Prologic Firestarter LWG Bivvy Product Review

Prologic Firestarter LWG Bivvy

By Anthony Potton

Key features :- 

2 metallic ribs frame 

Overwrap included 

Groundsheet with Velcro connections 

Heavy duty pegs included 

Transport Size: 103cm X 24cm (1man) 

Dimensions: 135cm H X 180cm W X 270cm D (1 Man) 

Weight: 9.2kg (1 Man) 

Transport Size: 107cm X 24cm (2man) 

Dimensions: 155cm H X 235cm W X 300cm D (2 Man) 

Weight: 11.2kg (2 Man) 

Available in both one-man and two-man sizes (for the angler who likes to fish alone, fish with a lot of gear, and fish with friends) the Prologic Firestarter LWG Bivvy is a great bivvy no matter your needs. 

The Firestarter is incredibly easy to set up, which means that it is just as useful on a quick overnight session as it is for longer sessions also very easy to erect for a day session if expecting rainfall. Not only is it suitable for any length of time, but this bivvy is also suitable for any weather conditions. Constructed from 100% waterproof fabric,as i use this bivvy myself i know that it's capable of even the most extreme weather conditionswith very high wind and rain. Extra strong petting points, with heavy duty pegs, and its two rib metallic frame ensures that this bivvy won’t be going anywhere were the wind to pick up on one of your carp fishing overnighters. In fact, the Prologic Firestarter even comes supplied with its own overwrap, so should you require an extra level of protection in the cold winter months and i must say adds a lot of warmth inside and condensation free all night and for longer sessions ,so you don’t have to go out and buy an additional wrap as its comes within the fantastic price of the bivvy.

Its understood when pro logic designed this bivvy they aim was to make a bivvy that had all the features that budding anglers would require for a top quality bivvy . However, throughout the process Prologic were determined to keep it good quality and a good price in mind for the more anglers who enjoy fishing on a lower budget .

This is because the company was tired of seeing decent bivvies on sale for extortionate prices and so wanted to create a bivvy that could exceed the angler’s expectations at every level. Prologic’s solution to this was the Firestarter: a fantastic value for money all weather shelter solution, perfect for the dedicated angler. as a user myself ,this bivvy will ensure you have a peaceful nights sleep every time.

The firestarter is also a nice height for the taller anglers so there no bending in half to get out just a slight bend of the neck which is great if your my height at 6'2 so a lot less back strain when up and down specially for the busy angler who likes to keep their swims active with baiting up etc. 

The only issue i found with this bivvy was not a major issue for myself was the wrap has the open door section (no zipped door) which could be a problem for some anglers who prefer full wrap with zip doors mesh and clear window feature but for me its ideal as i find its still as warm as a bivvy with these features. 

And also a bad point for me which i find rather annoying it has no rod straps on the wrap which is more than ideal in hazardous conditions keeping rods secure whist you set up inside the bivvy.

So as an overall the bivvy is an excellent addition to a carp fishing kit which i agree and i will continue to use myself for the foreseeable future.

With a reasonable size once packed down easy to transport and not to heavy if going light .

So i would highly recommend this bivvy to suit many anglers alike as i would give it a 5* Rating.
Tight lines 

Start of Season Social June 9th - 15th 2017 PART ONE

By Martyn Russ

This year we had decided on having a bit of a social down at our local lake in Cardiff. Myself, John Rees & Anthony George Ron Potton plus other members of the club who came down to visit us during our time on the lake. The session was to turn out to be one we wont forget in a while.....

 Day 1 – Friday Midday

We had both decided to fish in similar ways, me with a naked running Chod on the one rod fished with a small pink candyfloss bait and the other with a Whipped D rig presented on a heli set-up using Tungsten tubing with tungsten Chod Beads as the safety system so they would just pull off the tubing in the case of a snag. John was also fishing the Naked Chod but on his other he had tubing down to a lead safety clip and then a Ronnie Rig on an extended boom due to the silt. The bait we was using was the Candy Floss from Solar Baits and The Z-Mix Plumb from Legacy Baits. We had chosen the plumb as it was a bait that was fishing well on the lake the previous year and we wanted to make sure we had a bait that they saw as a food source as introducing a new bait can sometimes be difficult. We mixed 7 Kilos of Candyfloss to 2 kilos of Plumb. For the spod we added hemp, corn, particle mix and of course our secrete sauce plus a selection of small feed pellet's and allowed it to soak in all the liquid over night. This meant we had to use boilies and sticks for the first night with several free bats thrown over each rod to get the carp routing around for the food.

The weather forecast for the weekend wasn't as good as we hoped as there was high winds and a lot of rain forecast but at least it wasn't raining when we loaded up the gear and went down to the lake. Hendre Lake, situated in St. Mellons on the outskirts of Cardiff towards Newport, is a large lake that was originally built to drain the local area to reclaim the land to build houses on. This lake has an island at the one end as a main feature and a small shallow bay down the other. Half the lake is actually protected and is a no fishing zone so you are only able to fish from the top half of the lake. We had decided on a swim that I had fished in a previous session so I knew some of the features that were there. The lake ranged from 4 ft in the edges to 7 and 9 ft in the centre with a small hole to our left at around 13 to 14 ft but this was only the size of a house plot. The lake has deep silt all over the lake with a few areas around the island having some gravel patches.

The lake itself was actually fishing quite difficult as it was still recovering from the opening week at the start of the season where a lot of bait was going in and a lot of fish were being caught. Myself and John Rees decided to target the first day using just single High Attract baits and stringers with small PVA sticks on the hook. This would enable to see what was going on and hopefully where the fish were feeding. I placed one rod at around 12 rod lengths (wraps) and the other at around 10. It wasn't long before John was the first one off the mark with a lovely little common around 14 lb followed by myself with a nice chunky little 10 lber who fought like nothing I have experienced before. Talk about a fish full of beans. We continued to fish like this into the night using one rod on high attract hook baits and wafters and the other on a naked chod which we were casting to any fish showing.

In the mean time Anthony George Ron Potton managed to hook into a couple while fishing his own home made baits, peach and coconut and was joining in what was turning out to be a great start to a session with a 9 lb and an 11 lb carp and they were real hard fighters. I had started to see a pattern forming with the bait and where we were catching the fish so I knew these were the areas of the lake to target in the morning when I prepared our swim for the long session. I prepared the spod mix ready for the morning and made sure we had our hook baits ready and sticks all made up to enable more time in the water and less time on the bank messing about with rigs. We then set our rods for the night and tried to get some sleep. ...... Continued...

Start of Season Social June 9th - 15th 2017 PART TWO

Day 2 – Madness & Wet on the Bank 

 It was 2 am when the rods ripped off again and both myself and John found ourselves attached to fish in our socks in the freezing cold of night whilst it was raining. We got soaked was an understatement but when you are attached to an 18 lb and a 15 lb fish you don't really think about how wet you are getting. This was repeated again at 5 am in the morning with the 3rd fish of the day an another one on my score chart a nice Mirror at 14. 2oz. Little did we know at the time this was going to be the sign of things to come. At first the rods went dead for a while and I was beginning to think that was all the action we were going to see for a few days as the weather was on the change but thankfully the madness bagn at just before noon with my chod rod shooting off with a screaming run and a hard fighting 23 lb fish. I was over the moon to say the least. Johns rods soon jumped into action and mine was off again with another chunk at 16 lb and John was bringing em out at 9 lb and 13 lb. This was turning out to be an amazing session. I continued to put spods full of bait over the fishes heads after every couple of fish and the bites just kept coming.

The rain was relentless and was on and off all day but this didn't seem to put the fish off at all.We were not the only ones catching mind you , Ron was set up in the swim next to us and managed to capitalize on what we were doing managing to get himself another fish weighing in at 14 lb and again it was on his own made baits, the peach and coconut that seem to do the business. Lee , a new member, was set up a couple of swims down and he also managed a one over the weekend and he decided to stay on into the week and get a few more but that was all that were coming out. We seemed to have all the fish in front of us and was managing to hold them there and by the end of the second day I had managed 16 fish and John was on 9 with Ron sat at 3.

Day 3 – They Just Kept Coming

The lack of sleep was starting to get to us as the fish just wouldn't let us get any sleep no matter how hard we tried, but when you are on the fish it is so hard to take the rods out of the water. The rain had continued through the night and the ground had become horrendously slippery. When your alarm goes off at 3 in the morning and you are suddenly woken from what I would call a zombie state, neither sleeping nor awake, you forget about the rain and how slippery the bank in, WHOOSH 4 ft up into the air and SLAM! Down with a big thump on my butt and back and my left arm. Boy did that smart! I was finally rewarded for the pain with a nice 16 lb common but I was soaked through to the skin and had to change for the 3rd time that day. I crawled back into the bivvy and curled up and prayed for the rain to stop whilst rubbing my sore bits. The morning started again on a mad one with a double take for myself and John landing a couple of nice commons both in double figures The action wasn't fast but we continued to get the odd fish through most of the morning so i can say it was consistent. Sunday was the last day for Ron and as he also got very little sleep, he decided to call it a day in the afternoon. The weather had suddenly changed and the sun had decided to come out in the afternoon but only for a short while and then came the really strong winds. It was at this point the bites wet quiet. I decided to put out some more spod over the area and after about 10 spods I put my rod down and within seconds of doing so the left rod screamed off resulting in a nice common of around 12 lb.

The wind seemed to put the fish off and the whole lake went quiet. No fish were showing and fishing started to become really hard. It was at this point I started to work for the bites , watching the water every second looking for signs of fish and then casting single chods at them. This seemed to work and managed to get me a couple more fish as we went through the night into day 4.

Start of Season Social June 9th - 15th 2017 PART THREE

Day 4 – Blazing Sun 

We managed to get a couple of hours sleep this time and when we woke it was already around 12 degrees and really warm. I knew it was going to become a scorcher and very hot very quick. This means the fishing will become hard and the fish up in the water. Its sometimes possible to get them off the surface in conditions like this but it became so hot everyone was trying but nothing showed any interest at all. We tried everything to get them to get their heads down and fished it really hard for the entire day but it wasn't until it started to get dark and cool down that the bites came and I managed a couple more fish along with John who also managed another 2. We then started scattering boilies all over the swim as we went into the night and we switched from singles to using snowmen , wafters and stringers. This switch seemed to work and we managed a few more through the night as we went into the next day.

Day 5 – The Final Day.

Due to the lake having a 72 hour rule for any swim so any angler who takes a swim must change swims and allow other members access after the 72 hour mark. I was very luck and the lake owner allowed us an extra day as we were on the fish but then as it quietened down it was time to move to another down the other end of the lake but along the same bank. It was like we had to start from scratch so again I made up some spod and set up a baited area around the middle of the lake and myself and John fished just off the edge of that area. Unfortunately it was again extremely hot and the sun was blazing. No matter how many times we tried to get them up on the top we couldn't get them up, we weren't the only ones as there were others trying with out success. Again as it started to cool own and come into evening both myself and John did eventually get some action for the day and the reward for all our hard work. John landed another 2 and myself with another 2 both just touching double figures. The lake then went dead and silent for the entire evening and it looked like all the other carpers all went to be early as by 11.30 all the bivvy's were shut up tight and not a person in sight.

Day 6 – Time to go home.

What an alarm call, 1am in the morning of the day we are leaving and the rod screamed off. I rushed out of the bivvy and struck into what at first felt like a massive fish that was fighting as hard as it could. It wasn't till I got it in I found out it had 3 rigs stuck in his mouth and ball of line around the rigs that if untangled must have been at least 100 meters and about half a ton of week trapped within it. The poor thing must have been towing that lot around for a while by the looks of it. I managed to get all the rigs out and then treated all the wounds and I really think the carp was grateful as it was so well behaved and just lay there still and let me do what I had to to get it free of the mess. John also managed another one in the morning just before we went home. He picked the rod up because he saw his line twitching but no alarm and when he lifted into the fish he was surprised to find himself attached. I managed another one at 5am and then my final fish came around 9.30am.

What an amazing fishing session we had to start the season of with a bang. I managed to finish on 25 fish and John finished on 16 with Big Ron on 3. That's a 44 fish haul over the 5 day period which is amazing to start off the year and I can't wait for our next adventures.

Wet Nets & Tight Lines