The start of 2021, and most of 2020 have been testing to say the least, not just for us all personally but also for any company trying to become established, and becoming recognised in the angling world, even in the best conditions, has to be as challenging as it comes. 

Riding the waves

Luckily at Decoy Angling we all knew that we would have to ride the waves in the early days, especially when it came to sourcing quality kit, then simply getting everything tested before bringing it to our customers, yet rest assured we haven’t sat back. Before long you will start to see the hard work everyone has put in behind the scenes, so keep an eye on the website as new and exciting products will start appearing soon. 

Always happy for a carp or two!

A gem on my doorstep

On an angling front (excluding January and February when I was learning to edit video) I was blessed to have some superb fishing right on my doorstep with the ever reliable  Farnham Angling Societies Badshot Lea Big Pond, just two-minutes from my front door being my little gem. Picking the right day to fish, especially coming out of winter is vitally important, as is arriving at the right time of day, get it wrong and it’s the difference between catching and blanking. Arrive at dawn, or 7am as was allowed when there is a nice south west wind, pick the right swim at the easterly end of the lake, fish at distance with a tried and tested rig and bait and you can put money on it that the alarms will be sounding all morning. Arrive too late on the wrong wind and expect to catch, even when using the right rig and bait and guess what, you’ll be lucky! If you want to see exactly how March went then simply head over to my YouTube Channel – Duncan Charman Angling and please remember to subscribe! In short the limited time I did fish at Badshot Lea was really enjoyable with loads of decent bream to over 8lb and the odd carp to 17lb bringing some variety.

If you want to catch bream, head to Badshot Lea!

Lockdown lifted, or not!

In all honesty I was really looking forward to being allowed to travel that little bit further come March the 29th, even doing the odd night but in my excitement forget that this coincided with Easter, and an unseasonable warm one! Busyness was the last thing I needed but as we all know, that’s exactly what happened and come Easter Sunday the English weather did what we have all come to expect it to do, change! Late March recorded the warmest day on record, early April saw the coldest night ever reported, did I know if I was coming or going, no, did the fish, certainly not! I did manage a specimen crucian in the limited time I had at Enton before this lake closed, but how I wish I had more time as after vacating the swim the British Record went the following day from the same swim with a fish of 4lb 14oz, backed up by two other four’s, well done Julian. 

The holy grail, well not quite!

A wake up call

The catfish are slowly waking up, however my first attempt, a few hours into darkness proved fruitless but watch out over the coming weeks as I’m guessing things are likely to go a little silly!

Fingers crossed

Tomorrow I’m heading out for my first real tench trip of the year (normally would have been late March). The worm-kebab will be my main line of attack but with a ground frost forecasted I’m not expecting too much but fish have to feed and I know this lake rather well!

My little piece of paradise

I will be keeping you informed on how things progress on both the tench and catfish front over the coming weeks and expect a few tactical video’s coming your way very soon and didn’t I mention the vast, deep gravel pit that I will be fishing in the coming weeks for massive tench, huge bream and specimen eels? Well that’s another story!

Be lucky,

Duncan

About Duncan Charman:

As a capable and talented angler, Duncan is widely regarded as one of the most successful all-round anglers in the UK with personal bests including a 31lb pike, 16lb 5oz barbel and 140lb catfish alongside breaking two separate British Records (silver bream and pumpkinseed). 

In the public eye, Duncan is an Ambassador to the Angling Trust, a regular writer for the biggest magazines in both the United Kingdom and Europe (Anglers's Mail, Blinker etc) and has also made appearances on Sky Sports’ Tight Lines. Duncan is also an author having written his own book - Evolution of an Angler.

Follow Duncan Charman:

• Duncan Charmans World of Angling
• Duncan Charman on Instagram
• Duncan Charman on Facebook
• Duncan Charman on YouTube