FAIRYTALE ENDING TO MAGICAL FRENCH HOLIDAY!

A first family holiday saw him and his young family visit Disneyland Paris, where Daniel asked his missus to marry him (of course, she said yes!), before they travelled another 300-plus miles for a ‘relaxing’ week at the beautiful Lac Perdu.

Dan said: “It was tough fishing in 40-plus degrees throughout the week. With four fish to 32lb caught from the easier lake and being recovered from Disney and the massive drive, it was time to try and get stuck into the other lake.

“It was absolutely boiling and after having a lot of problems with the crayfish blunting the hooks, I had one more night to go and a change of plan was needed. After seeing a few fizzers the previous morning in the deeper water, I decided on soaking some 18mm Bug boilies in lake water and Bug Hydro Spod Syrup to wash them out. I set traps of two long hinged stiff rigs in the deep water, mounted with PB pop-ups and different choddy hooks with thicker points, and deciding to sit on my hands until I had to wind in the next day at 9.30am.

“At approximately nine o’clock the next morning, with the car all loaded up apart from the rods, the fish seemed to have moved over the deep water finally. Walking down to the rods, dejected that all the effort was in vain, the middle rod pulled up tight and it was game on! A slow, powerful fight ensued, before a massive common went over the net cord. It was nothing but a pure buzz, sharing that moment with my perfect little family.

“At 52lb 14oz, it was a new French to boot, coming just 15 minutes before we had to leave!”