About Bank & Bivvy
Independent carp fishing gear reviews for UK anglers. No sponsorship, no free kit from manufacturers, no rankings shaped by commission rates.
Why this site exists
Most UK carp fishing content online is either written by tackle-shop staff whose job is to move stock, or by sponsored anglers whose rod bag came free. Both produce useful content and both have a bias. We started Bank & Bivvy because it was hard to find honest opinions on kit we were paying real money for, and because "best bivvy 2025" articles that recommend the same seven brands as every other article are not helping anyone decide.
How we test and rate
Every product we review at four stars or above is one we would put our own money on. Ratings are editorial and reflect long-term performance, not opening-day impressions. We rate kit against realistic UK use - a bivvy is tested in November rain, not summer campsite conditions; alarms are judged on how they behave with 300 m of braid in the wind, not on a test bench.
We accept that we cannot test every product long-term ourselves. Where we haven't put ten sessions into a piece of kit, we say so - our summary either flags the review as based on published specs and community consensus, or the product does not appear on the site.
How we make money
Every product page and every guide on this site carries Amazon UK affiliate links. When a reader buys through one of those links, Amazon pays us a small commission (typically 3% on Sports & Outdoors category items, capped at £7 per item). This costs the reader nothing extra. It is our only source of income.
Because Amazon pays the same commission regardless of which brand is bought, we have no reason to push one manufacturer over another. We recommend what we would buy. If a product is priced better on a specialist retailer (Angling Direct, Nash Direct, Trakker UK website), we say so - we lose the sale but keep the trust.
Full details of our commercial relationships are on the affiliate disclosure page.
Who writes this
Bank & Bivvy is run by a small editorial desk of UK carp anglers with combined experience across syndicate waters, big-pit day-ticket venues, and specimen fishing. Editorial decisions are made on kit, not on which brand happens to be currently promoting.
Corrections and disagreements
We get things wrong. If a review misrepresents a product, or if a specification is out of date because a manufacturer has changed a blank or a pole material, please send us a message. We correct openly, dated, and named at the bottom of the affected page.
What we do not do
- We do not accept manufacturer sponsorship.
- We do not accept free product for review.
- We do not run "sponsored posts" of any kind.
- We do not use AI to generate product reviews - writing is done by humans who have handled or owned the kit.
- We do not track visitors beyond basic anonymised traffic analytics. See privacy policy.