On my first encounter with the lake back in May I fell in love with it, having caught nine fish up to forty pound and John and Ben Hofgartner telling me there were greater prizes out there to be had. You can imagine that I leapt at the chance of an invitation back to the lake in August. When arriving at the lake John and Ben had told us we were going to be in for an eventful week. The weather conditions were just right, so without a moment to loose the bivvys went up and the lines went in. On the Saturday morning from the time the leads hit the lake, it just felt like everything was falling into place.

Within the first twenty four hours I had banked a superb forty two and a half pound mirror and a thirty pound common. It was as if the lake had been waiting for the bait, I had decided that I would use the Royal blacks as the bulk of my ground bait as John and Ben feed this to the lake on a regular basis. I decided to use ready made boilies as hookbaits, as they tend to be a little bit harder, which in France will help you get through the poisson chat’s. By the second and third night I had banked thirteen fish with two more being forties, it was enough to make the week on its own.

By the middle of the week and thirty fish later with seven of those being over the magical forty pound mark, you could not shoot me down from cloud nine, it was certainly turning out to be one of those red letter weeks. By Friday night I had beaten my PB four times with ten forties under my belt with the biggest being 43 and quarter pound. With a grand total of 41 fish it was a fishing trip that I would never forget. Hands down, I have to give it to John and Ben Hofgartner, they have such a passion for their fish and your holiday, they are always at hand day or night to help you with the photographing and handling of the fish. That to me is a priceless service that you could not pay for, but not only that, it’s how all the pegs are well presented with not a single sign of any litter or rodents in sight. You have an overwhelming feeling there is a competition between you and the kingfishers.

Thanks again John and Ben for making my holiday one to never forget. I will be looking forward to returning in early spring to hopefully land some more of your beautiful fish.

Phil Moran, August 2006 - See Phil's Gallery for some of the photos