honestly be more than happy to use any of the above mentioned bivvies and have done for many years, but since getting hold of the new Tempest RS at the start of the year, I’ve found that it’s really suited my angling to a T!For starters, I’ve got the Tempest RS Brolly, which is almost identical to the 100 model, but comes completely stripped back. To this I’ve added the full solid front, mozzi front and skull cap, but more on those in a bit. The Tempest RS Brolly itself is effectively just the shelter part and is ever so slightly smaller in most dimensions. As a relatively mobile angler who likes to keep kit to a minimum, this certainly suits me for 90 per cent of my carp fishing!

Being able to easily set up and pack down the bivvy is really important for me as much of my fishing is just overnighters, arriving to the lake after a feature (often in darkness) and packing up the next morning to get to my next destination. As such, a brolly has often been all I’ve needed, but having seemingly endured 12 months of winter, I’ve been glad to have a bit of a bigger shelter with me. In all honesty, if it’s going to be bone dry I just sleep under the stars, but even if I do get caught out by a surprise shower, the RS literally goes up in a matter of seconds. Plus, having multiple points of contact on the floor means that the shelter remains in place without needing to be pegged down and this means I rarely use more than three or four pegs! A couple at the back and a couple at the front are more than enough to anchor it in place for all but the windiest of nights!

I won’t say packing away the RS is just as easy as putting it up, it does take a bit of practice to get used to it. However, you can easily disengage the joints from an upright position, meaning you aren’t traipsing the entire bivvy on the muddy ground – a huge bonus for wet pack-ups! Furthermore, the hinge mechanism on the joints means that, once broken down, all the arms neatly fold themselves perfectly in half. It does come with a heavy-duty bag that is easy enough to get back into, but I simply fold it and chuck it on the barrow, ready to use again at a moment’s notice.So that’s the set up and take down taken care of, my next point I think is particularly worth mentioning is the porch. Now, it’s not a huge porch in comparison to the Titan that I was previously using, but it’s substantial enough to stop rain intrusion when you have got the door letter boxed, which is the main reason I like having a porch. However, when I know it’s going to be particularly wet, I always make sure to put the Skull Cap on. This creates an extended porch at the front for extra protection from wet weather, but also means that the top of the bivvy doesn’t actually get wet at all, which is a godsend when it comes to packing away and so the bivvy ends up being almost completely dry when packing away, even after a heavy downpour! I can only imagine it improves the bivvy’s longevity, plus the Skull Cap also has the added benefit of minimising condensation in the cooler months.

While on that topic, it’s worth pointing out that the RS comes dressed in Trakker’s premium AQUATEXX material – quite possibly the best bivvy skin available! It’s super-waterproof and highly breathable, so you don’t suffer from a lot of condensation anyway at the worst of times. The material has a bit of mechanical flexibility in it, so it keeps tension well in changeable weather conditions and also completely blocks out the light, so you can create a very dark space for ideal sleeping conditions – particularly important for me of all people!

On the contrary to creating a dark space, the bivvy features surround mozzi mesh vents and during the lighter evenings it’s nice to have all of these open for a fresh and light internal environment, without the risk of being hammered by mozzies. As I mentioned, I’ve got the full mozzi front too and for much of the summer I will either fish the bivvy completely open fronted or with the mozzi mesh. The full front hasn’t actually come out of the bag since about April, despite significant precipitation this year!

I rarely ever use a groundsheet, though one is of course available for the Tempest RS brolly. Instead, during the winter months I simply slide my unhooking mat or a TA barrow cover under the bedchair to act as a protective layer against the damp. However, I can imagine that with the addition of the groundsheet and Skull Cap too, you’d really have quite a plush accommodation for longer winter sessions!As I mentioned at the start, I’m generally quite a mobile angler who likes to keep things lightweight, and so for much of my life I’ve lived huddled up under a brolly. However, since using the RS, I genuinely don’t think that the conventional brolly has come out so far this year. It also offers a little extra space and protection for all my extra camera gear that I need to bring for the job too, so that’s been a big bonus for me in my line of work. However, even for my own fishing where it’s just me versus the carp, the RS Brolly really does tick all the boxes for me.

MATT TOWNEND’S VERDICT: “A truly versatile and highly protective shelter that is rapid to set up and pack down, making it equally as useful for short or longer sessions.”

RRP: £474.99
WEBSITE: www.trakkerproducts.com

To find out more about the Tempest RS Brolly, watch the video below!